Festool ETS EC 150/5 sander - Anyone willing to compare to mine?

[BigDean]

Hi all,

I purchased one of these last month and am struggling to get to grips with it. It just doesn't feel comfortable to use. Festool tell me it is performing as it should.

Would be great to meet up with someone with one to compare and see if it is me or the machine.

Happy to travel a reasonable distance from Bath.

Thanks
Dean

 

[Doug B]

I’m too far away to help directly & my ets is a 2003 model so will be pretty different but I would ask are you letting the sander do the work, I’ve seen folks with sanders putting too much pressure on the sander & they have a really hard time controlling it

 

[BigDean]

I’m too far away to help directly & my ets is a 2003 model so will be pretty different but I would ask are you letting the sander do the work, I’ve seen folks with sanders putting too much pressure on the sander & they have a really hard time controlling it

Thanks Doug. If I put no pressure on, it wobbles around the board.

 

[Doug B]

Yeah it’s a case of getting used to the sander & applying the right amount of pressure, the rotex can be even worse if you try to be too aggressive

 

[Etaf]

does this help

 

[BigDean]

does this help

Thanks for those. I have watched the John McGrath one before. They way he holds the sander lightly to go through the grits makes it look effortless. I am sure some of it is my technique/lack of experience, but it really shouldnt be hard to use a sander...... I have several other Festool tools and they all just work. This one seems to be hard work!

 

[peter-harrison]

The first Festool sander I bought (not the same model as yours) was very vibey and I took it back. They said that the main bearing was sticky and replaced it. This fixed the problem.

 

[BigDean]

The first Festool sander I bought (not the same model as yours) was very vibey and I took it back. They said that the main bearing was sticky and replaced it. This fixed the problem.

Thanks for that. They have had it back and say it is performing as intended......

 

[akirk]

I have the same sander over in Bristol (10 minutes from Cribbs Causeway)
You are welcome to find time to come over and compare - mine has been purchased in the last month and I am happy with it...
PM if you want a trip over!

 

[Alli]

I have a festool palm sander that juddered quite a lot and was an effort to move around the work. I eventually found that turning down the extraction a bit stoped it sucking itself to the workpiece and I was able to glide the sander around with ease. Probably not what is going on with you but easily to rule out.

 

[BigDean]

I have a festool palm sander that juddered quite a lot and was an effort to move around the work. I eventually found that turning down the extraction a bit stoped it sucking itself to the workpiece and I was able to glide the sander around with ease. Probably not what is going on with you but easily to rule out.

Thanks for that. Tried various speeds on ct midi and on the sander without success.

I am meeting up with @akirk on Friday so we can work out if it is the tool, or if I am the tool!

 

[Etaf]

hopefully that goes well, i see Peter Millard has posted a first look at the
Festool ETS EC 150/5 First Impressions [video 563]

 

[sams93]

It took me a good year to get used to my rotex. The ETS is much less of a beast to use, I only have the 125/3 and that behaves quite well. I find with all the festool sanders what works best for me is holding them at the dust collection port and then using the other hand on the palm grip of the sander to guide them around the board

 

[BigDean]

Good news! Well, in the main.

Thanks a million to @akirk for spending time with me this morning.

The results are that without the "protection pad", the sander is working as expected. As soon as you add it, it seems to displace the centre of gravity. As this is a Festool product, it is disappointing that it ruins what should be a very good sander.

So this issue is now behind me, so protection pads in the bin and onwards and upwards.

Thanks everyone for your input.
BigDean.

 

[sams93]

Good news! Well, in the main.

Thanks a million to @akirk for spending time with me this morning.

The results are that without the "protection pad", the sander is working as expected. As soon as you add it, it seems to displace the centre of gravity. As this is a Festool product, it is disappointing that it ruins what should be a very good sander.

So this issue is now behind me, so protection pads in the bin and onwards and upwards.

Thanks everyone for your input.
BigDean.

I'm surprised the protextion pad was the issue. I run my ETS and Rotex with protection pads and never noticed any difference when I put them on v beforehand.

 

[akirk]

Lovely to meet up and chat...

I agree that protection pads shouldn't be an issue, but there is a noticeable difference between running the sander with it or without - if you were using the sander as a chippy on a site all day and having to replace the more expensive pads more frequently you would probably pay out for the cheaper protection pads to give you a big cost saving and not worry too much about the little difference in how it is used - but as a hobbyist it is enough of a niggling difference to annoy...

we tested on both sanders with and without and with / without dust extraction...

we then compared them to my green bosch hand sander and agreed that festool in any combination was much nicer