Settings for ETS EC 125/3 on pine

[Yeon]

I recently purchased an ETS EC125/3 and a CT 36 since I am getting a bit more involved with woodworking. I previously used a pretty cheap makita sander (not a random orbit one) and while it didn't sand nearly as quick I found it is was easier to control most of the time.

I've used the festool sander for probably a little over two hours now sanding down pine I have cut for chairs. I've played with the settings on the CT 36, the speed on the sander, and the type of sandpaper. What I'm finding is that sometimes the sander is just a pain to hold onto. With the makita since it was pretty underpowered I was able to easily hold certain pieces and sand without clamping them down. Obviously not a great idea but it worked. With the ETS EC 125/3 I found that even on very slow speed settings that wasn't going to happen and the sander felt like it was running away from me. I've started to clamp pieces down and it's definitely helped in this regard.

Secondly I discovered that unlike my old makita sander I don't really have to apply much pressure to the sander; it does the work by itself and really I should just be holding it to guide where it goes rather than forcing it down. I did try going from 80 grit to 150 to save some time; again not a good idea to skip grits for a good finish I know; and found when inspecting some of the pieces closer that there are a few areas where there is small spiral marks on the surface. They appear to be about the same size as the holes on the bottom of the sanding pad. I assume at certain points I put too much pressure which caused the sander the edge of the paper and pad to dig in and scratch the surface?

In conclusion I've found that on pine with the ETS EC 125/3 a speed setting from 3-4 has worked best with the CT 36 suction turned down very low. The exception to this was when I was sanding the edges of certain pieces where a large portion of the sander wasn't in contact with the surface. In those cases I turned the suction up pretty high which allowed the sander to continue capturing the dust as it was coming off the workpiece. The sander and CT 36 are my first festool purchases and I think very soon I am going to be getting the DTS 400 to make sanding edges and small pieces easier.

 

[ear3]

Yeah n-- the EC sanders don't require much pressure to operate.

With regard to the pigtails you sometimes get -- be careful when sanding off edge that you don't catch the holes of the paper on the corners.  I find that the culprit for pigtails is usually when the holes have gotten torn a bit from catching a corner or edge.  It could also be simply that you skipped from 80 to 150 -- that's too big a jump.  And you actually don't save that much time.  If you proceed through the grits you will find that it takes very little to clean away all the scratches from one grit to the next.

Not sure what your sanding technique is, but an invaluable trick I learned early on was to mark the surface being sanded with a pencil after each grit.  When the pencil lines disappear, that means I'm done and I can move on to the next grit.  Ensures I get full coverage of the surface and also that I don't oversand.

 

[Yeon]

Yeah n-- the EC sanders don't require much pressure to operate.

With regard to the pigtails you sometimes get -- be careful when sanding off edge that you don't catch the holes of the paper on the corners.  I find that the culprit for pigtails is usually when the holes have gotten torn a bit from catching a corner or edge.  It could also be simply that you skipped from 80 to 150 -- that's too big a jump.  And you actually don't save that much time.  If you proceed through the grits you will find that it takes very little to clean away all the scratches from one grit to the next.

Not sure what your sanding technique is, but an invaluable trick I learned early on was to mark the surface being sanded with a pencil after each grit.  When the pencil lines disappear, that means I'm done and I can move on to the next grit.  Ensures I get full coverage of the surface and also that I don't oversand.

That's a great idea with the pencil marks. Thanks for the feedback!

 

[Patrick Cox]

Not sure what your sanding technique is, but an invaluable trick I learned early on was to mark the surface being sanded with a pencil after each grit.  When the pencil lines disappear, that means I'm done and I can move on to the next grit.  Ensures I get full coverage of the surface and also that I don't oversand.

Great tip!

 

[Nat X]

I have both the 150 and the 125, and I find that the 125 is much more difficult to keep steady in most situations. I find I avoid using it as much as possible and should probably just sell the thing now that I think about it.

 

[mleny77]

I've noticed that if the surface I'm sanding is cupped or bowed the sander bounces around, also when I get to the edge of the piece. I hold the sander tighter and work thru the bad spot or drop down to a lower git and take down the high spots. Then when I go up to higher gits it operates smoothly. I noticed swirl marks on the first few door panels I made. Although this was the first time using the sander. I had to learn how to hold it and not force it to work like I did with the cheap Dewalt sander I used before. Work thru the grits and don't skip to high. I don't use 80 git with the ETS only 120, 180, 220 and 320. I picked up the RO125 and use that to rough sand part then finish sand with the ETS125. Also sanding technique is huge! I watched a few you tube videos and that helped out a lot. The project I'm currently working on uses pine and I set the speed to 6 on the sander and turn the vac down to half. I've made three set of doors so far and each time I start the next set it seems to get easier and faster.