Help with festool sander purchase

[David Huston]

I am going to be building some shelves under our stairs and will need to do sanding once it is installed and trimmed out. So I was thinking about getting a festool sander for the superior dust collection. I was looking at the ets125 and the ct26 combo. Then I thought about maybe just getting the rotex125 since I also need to refinish some cabinet doors and drawers in the kitchen and thought the aggressive mode will help doing that. The problem is can't really afford the rotex and the ct26 right now. I do have a shop vac (cheap and small ) that I could use with rotex. I have bags for the shop vac but it is one that has an open port on the opposite side of the hose and I always think it is just spraying dust out the other side. Any thoughts?

[Andy Giddings]

David, would help if you can give some more details - with the refinishing, are you looking to take the existing finish back to bare wood or just looking to apply new finish over old? What is the current finish? How detailed are the doors and drawers in terms of moldings etc? How many doors and drawers are you refinishing? Is your existing vac not collecting any dust or just not collecting the fine stuff?

[David Huston]

The doors and drawers are all shaker flat panel style. I will eventually need to do the whole kitchen probably but I will probably just 5 or 6 at a time. I did some last year and took then down to pretty much bare wood won't my dewalt ros. I don't think it will do that this time. Thinking about just a good sanding followed by a coat of bin and the top coating with GF white poly. I believe the original finish was Gemini lacquer. Cabinet guy was rushed toward the end of the job and I think there was only one coat put on. Tonight the shop vac sprayed dust everywhere because I didn't know the bag had ripped. Think one of my kids used it to suck up some water. I haven't really noticed a major problem before but that was using it in the garage. Just worried about using it in the house. Don't want spend days wiping everything down before the wife and kids get back from vacation!

[Andy Giddings]

If you are painting over the existing finish is it in such a state that you have to remove it? As long as its reasonably sound you may be able to degrease it and scuff sand which would be a lot easier and cheaper.

As to the right sander for the job, in light of your concerns over dust management I would go for the sander and CT combo unless you can take the doors and drawers somewhere a dust cloud won't matter. I don't think you are going to see a substantial difference between the Rotex and the ETS for this app, and you may want to consider the rectangular sander over a circular pad - would allow you to get more done in the panel corners (either the DTS or RTS 400).

[Hoang N Nguyen]

In your case I would go with the ETS instead of the Rotex. The rotex in orbital mode doesn't do as nice of a finish sanding job as the ETS will. I have the ETS EC 150 with the CT36 and love it. Zero dust when sanding, the sander is light weight and easy to control and with the right paper, can remove paint and stains at a good rate. Andy makes a good point with either the DTS or RTS as they can get into corners the ETS can't. I just feel those 2 sanders don't get used that often and can't justify the cost of having them so I just hit the corners by hand and move on.

[Jim Becker]

I own both a 150/3 and a Rotex. The latter rarely gets used simply because it's larger and less comfortable to use. The most recent time I used it was for reconditioning my bench top. Previous to that, the last time I used it was for taking a rusty 3-point back blade for the Kubota down to bare metal for refinishing. I agree with Hoang that for general needs like you describe, the ETS and CT are the better investment at this point. And the rotary action of the Rotex may actually be too aggressive for the refinishing work you mention, too. Turn it off and you essentially have the same exact action as the regular ETS. ;)

[Sam Murdoch]

The problem with the ETS 150/3 is that it is 150. Having stated that qualifier - I love this sander as a finish sander and even for light paint removal and/or more aggressive sanding work using the right abrasive. However for cabinet sanding - door panels in frames and face frames the 150 is big, not necessarily too big but big nonetheless. Still, it is the sander I use 99% of the time - a very excellent tool.

On the other hand, I do not own the ETS 125 but I have read that it is to much of a light weight for a serious finish sander . I don't know more than that about it. I bought instead the RO125. This was about 6 or 7 years ago. The ROs are great sanders but do require a learning curve as they tend to be bouncy until you learn to tweak down the suction and how to hold it for the job at hand. In the rotary mode it is every bit as good at stock removal as a belt sander but better because it is more controllable (once you develop the touch). I think it outperforms a belt sander. In fact I no longer use belt sanders. Never any need. (The one belt sander exception is that I use a compact Porter Cable # 371 for scribing.) As a finish sander the RO 125 is OK - it will do finishing but does not compare to the ETS. The ETS IS a finish sander.

