Sanding Drywall.

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bholmsten

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Jan 20, 2012
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I have to replace some sections of Drywall from water damage.  I noticed Festool labels some of their sanders as drywall sanders.  Are these sanders built to withstand the fine dust better, Or why are they considered drywall sanders?
Also if using a sander what joint compound would be better?  What paper would be best and what grits etc.
Thanks
 
As far as why they are labeled drywall sanders I don't know.
A couple points from someone who uses two Festool sanders for drywall.
- the sanders have a break in period that needs to be dealt with before they really work well; the basic break-in is to hang it, and let it run for a while
- there is also a break in period for the operator to get used to using the sanders well so you don't get swirls or indents
- use the sander VERY light handed if you do decent mud work; with a heavy hand you just eat the crap out of the and make everything look terrible
- upsize your paper, 120-150 grit, sometimes even 180 if really nice mud work; 80 or 100 will eat up the wall
If you are looking for some quick fix to buy, sand and have it perfect you'll be disappointed; doesn't work that way
If you are looking to stop eating dust and have good paintable walls and are willing to invest some time and money then you'll be extremely happy.
I would never go back to a standard non DC palm sander. I use the ets125 and dts400 as a nice drywall sanding combo
Hope that helps
 
bholmsten said:
Are these sanders built to withstand the fine dust better, Or why are they considered drywall sanders?
....  What paper would be best and what grits etc.
Thanks
Click to expand...

All Festool sanders are built to withstand any type of fine dust very well. They were not originally designed with drywall in mind (except for the Planex), but have proved over the years to work very well with it. I've been using my sanders occasionally for about 6 years now on drywall/plaster and I have yet to notice any negative effect to the sanders.

Just like Holzhacker my favourite sanders for this work are the DTS400 and ETS125. They get a very good result, but their biggest pro is their dust collection, which is so good you can work almost dust free.

And again like Holzhacker I also prefer to use grit 120-180 mostly. Festool's Granat and Brilliant paper are good for this.
 
Thanks I currently have the RTS 400.  Thanks for info on sand paper and grits etc.  Do you have any particular joint compound you like. My main reason for asking was wanting dust control and wanting to make sure the sanders were fit for drywall but it looks like Festool has the RTS 400 under the drywall sanding category. Do you have any preference for Vacuum speed/power and sander speed/power settings?
 
I can't comment on joint compound because we have different brands over here.

Speed setting on the sander is generally full speed, but you have to turn the vac down a bit or the sander will be stuck to the wall. Experiment to find the sweet spot between dust collection and freedom of movement.
 
The RTS should be excellent for drywall, I have the DTS but the RTS has interface pad available for it should make for a really nice finish.
As far as mud goes the USG green lid is super strong and holds up to power sanding really well.
I run my DTS on max with the vac just above minimum.
 
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