![]() ![]() (The "Titan" Festool papers sound great, but they are stearated and cannot be used with water based finishes.) Therefore I got Mirka Abranet paper (or should it be called "screen"?) at 600 and 800 grit to continue the rub out. ![]() The 400 grit Festool Brilliant paper worked good for the first pass, but that is the finest paper that I can get from Festool. I normally rub out my lacquer (or acrylic lacquer) finish with a ROS. I took both sanders in to the Makita service shop to be refurbished for $45 apiece. The Makita sanders got a stay of execution. After 10 rails, sanded faster than the Festool, the Norton disk was dead (but the little 5 inch disk had lasted 5 times as long as the 6 inch Festool disk). Disappointed, I went to the hospice and grabbed the dying Makita sander, and put on a new 150 grit disk. After 2 rails the sandpaper was dead, so I got a new sheet and did 2 more rails before the second disk was dead. I grabbed the Festool and put on a new sheet of 100 grit Rubin. I had trimmed the hardwood flush with the plywood using a lipping planer, so now had to sand out the "jointer" type marks on three sides of each of the 16 rails. The 80+ inch side rail and 60+ inch end rails were 8 inch wide plywood with hardwood edges. The first big "test" after I got the sander was building four queen size cherry beds with torsion box foundations (ok, two queen size bunk beds). I got a box of 100 grit Rubin at the local Woodcraft to see if that would speed things up. Sanding was pretty slow compared to the old sanders, but the ease of use and finish were great. It was easy to hook to my Fein vacuum, with the rubber adapter available from Fein. When the sander arrived, it felt good and operated well. Days later I got my 150/3 with a box of 150 grit "Rubin" (the recommended paper for bare wood) and a box of 400 grit "Brilliant" (for rubbing out finishes) The big wood test One or two hand, better with removable front handle off. So here is a comparison of the new and old sanders: prep is done on the other machines, and finer sanding, if any, is generally done by hand. In fact, the overwhelming majority of my wood sanding is at 150 grit. This made sense since I have an excellent jointer and planer, a drum sander, and don't make "sculpted" items like chair seats. Back in the days before everybody sold Festool, Bob Marino, my Festool salesman, discussed my requirements and suggested that I consider the 150/3 (even though it was only $260 rather than $440 - thank you Bob). The Rotex sounded like it would do everything, so I was ready to take the plunge. ![]() If I went with Festool, I was going to have to get all new abrasives anyway, so this seemed like a good time to move up from 5 inch to 6 inches. Lots of people really love the Festool sanders, and since I retired to full-time woodworking, I was willing to make the investment in a durable tool. Basically both were both worn out - they had served long and well, and deserved an honorable departure. set it back down without first waiting for it to stop, and you get a gouge (it could still be used, but with care not to lift without stopping). One Makita stopped working altogether, and the other spun the disk like a grinder if it was lifted off the work. Standard dust collection was very good, but I replaced their dust bag with a connection to a Fein automatic vacuum, and dust collection became excellent. There operation is smooth - I have not had any of the problems that I hear about hands going numb after long sanding sessions. They are not the cheapest sanders available that have their specifications, but were highly recommended on the Internet. How to improve on a good sander My upgrade to the Festool 150/3įor years I have been using two Makita BO5021 5 inch variable speed random orbital sanders. We receive a small commission if you click on the ads (selected by Google), or if you link to a product recommended by us. One-person business of woodworking and other crafts ![]()
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