Which sanding discs?

[WoodYewToo]

I've just acquired a Festool Rotex RO 150 and a Festool ETS EC 150/5 - and I now need to invest in some discs. From what I've read here and there, it appears the latest version of Granat can generally be regarded as fairly multipurpose for solid wood, sheet materials and painted surfaces etc. So I think I'll be buying a few different grits of Granat discs.

Unfortunately, Festool don't appear to sell a 'selection pack', so I need to buy individual boxes of different grit discs - and the per unit price is much cheaper if you buy the packs or 50/100 discs (instead of packs of 10). So I'm drawn to buying a few of the large boxes - but that soon adds up to a fair amount of cash. I know it's a bit of a 'How long is a piece of string' type question... but which grits would be a useful set for general DIY, house renovation etc plus construction of MDF furniture (and some solid wood furniture)?

Oh... and how much of an 'animal' is a Rotex 150? With say P40 or P60 discs, could it take rough sawn softwood and turn it into somewhat smoother timber for external/garden use (we're not talking fine cabinetry or PAR type finish - just repurposing pallet timber and the like into slightly less agricultural looking wood for making garden storage units / firewood stores etc.... without having to run the pallet wood through a planer thicknesser. Of course I wouldn't expect the finished timber to be as smooth as it would be if it had been planed.)?

Many thanks for your help.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Try 3M Cubitron.

 

[WoodYewToo]

Try 3M Cubitron.

Thanks Phil. Not heard of that. Will Google it.
Does it work OK with the Festool pad's hole pattern / dust extraction?

 

[Doug71]

Many people use the net type abrasives these days so hole pattern isn't a problem, Festool recommend you use a protection pad between the pad and abrasive though if using the net type so your pad lasts longer, some people do and some people don't. The protection pad does make the sanders pad feel a bit softer.

I tried using some 40 grit in my rotex to sand up some old beams and ruined 2 pads, it was like the 40 grit was just too grippy and the foam pad couldn't handle it. The first pad that ripped apart was an old one so I thought that was the reason it broke, I replaced it with a new pad and that did the same after a few minutes. The new pad was unused but I'd had it for a few years and have heard the adhesive can go off so that could have been the problem, either way I won't be using 40 grit again in geared mode

 

[sams93]

I've just acquired a Festool Rotex RO 150 and a Festool ETS EC 150/5 - and I now need to invest in some discs. From what I've read here and there, it appears the latest version of Granat can generally be regarded as fairly multipurpose for solid wood, sheet materials and painted surfaces etc. So I think I'll be buying a few different grits of Granat discs.

Unfortunately, Festool don't appear to sell a 'selection pack', so I need to buy individual boxes of different grit discs - and the per unit price is much cheaper if you buy the packs or 50/100 discs (instead of packs of 10). So I'm drawn to buying a few of the large boxes - but that soon adds up to a fair amount of cash. I know it's a bit of a 'How long is a piece of string' type question... but which grits would be a useful set for general DIY, house renovation etc plus construction of MDF furniture (and some solid wood furniture)?

Oh... and how much of an 'animal' is a Rotex 150? With say P40 or P60 discs, could it take rough sawn softwood and turn it into somewhat smoother timber for external/garden use (we're not talking fine cabinetry or PAR type finish - just repurposing pallet timber and the like into slightly less agricultural looking wood for making garden storage units / firewood stores etc.... without having to run the pallet wood through a planer thicknesser. Of course I wouldn't expect the finished timber to be as smooth as it would be if it had been planed.)?

Many thanks for your help.

If you go onto ebay you will find people selling 'selection packs' for you to try. I have always bought my pads from this bloke.

When I did some work with epoxy I needed really high grits so bought some selection packs as I didn't want to buy full sets. I use Granat and Granat Net.

I only really use 60,80,120,180,240 for woodwork (even from that I don't often use the 60 or 80), so I buy the small packs of those.

The rotex really is an animal, I only have the 125, but i find it even hard to handle. the handling of the 150 is supposed to be better. It is a technique to get used to, when I first had it I found it barely controllable.

 

[WoodYewToo]

Thanks for all your help and comments.

I've now got a small selection of Granat to get started with.

Next, I'll try some of the net type products (with a protection pad).

Thanks again.

 

[scholar]

You can get 24 grit for the Rotex 150 - this is good for cleaning up pallet wood etc.

Cheers

 

[WoodYewToo]

You can get 24 grit for the Rotex 150 - this is good for cleaning up pallet wood etc.

Cheers

40 is the most coarse I've got so far.
But good to know there's even rougher stuff available. Thanks.

