Swirl-free finishes with Festool sanders

Great video. Thanks to Larry, Gary and Festool for some solutions to common problems such as swirl marks etc.
Tim
 
Great video, left me with a question though. Why use the fine random orbit ? and looked like he was using Granat no?
 
I do all my sanding in rotex mode.  Rotex mode with 150g and straight to stain, 120g for paint. 

My ets is just used to sand between finish coats. 

No swirl marks this way.
 
WarnerConstCo. said:
I do all my sanding in rotex mode.  Rotex mode with 150g and straight to stain, 120g for paint. 

My ets is just used to sand between finish coats. 

No swirl marks this way.
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I remember you mentioning this before....on a completely unrelated note, when was the last time you visited an ophthalmologist? [tongue]
 
Shane Holland said:
Gary Katz recently paid us a visit and while he was at our facilities, he asked my colleague, Larry Smith, to demonstrate some of our sanders and teach out to produce swirl-free finishes. Read this article and watch the video over on the This Is Carpentry website.

http://www.thisiscarpentry.com/2014/07/25/swirl-free-sanding/

Click to expand...

It was a great video. However, from that video the conclusion would be that, to sand bare wood for putting a final finish on, only a Rotex sander is necessary. Why bother with the ETS sanders in the Festool line at all then? I have been assuming that the ETS line (which the video didn't really demonstrate results for) was the finishing sander line. For example, the ETS150/5, with 60 or 80 grit sandpaper would seem sufficient for the basic rough sanding in most cases. If I would have to do more than that, I would feel that, in most cases, I had not put the whole thing together carefully. I confess, the whole Festool sander thing is a little confusing and intimidating; very specialized. I now have an ETS125 and just bought a recon ETS150/5. I believe that this will suffice but every time I read another sander post, it creates doubt about what sanders are the most productive and will give me the best finish which, in the end, is the whole point when making furniture or cabinets or drawers.
 
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Do not doubt yourself, you have two great sanders and as others including moderators have said here on the FOG before, the ETS150/5 is very versatile.

The use of ROTEX mode for finish/above 120grit sanding has been discussed on the FOG before and then as now was/will be debated. Personally I tend not to use ROTEX mode beyond the 100/120 grit mark.
 
They are called a finish sander because they are for sanding finishes. 

Lumber out of my planer, hit it with 150, sometimes 120 then 150 in rotex mode and stain or paint.  Ets is used between coats of finish. 

The best part of sanding like this with the rotex is it takes very little effort. 

The ets 150/5 is capable of being somewhat aggressive with the right paper, but why not do it a quicker way?  I have better things to do besides sand. 

Although I am looking forward to setting up a big stroke sander in the near future, running a SS can be quite fun. 
 
WarnerConstCo. said:
I do all my sanding in rotex mode.  Rotex mode with 150g and straight to stain, 120g for paint. 

My ets is just used to sand between finish coats. 

No swirl marks this way.
Click to expand...

So i don't need an ETS if I have an RO150? Just curious if you only use random orbit between coats than just switch from rotex to random on the same sander?
 
Nice video.  I sometimes worry about unintentionally changing the dimensions of my workpiece when I sand with coarse grits in Rotex mode though.  That can be some pretty aggressive sanding.
 
mikegandy said:
WarnerConstCo. said:
I do all my sanding in rotex mode.  Rotex mode with 150g and straight to stain, 120g for paint. 

My ets is just used to sand between finish coats. 

No swirl marks this way.
Click to expand...
So i don't need an ETS if I have an RO150?
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No that is not what this means. If you are prepping for a finish a Rotex will do it all and faster.
mikegandy said:
Just curious if you only use random orbit between coats than just switch from rotex to random on the same sander?
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For unfinished wood prep yes and typically in higher grits above 120. Once a finish is applied a Rotex is used to polish if required etc.
 
Quater sawn white oak sanded 100-120-150 with RO-125 in gear driven mode only. Stained with Zar Salem Maple finish is a gloss out of a rattle can.

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Tom
 

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This is a great thread, helping me learn to use my sanders more effectively. I have the ETS/3 and Rotex150. I understand that most people use the ETS/3 between coats of finish, so thats a help also.

So if the Rotex150 is used in geared mode through all the grits to polish a piece like this walnut, when would the random mode of the Rotex 150 be used? Or would random mode be used at all? If not for this application, what applications is the random mode of the Rotex150 used for?

Thanks, Mike
 
Great video and good information in the responding posts.  However, I would like to point out that the Rotex 150 is a whole lot heavier than the ETS 150/3 for "older guys" like me sanding for hours at a time.

I'm not doing this for a business so time is not money for me like it is for you guys making a living so, using a little more time with my 150/3 gets the job done as well for me.

Jack
 
tjbnwi said:
Random mode for between coats.

Tom
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Hey Tom,

Do you use the Rotex on random between coats or the ETS between coats? Or just on certain jobs?

The Rotex feels a bit aggressive for smoothing out between coats, but I don't have near the experience you do. I just bought the ETS/3 a couple weeks ago for smoothing out finishes, thinking this is what I needed. Any more insight you can provide would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks Mike
 
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