Converting Festool to PSA?

[johnny means]

Anyone done it? If so, how? How were you results?

[Bruce Page]

I don't understand why would you want to. H&L is reusable and so much more convenient.

[johnny means]

Sand paper is not reused in a professional environment. I don't consider 5" discs reusable at all. If it comes off the sander, it goes in the trash. Maybe the hand sanding box, if it's really new. PSA paper is much cheaper. PSA pads don't spend half their lives worn out and barely sticking. All hook and loop is a tad soft. Can't make throw away sanding blocks with hook and loop. My employer stocks PSA.

[Mike Schuch]

I have 2 Porter Cable 6" right angle random orbit sanders and a Fein 6" right angle random orbit sander. I keep a different grit on each. They all use PSA paper and it works very well for me. I picked up the first Porter Cable new and the second Porter Cable and Fein used. The Fein is a bit more energetic and seems to sand a bit quicker. Both the Porter Cable and Fein do an excellent job though.

I have been using really cheap paper and it has actually been working quite well for me: http://www.harborfreight.com/6-in-120-grit-psa-sanding-discs-50-pc-69960.html These seem to work better than the the Porter Cable branded discs.

All of my sanders use a 1/4" - 20tpi studs to mount the pads to the sander. I can just unscrew the pad (holding the arbor still with a wrench) from the sander and screw on a new one, PSA or hook and loop.

I also have 3 Porter Cable / Rockwell 505 half sheet sanders with different grits. All of them I purchased used, They work great on cabinets and larger surfaces.

Why do I have so many sanders?... I really don't like sanding!

[Bruce Page]

Sand paper is not reused in a professional environment. I don't consider 5" discs reusable at all. If it comes off the sander, it goes in the trash. Maybe the hand sanding box, if it's really new. PSA paper is much cheaper. PSA pads don't spend half their lives worn out and barely sticking. All hook and loop is a tad soft. Can't make throw away sanding blocks with hook and loop. My employer stocks PSA.

Yeah, I was speaking as a hobbyist. Here's what I don't like about the PSA, I have 4-5 boxes of PSA that are several years old and it is almost impossible to peel the plastic backing off. I got so frustrated with it that I bought the Festool 150 ETS H&L and never looked back.

[Mike Heidrick]

Mesh through paper dust collection al la mirka abranet or any of their *net products and a interface pad to protect the original pad = awesome. You will waste time on cleaning off adhesive.

Attach velcro to your blocks with psa velcro and reuse your blocks

Help your employer learn what to stock.

[johnny means]

Mesh through paper dust collection al la mirka abranet or any of their *net products and a interface pad to protect the original pad = awesome. You will waste time on cleaning off adhesive.

Attach velcro to your blocks with psa velcro and reuse your blocks

Help your employer learn what to stock.

We are talking about hundreds of discs a day, dozens of mechanics. They're not changing things because I'm a pansy about dust. Average mechanic in the shop had over 30 years experience, we all know how to peel off PSA discs without tearing.

Note that I've thoroughly rejected H&L, any ideas on converting to PSA?

[fRED mCnEILL]

My comment is not about H&L vs PSA but rather sanding in general and sandpaper elicited by commments on this thread.

I have a Festool RO 150 sander which goes from EXTREMELY aggressive in rotary mode to fine finish sanding in RO.mode. I tried Klingspore paper and Festool and Abranet. None were satisfactory for what I was doing i.e. making boxes with boxes joints. Because the box joints were proud of the surface it would tear the sandpaper. Festool was just as bad as Klingspore but 3 times the cost. Abranet was no better and just as expensive. I hated sanding.

Then I built a Malloof style rocking chair. This requires heavy duty sanding i.e. sculpting with a angle grinder up through 500 grit and finally polishing with a wool pad. In other words LOTS of sanding. Almost 50 sheets for one chair. But I also discovered Industrial Abrasives sandpaper at the same time. It sands well, its lasts, it doesn't tear and its 1/3 the cost of Festool and Abranet. And it comes with holes for Festool While my experience hasn't made me LOVE sanding it has allowed me to enjoy it for the results it produces. I used to think that 240 was a nice smooth finish. Not any more. BTW, they have both PSA and H&L.

Regards

Fred.

[John Schweikert]

My suggestion is to pose the same question on the Festool Owners Group. The FOG is of course dedicated to users of Festool; so you may find more ideas.

[ian maybury]

Convenient removal of PSA is the issue to my mind. It depends a lot on sourcing an abrasive with the right paper/fabric and adhesive combo - there are PSA adhesives that will peel pretty easily, but others that are a total pain. Even with the usual stand by of heating the disc a bit first. I'd love to hear of more effective removal techniques, because i too prefer the reliably flat surface delivered by self adhesive discs.

I'm not familiar with the Festool ROS, but imagine that one way of converting to PSA might be to make an aluminium disc with appropriately placed air/suction holes in a decent thickness like 1/8in or 3/16in in a reasonable hard grade (so that it doesn't bend), and to cover it on the back side with the the required self adhesive (hook or loop?) velcro. The other face would then be available to stick PSA discs too presuming they come in the correct diameter and air hole pattern.

If it was to see heavy and repetitive use it might be worth anodising the aluminium disc so that it has a hard and scratch resistant surface on both sides...

:) Maybe even offer a conversion kit if there's a market for it?

ian

[johnny means]

https://thesandingglove.com/Velcro-To-PSA-Conversion-Discs.asp

Think I'll give these a try. Figure I'll cut holes in them and come up with some sort of a hole punch for the paper.