What grits do you use the most?

[Runhard]

I'm in the process of ordering some abrasives for my RO90 and RO150 that I just ordered. My first project is to strip some old doors and my garage with 80yrs of paint. Then sand down my kitchen and bathroom to be repainted. After those projects I want to build a bed and try to get in to furnature making for myself. I am just a hobbyist and DIYer. So the question is what grits do I need? I have already ordered 150mm saphir in 24 and 36grit. I will also the get 24 and 40 grit for the delta head on my RO90 (I wish they made saphir for the 90mm pads). The rest I want in Granat and I was thinking 40, 60, 80, 120, 180, 240, 320, 400 for the RO150 and both pads of the RO90. Do I have my bases covered? Do I need more grits? Are some of the grits not needed? I will also be buying the systainers for each sander and will eventually add an ETS150/3.

Any advice would be more than welcomed!

Thanks for the help!

 

[semenza]

From my limited use of a few Granat grits, I like it for some things but not for everything.  I used Granat 150 and on bare wood I still prfer Rubin I that grit. But the Granat 150was excellent sanding two part wood filler.    I like Granat 120 on the Rotex150 for removing glue squueze out.  I still prefer Cristal for stripping I often use 60 or 80 gr for that. 

I know many do not like Rubin but I have found it to be great on bare wood  at 100 - 150 gr.  The new generation of Rubin is coming out / out  (Rubin 2 ), but even within the first gen  there is at least one variation. When I first  bought Rubin it had a darker color and a semi gloss sheen.  More recently it is a bit less red , and has a flat sheen. This is not isolated to a particular batch.  I still have some of both types. They also have a different letter code on the back.  The older type was better.  I hope the R2  goes in that direction.

For that paint stripping I would put some Cristal 60 or 80 in your line up.  In your general grit line up I would go with 100 and 150 in place of the 120.  If you want to reduce the amount you need to buy you could drop the 60 and 400 pretty easily.

Also be careful with that 24 and 36 Saphire it can really tear up wood. I'd be looking at Cristal 40 more so for the paint removal.

Seth

 

[mouppe]

I suggest you contact Tom Bellemare and buy one of his sandpaper sets in a T-loc.

For furniture-making, I use Rubin 100, 120, 180 and Brilliant 2 220 and 320. I also have a Granat set which is excellent for rubbing out finishes. The white and green Vlies pads are more for specific uses, and the Platin 2 for polishing.

 

[ccarrolladams]

Runhard,

Maybe my experience is of no help to you personally, because I only work with freshly milled wood and veneer plywood making custom cabinets. Only rarely do I use MDF or Melamine. All of my cabinets are sold unfinished on the exterior, although usually the interiors were made from pre-finished veneer.

Generally I only go to 120 grit, so I use the most of 120 grit Granat, with 80 grit Granat being my second most used. I own and use: 90mm; Delta for the RO90DX and the DX93; Delta for the DTS400; Rectangular for the RTS400; 125mm; 150mm.

I stock smaller quantities of Granat in other grits for all of those up to 400. I still have some Rubin I and Brilliant 2 left, although in the 80 and 120 grit for most shapes I have let that run out because I replaced them with Granat. For me the Granat gives consistent results during use and lasts so much longer that it save me a lot of money.

 

[Runhard]

Thanks for all the info so far. This is more complicated than I thought it would be. I have already spoke with a dealer and he is waiting for me to put my order in. It looks like I need saphir and cristal to strip paint and granat and rubin for bare wood, ply, and MDF. What's this about a new rubin2 coming out? This is hard trying to figure out everything I need to order all at once [sad]

 

[Kev]

New Rubin 2 is the latest. Granat is fairly new too. To me the Granat in the coarse grits is a good multi purpose paper (below 150). I feel that you need to be sympathetic to the purpose when you're sanding in higher grits.

Coarse Saphir will tear through most stuff with the ROTEX - be careful with it!

This guide http://www.festoolusa.com/media/pdf/abrasives_brochure.pdf is still relevant, just consider Granat as a multipurpose general paper on top (I don't think I've seen an updated application table).

 

[Kev]

This could be dangerous to read http://www.festool.co.uk/Service/Downloads/Documents/Catalogue_12-13_PDF/09_sanding.pdf

But it does describe the various abrasives quite well.

 

[Ken Nagrod]

I'm in the process of ordering some abrasives for my RO90 and RO150 that I just ordered. My first project is to strip some old doors and my garage with 80yrs of paint. Then sand down my kitchen and bathroom to be repainted. After those projects I want to build a bed and try to get in to furnature making for myself. I am just a hobbyist and DIYer. So the question is what grits do I need? I have already ordered 150mm saphir in 24 and 36grit. I will also the get 24 and 40 grit for the delta head on my RO90 (I wish they made saphir for the 90mm pads). The rest I want in Granat and I was thinking 40, 60, 80, 120, 180, 240, 320, 400 for the RO150 and both pads of the RO90. Do I have my bases covered? Do I need more grits? Are some of the grits not needed? I will also be buying the systainers for each sander and will eventually add an ETS150/3.

Any advice would be more than welcomed!

Thanks for the help!

My advice is to order an assortment from Tom Bellemare.  That will give you real experience with the different paper types and grit ranges.  Sure we can guide you as to what we use and like, but you may prefer something better.  I see lots of good feedback from members in this thread.

