Festool belt sander and sanding frame

[Jeremy Nako]

Looking for some advice from anyone who uses one of these.

Would this be a suitable solution for flattening end grain chopping boards..?

I know that there are many ways to do this (drum sanders, router sleds, hand planes etc) but I'm looking to do all my research based on my own circumstances before making a purchase of any sort.

 

[Ollie78]

For the frame to work properly wouldn't you need a sort of jig the same height you want the board to be . How does it work when over the edge?
My trusty old Makita 9404 belt is a beast at flattening stuff, but you need to be careful to maintain even flatness, I guess this is the purpose of the frame.
I vote for a simple router sled for flattening end grain boards,and slabs.
You can make one from scraps in an hour and adjust its height with bearers to suit the work. Pretty much free if you have a router already. Then a quick sand and it's done.

Ollie

 

[Nelsun]

I've not used mine on end grain boards but I have used it to flatten many larger things (including subfloors) with good results; mostly to hog off the worst of things before returning to more *cough* traditional methods. It is a belt sander after all.

Edges are no bother so long as you keep enough of the frame registered on your "whatever" then you're good. It's a quick and easy process that, dare I say it, doesn't require sharpening Dust collection is better than I expected but you still generate piles around the edges.

I've just had a quick google and they appear to be quite hard to come by and, even then, the price has rocketed - there's a used set on ebay that's over £100 more than I paid new 6 years ago

FWIW, there's a blue Bosch version and frame that's based off the same sander as the Festool. Quite a bit cheaper too.

 

[scholar]

Looking for some advice from anyone who uses one of these.

Would this be a suitable solution for flattening end grain chopping boards..?

I know that there are many ways to do this (drum sanders, router sleds, hand planes etc) but I'm looking to do all my research based on my own circumstances before making a purchase of any sort.

It’s the perfect thing for the job (if you don’t have a powerful wide belt sander (as I don’t)).

I have a (quite old now) BS105 + frame and I think it is one of the best Festools I have. This one was rough before finishing with the belt sander

I had read that the frame was unavailable, but perhaps that was a US thing.

Cheers