Virutex sanding planer

[luvmytoolz]

Bought a while ago but got to use it in anger heaps recently, Virutex abrasive planer, this thing is amazing! Chews through timber like a hot knife in butter, doesn't clog, allows manual shaping and quick smoothing of irregularities.

I used this to even out high spots on dozens of large sheets of MDF screwed to walls, but because of nails and screws couldn't use a sander or normal planer, so used this, it just chewed everything up with ease. I bought a swag of the sanding drums but the one I've really used and abused has barely any sign it's even used, so I may have bought way more than I'll ever use! Got it from Beyond Tools, couldn't recommend highly enough having one of these in your kit!

This is the model:
https://www.virutextools.com/abrasive-planer-ce23n-pid332

 

[Cheese]

Bought a while ago but got to use it in anger heaps recently, Virutex abrasive planer, this thing is amazing! Chews through timber like a hot knife in butter, doesn't clog, allows manual shaping and quick smoothing of irregularities.

What happens if you hit screws or nails? It looks like the abrasive drums are aluminum.

 

[semenza]

There is an adjustable curved base add on that works on outside curves.

Seth

 

[luvmytoolz]

What happens if you hit screws or nails? It looks like the abrasive drums are aluminum.

It just laughs at the screws and nail heads and ploughs on through them!

The drum maybe looks spent from my crappy pic, but I just didn't brush the dust off it, it actually still is as good as new after having hit dozens of screws/nails!

 

[luvmytoolz]

There is an adjustable curved base add on that works on outside curves.

Seth

There's 3 models, one with a curved based that does convex and concave curves which I'll now be getting, one with a straight base, which is what I have, and a third that cleverly takes the sanding drums as well as a conventional planer head with knives!

Some of the Virutex stuff is a bit ho hum and really don't compare to Festool tools, but this, the tilting router, and the lipping planer are just really awesome tools!

 

[Crazyraceguy]

I have never seen this. I'll have to check it out. The idea is great, if it works.

 

[luvmytoolz]

I have never seen this. I'll have to check it out. The idea is great, if it works.

It works fantastic, the drums are 40, 50, 60 grit in Alu Oxide, with the 60 also in Zirconia. The Alu ones are amazingly tough, don't think of them like sandpaper, many orders of magnitude tougher. I did about 15sqm on the first drum and it looks perfect despite frequently cutting through the tops of many 45mm screws and nails.

I couldn't have done the walls without it, not without destroying tools or going through an incredible amount of media anyway.

 

[Crazyraceguy]

I checked into it this morning, but Virutex's website sucks. It's one of those stupid revolving things that won't just sit still and allow me to surf it how I want. Looks like $349 directly from them, but I haven't checked retailers for availability yet.

 

[semenza]

The home page revolves but not the tool group pages. 

        https://www.virutextools.com/specialty-planers-cid12

Seth

 

[Tom the Remodeler]

I have a handful of the Virutex routers (door mortiser and the weather strip router), they make nice tools. I'm not aware of any retailers other than direct sales through Virutex.

Thanks for the feedback on that sander, it's been on my radar for awhile now, great to hear some user feedback.

 

[luvmytoolz]

Beyond Tools in OZ is our local supplier:
https://beyondtools.com/collections/virutex

Along with a couple of the smaller routers I bought the 317S tilting router, which is a great machine, really nicely made, very robust. I also have a few other tools like the chamfering planer, that's really a very handy tool, I use it a lot more than I thought I would.

The tools are mostly quite well made and designed, except maybe the combination rip/mitre saw, I regret buying that one quite a bit, underpowered motor, noisy as heck, not very accurate, table mechanism is junk. It's surprisingly bad seeing how other Virutex tools like the tilting router are so good.

The one thing that really sucks is their routers tend to come with Euro style collets, so 8mm, 10mm, 12mm, which of course we don't use in OZ. So you have to shell out for the 1/4", 1/2" collets.

I came really close to pulling the trigger on the trimming machine, but I have an old ELU DS140 biscuit joiner that has the swivelling body so you can use it as a trimmer for panelling, archs, etc. If you ever see one of these on Ebay, I'd highly recommend them, they are a fantastic and very useful tool, and far better as a biscuit joiner than the standard ones that the body pushes in IMHO anyway.