I recently bought an RO 90. This is a pretty nice little machine that I think could do very well sanding face frames, cabinet door frames and cabinet door panels that aren't super sized. I have yet to use mine for this but in spite of my caution above about the ROs I would be inclined to pick up the RO 90 for cabinet type sanding and ONLY use my bigger ETS for the door panels and cabinet finish sides etc. Face frames and door frames and the hips on raised panels would be an excellent chore for the small RO.

I don't know if I have helped here or just confused the issue. :confused: Still, fun having to decide - ENJOY!

[Bill Adamsen]

I too own the ETS EC 150/3 (and Rotex and other orbitals). The ETS is a versatile and a quality machine. Lazily, I have actually used it for polishing and it works for that as well.

[Wade Lippman]

I've never used either sander (my only Festool is a detail sander); but you don't need the CT26. I have used a few different vacuums over the years and they all work fine. Spend a bit of the money you save and put a dust deputy before the vacuum and you will be thrilled.

Admittedly I don't know what a hole opposite the hose means...

[Dan Friedrichs]

I had an ETS125 and sold it (at a large loss) and replaced it with a RO125. The ETS125 was just way too slow.

Is there a Festool dealer near you? I'd go try them both out and see what you like.

Regarding the vac: I have a CT Mini, and it's nice, but IMHO, WAY overpriced for what it does. Get a aftermarket HEPA filter and speed controller for whatever sort of shop vac you have, and you'll be sufficiently happy.

[David Huston]

Thanks for all the comments. Thinking about the ETS EC 125 due to comments about the ETS being underpowered. Will probably stick with the shop vac for now. I guess if I get a lot of dust from sanding in the house it will be easier to talk the wife into the CT26 when the next project rolls around!

[Victor Robinson]

Thanks for all the comments. Thinking about the ETS EC 125 due to comments about the ETS being underpowered. Will probably stick with the shop vac for now. I guess if I get a lot of dust from sanding in the house it will be easier to talk the wife into the CT26 when the next project rolls around!

You probably already know this, but the Festool vacs are 15% off right now through the end of June. Festool sales are rare, usually only once a year and only a specific product line (e.g. sanders or vacs or Dominos). They also increase in price approximately each April 1 anywhere from 2-5%.

[Geoff Crimmins]

I have a DeWalt ROS and a Festool Mini vacuum. The sander is mediocre, but the Mini is plenty big for the job and the dust collection is great. I have used several of my friend's sanders, and find the Rotex to be rather heavy and hard to control for many jobs. The ETS 125 is a nice sander, but isn't aggressive enough for some projects. He also has a Ceros sander, which I love. It's small, light weight, easy to control, and plenty aggressive. But I hear that there have a been a couple of recalls on the Ceros sanders, so I'm not sure what to recommend. The new brushless Festool sanders might be the best compromise. I tend to avoid 6" sanders because you can't buy sanding disks for them where I live. Maybe that's not the best way to choose a sander, but I'd like to be able to buy disks locally if I get in a bind.

--Geoff

[Andrew J. Coholic]

I have been using two of the older ETS EQ 125's in the shop for about 5 years. I also have one ROtex 125. The ETS's are finish sanders. Not very aggressive, and they are not used for anything other than final sanding in 120+ after material has been wide belt sanded or otherwise prepped.

The RO 125 is a great little sander for aggressive work, I agree it is not the most ideal sander for fine sanding due to the design (really needs two hands). I do use it for solid surface sanding and polishing and it has replaced belt sanding on items like table top edges, etc that are too large to get up on a machine in the shop. The RO is a good "special purpose" sander but not what I'd want to use as my one and only.

