Festool for sanding drywall?

[Matt Meiser]

Anyone have any thoughts on whether or not it is a problem to use my ETS 150/3 and CT22 vac for some drywall sanding. I did one very small area (repairing where I cut out a piece of drywall to replace a shower valve) and it worked great with some 100 grit paper. I'll have a fair amount more to do in the next couple months since I will be cutting in a skylight and building an archway as well as some general repairs. The sanding I did was virtually dust free as usual with Festool and I'd rather spend money on a longer hose (for reaching in the skylight) than buying one of those drywall sanding vac kits which I hear are only fair at dust collection. However I don't want to ruin either the sander or the vac with the ultra-fine dust. :eek:

[Dave Falkenstein]

I used my Festool 150/3 sander and CT22 vac for a number of drywall repairs a couple of years ago. The sanding was dust-free, even on a ceiling, and there was no problem with either of the tools from the dust. I would not use these tools all day, every day for drywall sanding, but some repair jobs seemed to have no ill effects.

[Bob Marino]

Matt,

Dave's got it correct - no problem hurting the sander or vac.

Bob

[Tyler Howell]

Worked great for dry wall and all I had was the FS Mini.
Where it really shines is anti fouling boat paint.
That toxi stuff gets on everything.
This year I didn't look like the Blue Man Crew after sanding.:eek:
Go for it with gusto!!!

[jason lambert]

My dealer said it was fine just look under the pad every once in a while and clean the vents under there. But the sander will handle the dust fine. Infact with it's dust collection and dust removal design it is the best thing to use.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

I'd think that the DC on the thing might make it the single best sander for the purpose. I totaled a nice Block sander using it on drywall with no DC. However it's been my experience that there isn't anything quite as good as a quality pole sander for that particular job.

Same thing for cutting holes in the stuff. Nothing beats an old fashioned manual key hole saw and a knife. I got a Dewalt rotozip thing for cutting holes in drywall. It's terrible for that~!! I use it as a tile cutter and little else because the thing only flings Drywall dust everywhere. As a tile cutter it is pretty good.

[Tim Sproul]

Get lots of reps of shoulder presses in at the gym.

Your shoulder, especially with the added weight of 8-10 feet of vac hose, will need a bit of strength.

[jason lambert]

Yes I aggree a larger drywall sander is better. I was thinking to narrow in a 5" - 6" everything sander dust control on the fest is the best which is very important in sheetrock work also the ability for the fest tool sander not to suck itself to the wall and the edge guard make it a good tool for the job. I have never used the PC drawall sander to compaire it ro I do have the PC 6" sander thought which I just replaced with the fest.

[Steven Wilson]

The 150/3 will certainly work but it's a bit fine in it's action. I had a bathroom with a faux finish that stood very proud of the background. The 150/3 took too much time, the RO150 knocked it down in no time. I would go with something more aggressive like the RO150 but if the 150/3 is what you have then it will do the job just fine.

[Jim Becker]

I don't know that I'd use anything with power for sanding drywall mud...especially after watching the pros do it during my kitchen renovation. When I filled in around the new window in our eating area a couple years ago, I used the knife to knock off any ridges between coats, feathered out to 14" by the third and final application and after the last coat (like a scraper on wood) and did almost no sanding...what little I did do was with a single piece of 220 paper.

[Randy Denby]

I just got thru remodeling most of my home. We also stripped the texture off of the ceiling (12') and skim coated then retextured. (I hated the old popcorn texture) I tried powersanding with a vac, but soon noticed in a high angle light, that there was alot of deep swirl marks from the sander. Its hard to beat a flat manual sander to get it flat. BTW....i finally called in the pro's. Its tough to beat a man at his trade.And my 50th surprise ;) birthday party was coming up in a couple of weeks.