 

[benjamino613]

3M cubitron seems to be the most highly reccomended on the internet. not tried them yet myself but ive used TREND packs (purple ones) and they have seemed to work well. from screwfix i think

 

[WoodYewToo]

3M cubitron seems to be the most highly reccomended on the internet. not tried them yet myself but ive used TREND packs (purple ones) and they have seemed to work well. from screwfix i think

Thanks.
Yes, Phil Pascoe also mentioned 3MCubitron earlier in this thread. I'll give it a go at some point. (Having never used any of this new-fangled mesh / net/ fibre stuff... I decided to use more conventional discs until I've got a feel for the new sanders. Yes... I guess that makes me old fashioned - as well as simply old!)

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Someone posted a link to a very comprehensive test of iirc 19 different sanding discs. They got hold of some very precise machinery for measuring the performance and wear, and Cubitron came out way on top. Abranet did well, and three branded ones - Makita, DeWalt and Bosch iirc were at the bottom.

 

[WoodYewToo]

Someone posted a link to a very comprehensive test of iirc 19 different sanding discs. They got hold of some very precise machinery for measuring the performance and wear, and Cubitron came out way on top. Abranet did well, and three branded ones - Makita, DeWalt and Bosch iirc were at the bottom.

Interesting.

I see some Cubitron in my future!

 

[sams93]

I found it difficult to find anyone selling cubitron in small quantities suitable for me to trial. I have 125mm ETS and Rotex which I appreciate are the less common smaller sized machines

 

[Woodwork Journey Dean]

The Smirdex Mesh pads and discs from ebrasives are the bee’s knees IMO
I rate them better than the 3M for what it’s worth

 

[sams93]

The Smirdex Mesh pads and discs from ebrasives are the bee’s knees IMO
I rate them better than the 3M for what it’s worth

someone actually gave me some of this stuff to try about 2 years ago - only the rolls but they were good, i didn't knwo they did mesh discs - i might give them a go

https://ebrasives.com/collections/s...et-125mm-sanding-discs?variant=32485288575031

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I was about to say they're expensive compared to Cubitron, but I just checked - I last bought Cubitron on Amazon at the end of March for £18.55, they're now £30.99.

 

[WoodYewToo]

I was about to say they're expensive compared to Cubitron, but I just checked - I last bought Cubitron on Amazon at the end of March for £18.55, they're now £30.99.

Wow!
And inflation is meant to be falling!

 

[sometimewoodworker]

Oh... and how much of an 'animal' is a Rotex 150? With say P40 or P60 discs, could it take rough sawn softwood and turn it into somewhat smoother timber for external/garden use (we're not talking fine cabinetry or PAR type finish - just repurposing pallet timber and the like into slightly less agricultural looking wood for making garden storage units / firewood stores etc.... without having to run the pallet wood through a planer thicknesser. Of course I wouldn't expect the finished timber to be as smooth as it would be if it had been planed.)?

The Rotex 150 can absolutely take rough sawn timber and leave it with as fine a finish as you want, if the wood will take the the grade of smoothness you want the Rotex can get it there, it can certainly give a finer smoother finish than a power planer.

If, for example, you are using yew (it is a softwood) you can get a virtual mirror smoothness.

Now while it can certainly do the job it may not be the best tool for it. If I were to do it with my Rotex I would start with geared and a course grit move to RO as the grits get finer, then to geared with the fine grits and sponges with polishing compound, done this way with the correct wood you can get a beautiful polished surface

Unfortunately, Festool don't appear to sell a 'selection pack', so I need to buy individual boxes of different grit discs - and the per unit price is much cheaper if you buy the packs or 50/100 discs (instead of packs of 10). So I'm drawn to buying a few of the large boxes - but that soon adds up to a fair amount of cash. I know it's a bit of a 'How long is a piece of string' type question... but which grits would be a useful set for general DIY, house renovation etc plus construction of MDF furniture (and some solid wood furniture)?

others have mentioned that many retailers will split boxes of Festool disks. the general opinion is that value for money the Festool disks are the best available.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

 

[sometimewoodworker]

This is an interesting test, however while it does test new disks (5 minutes per disk) and gives the amount of material removed during the test it only goes so far. Personally I am likely to use disks for much longer than 5 minutes only swapping them out when they dont cut well enough.

So the leading disks may well not stand the test of time. If you are in a commercial job your criteria maybe to swap paper out much sooner than a more cost conscious user as your customer will be paying for materials and your time.

in short;
The fastest cutting disk will win in a commercial job
The longest cutting disk will probably win for non commercial users.

long term testing is needed to determine if there is a single winner

EDIT I found they had actually tested for 5 x 5 minutes (not so easy to discover) so maybe there is enough data.