I have had one of the new brushless ETS EC 125's in the shop now for 6 months. Its been used heavily (daily use between three employees). I can say, it is my favourite all around sander - much more power, and can be much more agressive than the ETS EQ, but it is also easy to handle, and leaves a fine finish. Im going to pick up a second one soon.

My favourite all around sander was the Mirka CEROS, ours gets used a lot as well. But I think I prefer the Festool ETS EC now, as it has better dust pick up and otherwise behaves similarly. I do prefer a 5" sander for most of the work done by hand (again, everything in my shop gets machine sanded before being hand sanded). I have a few 6" sanders (the Ceros and a few pneumatics) but 5" is a great size IMO for general work in the furniture and cabinet world.

Having to choose one sander, I'd pick the newer ETS EC. Hope that helps somewhat.

[Neil Gaskin]

David. If your only running the sanders the smallest vac works well. We use them in our shop without a problem. You can also look at the fien vacs which cost a bit less. As for the sanders. If your not stripping and only doing a light sand the rotex function is overkill but the rotex 125 is a very useful tool in the application you are looking at.

[Rich Riddle]

I use the Rotex 125 and find it's a very useful size. It certainly has good dust collection.

[mreza Salav]

I bought the ETS125 and returned it soon after, wasn't any better than my old 5" portercable at 1/5 of the price.
Got ETS150 and have used it a lot. Good sander.

[Mike Hollingsworth]

I have both. If I were stranded on a desert Isle and could have only one, it would be the 150.

[Julie Moriarty]

My opinion about the Festool sanders I own:

Rotex 125 - I bought this with the CT 26 and it takes some getting used to. It can be very aggressive but isn't much of a fine sander and its weight doesn't help in that matter either. I only use it for aggressive sanding.
Rotex 90 - My go to for small aggressive jobs. I sanded the finish off the face frames of our kitchen cabinets and it made the job a breeze. It also has a triangular head attachment that works very well. I prefer it over the ETS 125, even for fine sanding.
ETS 125 - Nice little sander for fine sanding. If you're doing big jobs you will tire easily. I very rarely use this sander and I wouldn't miss it if it was gone.
ETS 150/3 & 150/5 - I use these sanders for every sanding job other than listed above. I absolutely love them! I even use them for smaller work. They are easy to control and lie flat on the surface.


Dust collection on all of these sanders is excellent with the CT 26. They have changed the way I work and I tend to take on more projects because of them.

[Albert Lee]

if you can afford it oneday, you might want to considered Lex series, runs on compressed air and no power cord getting in the way!

I had a ETS150 for 3 years before I upgraded to the LEX 3. I prefer the pneumatics over the electric, anyday.

[Julian Tracy]

The ETS 150 3/5 sanders (original series) are absolute gems. I tried the new ones briefly at a demonstration and found them to be a bit buzzy in comparison, but I've got friends that love them.

With my ETS 150, I've been able to completely sand off the finish on dark walnut finished cabinet doors - they can be aggressive if need be.

I've had a few ets125 sanders and like others here, found it to be pretty unremarkable. Not a whole lot different than any other 5" sander really. I've had a few rotexes too, the rotex 150, and have sold them. They're no good really as a finish sander, and how often do you really need to hog off material in rotex mode? Unless you do a lot of shaped furniture, I'd forgo the 125/150 Rotex models.

The Rotex 90 though is a great little sander and worth the buy because it's so versatile.

If I had to have just one, I'd get the ETS 150/5 sander; its a pleasure to use.

As for vacs, I've had Fein Turbo's, Festool CT22's and the newer CT26. I currently use the Festool CTmidi; love it. MUCH easier to carry around, holds a lot of dust and the filter bags are actually very easy to empty out and reuse.

JT

[Lou Ortiz]

I have an RO90, RO150, and ETS150 among others. I had thought the rotex wouldn't really work in setting up for finishing, but after watching this video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZZyypf-Qqk - I found I might not have been using it appropriately i.e. not using the rotex on higher grits. I recently finished a large kitchen table in considerably less time than the last with the ETS150, plus it's absolutely swirl free. ETS150 can be a little finicky that way.