Understanding sanders

[johnsayen]

Hi all,

I'm still new to festool, and have tried to search many places about sanders, but am still misunderstanding.

I have no sanders at this point, and am considering the 150 or 125 in either the /3 or /5 and am very unsure as to how to proceed.

I have read that the 125 can hold 6" pads, and that the 150 can not hold 5" so the 125 may be desirable.

I do not know what the /3 or /5 means.

If it helps, my intention is to start building cabinets, and expand to furniture.

Thank you.

John

 

[FastEasySmartTOOL]

Hi John,

You're on the right track! For finish sanding cabinets and furniture, you can't go wrong with either of the ETS EC sanders.

The /3 means 3mm orbit, /5 means 5mm orbit (so the pad will be spinning around in a 3mm, or 5mm diameter).

The /3 (over /5) gets you a finer finish, and lower vibration, but won't remove material as quickly.

In your situation I would pick the 3mm orbit with 150mm (6") pad. 6" covers significantly more area than 5". How you ultimately end up with a 6" pad is up to you [tongue] [poke]

Kriss

 

[Holmz]

The ETS EC 150/5-mm is a nice unit.

The 1/2-sheet RS2E is worth a look and in some ways better.

If you know what you are doing with it, then that helps to determine which ones work best for those specific tasks.

 

[Poindexter]

Festool makes a lot of sanders that can serve very specific jobs.  It does make things a little confusing especially if you can't try one.  A 6" sander is a good all-rounder and the 150/3 is a great one for starting with Festool sanding.  It is forgiving enough for the absolute beginner while being fine enough to polish the perfect finish for a pro.  Because it uses the same 6" paper as the big Rotex sander those two compliment each other well.

The good news is that Festool has a 30 day return policy, so you can get through a project or two and make a decision.