Festool RS 2

[Greg Pavlov]

I decided to initiate my new RS 2 a few days ago on a walnut table top that needs refinishing. Never having used an orbital this powerful before, I went for the discretion over valor route and hit a scrap piece of wood first with 120 Brilliant. It seemed fine, so I lowered the orbit rate to 4 (seemed to be the way to go per Festool's setting suggestions) and went at the table. The sander started crabbing off to the right. It did this several times. I increased the orbit rate to 6 or so and applied some pressure and the sander generally settled down but every minute or so seemed to try to pull towards the right. After making several passes I went to 180 grit and things got better still but never as smooth as I expected.

I'm assuming that this is operator error, but I thought I'd check. I had read that I should put the minimum amount of pressure on the sander and just let it do its work. But maybe I was taking Jerry Work's "No downward pressure is needed and none is desirable" too literally. And it also looks like orbit rate makes a difference. Am I doing something wrong?

[tom crawford]

I do not have that particular sander but do have other Festool sanders. Do you have a vacuum connected to the sander? I find I have a similar problem, particularly with the ETS125, if I have the CT22 dust collector set to full vacuum. If I lower the vacuum all the way the problem goes away yet all dust is collected. You might also try posting yout question at
festoolusersgroup dot com

[Greg Pavlov]

Thanks. Yes, the RS 2 was connected to a CT22 with the dial set to the halfway point, which was based on stuff I'd read. I lowered it a bit, which didn't make any difference that I noticed. I hadn't thought of dialing it back all the way, thinking I wouldn't get effective dust pickup, but if no one else thinks that anything's wrong, I'll try that next time.

[Gary Keedwell]

Greg...let us know how you make out as I have had my eye on that
sander for months:)
Gary K.

[Emmanuel Weber]

Greg,

When I use the RS2 I do not need to lower the CT22 speed. I grab the sander with two hands and barely put any pressure. Unless I am sanding a finish (which I barely never do with the RS2) I always use the maximum orbit rate of 6.
I use the front hand to steer the sander and always keep the sander close to me so I always have full control of the beast.
The more resistance (lower grit, change in grain direction) the more chance the sander will want to take its own course.

Emmanuel

[Greg Pavlov]

Greg,

When I use the RS2 I do not need to lower the CT22 speed. .....[etc]
Emmanuel
Thanks. I had the top up pretty high so my angle to it wasn't ideal. I'm going to sand a birch top next and it will be at a better height (it *better* be, it's the top of my workbench...), so I should be able to keep better control of it. If not I'll take it back to the store and ask them to try it out.

[Bob Marino]

Greg,

Keep the speed high, vac moderate suction. Also, the brushes need to be worn in. As that happens, the sander will become smooooother.

Bob