sanding swirl marks

[Carl]

Hello all!
I was wondering if any of you has ever experienced swirls in the wood and laquer when using the ETS 150/3 sander.  I finish to 150 grit on wood and laquer, and use 320 grit, both seem to leave swirl marks.  I always end up finishing the sanding by hand to eliminate these marks, and I'm  hoping someone can tell me if there's any way to avoid these swirls.
I thank you in advance for your help!
Carl ???

 

[Corwin]

Slow down...  Check out this Hint from Festool's site.

 

[The Dude]

Carl, as corwin says, slow down a bit.  I like to use the foam interface pad when working on the finishing aspece ot things.  If you are using a vac attached, try turning to the "turtle" speed as well.  There are occasions where the vac will actually suck the sander down onto the work piece and cause the swirling effect, or the fish-eye thing going on.  God luck, and relax a bit in the sanding.  I find that about 10 minutes of yoga, and 20 minutes or so of Tai Chi right before sanding puts me into the mode of acceptance and tolerance needed to sand properly.

Timmy C

 

[Dan Clark]

Carl,

I'm not sure if Tai Chi or Yoga will help, but it's very possible that the swirls are caused by the sander sucking down to the wood and then releasing.  If the swirls are uneven and inconsistant, this is probably the culprit. 

What I do is back suction down to at least the 50% position even with heavy grit paper.  I go lower with finer grits.    You really need only enough suction to remove the dust.  At full power, the CT series is WAY too powerful.  (In other words, they really suck!)

Give that a try and let us know if that fixes the problem.

Regards,

Dan.

 

[Carl]

Thanks for your comments I turned down the vac on all sanding and slowed down the orbital sander.  That made a huge change to where the swirls are  barely visible.  Thanks for your help! I  should have  figured it out on my own but I thought I'd ask.
Have a great weekend!
Carl