wouldwurker Posted December 11, 2014 Report Share Posted December 11, 2014 http://www.festoolusa.com/power-tools/sanders/rs-2-e-orbital-finish-sander-567696 I really enjoy making small boxes. In the Doug Stowe videos and books, he does all his finishing sanding on an inverted 1/2 sheet sander (appears to be clamped, and on a sandbag of sorts), and takes the wood to the tool. I like this on boxes, mostly because my current method of clamping them down and rotating them 6 times is a royal pain...change grits, rinse and repeat. I bought a disc sander, but it's aggressive and not really right for this application. The ROS tends to round over the edges if I'm not careful. As always, there's lots of range in price here. The Festool is $400, and I'm happy to pay it today if it's worth it. That said: 1. Is this a case where Festool shines above all again and the price is worth it? 2. Any major reason I shouldn't buy a half sheet sander? As always, thanks --VJ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trip Posted December 11, 2014 Report Share Posted December 11, 2014 I’ve got the FT and the PC... The FT’s a fine-stroke sander (2.5mm?) and excellent at veneer jobs (quite a few veneer pros use that sander) where controlled stock removal is the name of the game… The issue with fine stroke ½ sheet sanders is that thay are sloooooow.... Folks tend to get impatient and down-grit when they shouldn’t… The PC is also good and a medium-stroke (4mm?). The PC will remove stock quite a bit faster, but you've got to be more careful when sanding veneers... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vyrolan Posted December 11, 2014 Report Share Posted December 11, 2014 The ROS tends to round over the edges if I'm not careful. Do you have the rigid pad for your FT ROS? If not that would probably help alleviate the rounding problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wouldwurker Posted December 11, 2014 Author Report Share Posted December 11, 2014 Vy: My ROS is a Bosch. Thanks Trip - is swapping out grits relatively easy? Also, 'PC', you're referring to Porter Cable, yes? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vyrolan Posted December 11, 2014 Report Share Posted December 11, 2014 Vy: My ROS is a Bosch. Whoopsie! I though I remember seeing a FT one in your journal about the sanding station. My bad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wouldwurker Posted December 11, 2014 Author Report Share Posted December 11, 2014 That's possible I was posting photos of other people's projects for a while. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trip Posted December 11, 2014 Report Share Posted December 11, 2014 PC = PorterCable Swapping grits is easy, the FT is both clamp and H&L. The PC is clamp. There may be a H&L pad for the PC, but I haven't seen it... To vyrolan's point, a hard pad does help with edges... The 150/5 with a hard pad (blue) is a great medium-grit sander... While both members of the sander family, the RoS and 1/2 sheet are different species.... The DA combines ease of use and rapid stock removal with minimal swirl pattern. The half sheet shines at controlled stock removal and uniform stock removal over a large flat surface (they are the Kings of veneered tabletop sanding). They are a bit harder to use properly because most learn to use a RoS first, and then assume all sanders are used in the same way... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wouldwurker Posted December 11, 2014 Author Report Share Posted December 11, 2014 Really appreciate the info,Trip. Good man Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Cancelleri Posted December 11, 2014 Report Share Posted December 11, 2014 Trip's the resident sander expert. Sold me on the 150/3, and I couldn't be happier with it's results. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barron Posted December 11, 2014 Report Share Posted December 11, 2014 I like Doug's books as well. For the smaller boxes I really like my Rigid oscillating sander with the belt attachment and a 120 grit belt, followed with hand sanding. The Rigid also does great in leveling the splines that the book illustrates. The Rigid is only $200 (at least as of earlier this year at Home Depot). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vyrolan Posted December 12, 2014 Report Share Posted December 12, 2014 They are a bit harder to use properly because most learn to use a RoS first, and then assume all sanders are used in the same way... Since we're in the "extract useful info from Trip" mood, I would ask what you consider proper technique for ROS and half sheet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trip Posted December 14, 2014 Report Share Posted December 14, 2014 Better shown with a video... I think Darryl’s veneer pressing video has a demo of using the 1/2 sheet sander… I’ll see if I have the video clip somewhere: https://www.vacupress.com/videos.htm… 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wouldwurker Posted December 15, 2014 Author Report Share Posted December 15, 2014 I like Doug's books as well. For the smaller boxes I really like my Rigid oscillating sander with the belt attachment and a 120 grit belt, followed with hand sanding. The Rigid also does great in leveling the splines that the book illustrates. Do you have yours inverted as well? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wdwerker Posted December 15, 2014 Report Share Posted December 15, 2014 The Ridgid doesn't operate inverted. The osselating mechanism needs gravity to come back down. I have no idea about the 1/2 sheet sander, I've been using Random orbit for years. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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