 

[fdengel]

Thanks for all the info so far. This is more complicated than I thought it would be. I have already spoke with a dealer and he is waiting for me to put my order in. It looks like I need saphir and cristal to strip paint and granat and rubin for bare wood, ply, and MDF. What's this about a new rubin2 coming out? This is hard trying to figure out everything I need to order all at once [sad]

You don't need saphir unless you are trying to reshape concrete or some such; it's for hard materials, not really intended for stripping paint.  Saphir is the only sandpaper I was ever tempted to wear gloves to handle -- it's great stuff, but a bit overkill for removing "normal" paint.  Save it for the hardest of sanding jobs.

Crystal is sufficient for stripping paint -- if you're just removing paint, get a relatively fine grit like 60 or 80.  It's like having tiny rocks stuck to a paper backing; very agressive.  With the coarser grits, you're at much higher risk of eating up too much of the surface underneath the paint.  Just get one grit of Crystal for now to cover your paint stripping needs, then go from there.

Plus Rubin/Granat/whatever for the more "normal" sanding tasks.

 

[Alan m]

i would get the assortment and a few of the extras you want . then see what works for you. i wish i could have bought an assortment as i had to buy  whatever the dealer had at the time. i have too much of some and none of others. i need to stock up again.

 

[Scott B.]

80.

And the 150 Granat soft hand pads go like hot cakes.

 

[NoBreyner]

What's true for me is that I use the lower grits the most.  40 rarely when shaping or quick flattening, 60 when progressing from 40, then there's 80 grit that's my starting point when the surface is pre surfaced.  I got my T-Loc Granat assortment from Tom.  I think I'll have to buy the lower grits long before any grit 120 or finer.

 

[Scott B.]

It's really an interesting question, when you think about it. The abrasives you are going through pretty well reflect the work you are doing. I do both interior and exterior sanding in many scenarios and 80 goes the fastest.

We use higher grits more, but don't go through them as much. 80 has a hard life. First on the scene usually, and it shows.

 

[davee]

I generally start with 80 and use twice as much of this grit as any other. I have some lower grits but seldom use them as they are so aggressive. I generally stop at 180. My wife is the finisher and sands to 220 or sometimes finer. My go to run is 80-120-180-220.  If using rotex I switch between geared and random for each grit. The abrassive assortment in a systainer is well worth the investment.  In the lowe grit I have Rubin but wish I had more granat mixed in.

 

[sancho57]

RO 90, 40, 80 100, 150 Granat

ETS 150, 100,120,150,220, Granat

 

[Runhard]

Thanks for all the input. I ended up ordering  Granat 40-60-80-120-180  for all three pad sizes. That should give me a pretty good start. I also ended up getting the CXS [big grin]

 

[Kev]

Thanks for all the input. I ended up ordering  Granat 40-60-80-120-180  for all three pad sizes. That should give me a pretty good start. I also ended up getting the CXS [big grin]

Hmmm - sounds like a Centrotec installers set will be a likely addition the way you're going  [big grin]

 

[Runhard]

Thanks for all the input. I ended up ordering  Granat 40-60-80-120-180  for all three pad sizes. That should give me a pretty good start. I also ended up getting the CXS [big grin]

Hmmm - sounds like a Centrotec installers set will be a likely addition the way you're going  [big grin]

I wish, but I don't think it's available anymore. I would like to have a smaller centrotec set. I honestly don't know why I keep buying more Festool stuff. Everything I have has hardly been used at all. All the tools still have that nice new Festool smell  ;D Festool really is addictive!

 

[ScotF]

Thanks for all the input. I ended up ordering  Granat 40-60-80-120-180  for all three pad sizes. That should give me a pretty good start. I also ended up getting the CXS [big grin]

Hmmm - sounds like a Centrotec installers set will be a likely addition the way you're going  [big grin]

I wish, but I don't think it's available anymore. I would like to have a smaller centrotec set. I honestly don't know why I keep buying more Festool stuff. Everything I have has hardly been used at all. All the tools still have that nice new Festool smell  ;D Festool really is addictive!

Congrats on your purchase...I had to chuckle with your comment on the new Festool smell...I started a thread awhile back on this same topic!

In regards to grits, I think you have a good set...after you use the tools you will find out what works for you.  I personally have all grits from 40/50 all the way up to 500.  My typical sanding regiman is not to skip grits.  You can skip and get away with it, but I have found for my sanding style that it is faster working through each and every one.  I generally start with 80 grit as that is what works best for me removing milling marks from the planer or saw marks, etc...  I then progress up through the grits -- I find a spend less time on the higher grits.  I really like Granat for most things, but I also use quite a bit of Rubin and Brilliant.  The Rubin does not last very long and that is my main complaint with this paper -- I am eagerly awaiting the Rubin 2 to see how it performs.  Brilliant 2 works very well too and it is less cost than the Granat.  The Saphir you bought is some pretty tough stuff and a disk of that will last you a very, very long time.  My one grip with Granat is the backing is thin and you can tear it and it often wears out before the disk stops cutting. 

Enjoy your new tools and keep us posted on how the paper and sanders work out for you.

Scot

 

[hhh]

Primary use is Furniture Construction:
RoS /5: 80, 120
RoS/3 or RTS: 150, 180

Probably 120 is my most used

Rubbing-out / Finishing the Finish: 220, 320, 400 -- most used is 320