Festool Sanders User manual

Getting the Most from Festool Sanders
Text and photos by Jerry Work
It is always fun to watch visitors who come into my small gallery and studio
as they approach the fine furniture I design and hand craft. Unlike those
who stand back to look at flat art or sculpture, when looking at furniture
most people move quickly to a piece and invariably move their hands
across the surface while they take in the piece with their eyes from up
close. They might pause
to ask if it is OK to touch
the pieces first, but once
they know they can, the
tactile urge takes over.
At some point the question
is always asked, “what
kind of finish do you use?”
It does not make any dif-
ference if it is a flat oil
based finish or a highly
polished mirror-like finish,
they seem to think the
silky tactile feel is some-
how accomplished by the
application of a magic
elixir.
While the choice of finish
material is important to
achieving the desired
overall look and feel, the
far more important factor
is how the raw wood was
prepared before the appli-
cation of the finish material. And, that is what this manual is all about.

I thought long and hard about how best to organize this discussion. The sanders are
the machines which move the abrasive in a defined manner. The abrasives themselves
do all the cutting and shaping. However, in the process of cutting and shaping they also
produce a great deal of dust which can be quite harmful for the operator.
Festool wisely developed these three systems to work together: the sander, the abra-
sives and the dust collection components. Used together these not only make the
sanders more efficient and productive for the user but also greatly reduce the danger-
ous airborne particulate matter, making the work far safer and healthier and the tools
more pleasant to use day in and day out.
Finally, to make matters a bit more potentially confusing, as we come to understand
these different systems, there are at least three major standards by which the “grit” on
the sanding media are measured. So what is called 1000 grit by one standard is called
800 by another and 500 by still another “standard!”
All of these are important to getting the most from Festool sanders so I decided to or-
ganize this manual by first talking about the differences between the three grit “stan-
dards,” then talking about the dust collection systems and how they work together with
the sanders, then talking about the differences between the several different kinds of grit
media supplied by Festool, and then, finally, talking about the sanders themselves.
So, let’s go......

Three Different Grit “Standards”
In building fine furniture more than 50%
of one’s time goes into sanding, final as-
sembly, buffing and polishing. The sand-
ing part alone can take more than twice
the amount of time that it
took to machine all the
component parts of
the piece. Yet,
sanding processes,
tools and materials
are seldom as
carefully chosen as
are the machines
that cut the wood
components in the
first place.
Sanding, after all,
is just using some
kind of hard mate-
rial to abrade the
surface fibers of
the wood, shearing
them off to leave a
smooth feel to the
surface. Simple to
say, but hard to do
well. As you
abrade the surface
you also scratch
the surface. If
those scratch
marks are large
enough, they will
detract from, not add to the appearance
of the final product.
So, the trick is to learn how to use smaller
and smaller particles of the hard material
to remove the larger scratches and leave
smaller and smaller scratches until they
no longer are visible and to do so in such
a way that the entire surface of the fin-
ished piece is uniformly treated, corners
and all.
Initially, this work was done laboriously by
hand by scooping up naturally occurring
small rock particles (sand) and rubbing
them over the surface with animal skins
or cloth. Later, means were found
to adhere the sand to a paper
or cloth backing and what
we today call “sandpaper”
was born. That is where it
started, but far from where
it ended.
What we call “sandpaper”
today rarely is either really
sand in the way we nor-
mally think of sand nor is it
necessarily paper. The
abrasive particles can be
anything from natural ma-
terials like garnet and
diamonds that have been
carefully processed to be
as even in particle size as
possible to manmade ma-
terials like aluminum oxide
or silicone carbide engi-
neered with a very high
uniformity in particle size.
The backing material can
be various kinds of paper
derivatives or various
kinds of cloth materials or
manmade screens or
combinations of all three.
There may also be other materials added
to the abrasive surface like soaps and
waxes (called “stearates”) to help prevent
loading of the paper with small particles
of wood fibers and the resins that natu-
rally occur in the wood.
GRIT COMPARISION CHART
MICRON US CAMI
FEPA 'P'
(Festool) JAPAN JIS
500 36 36 36
430 40
410 40
350 50 40
320 50
300 50
270 60
260 60
250 60
210 70
197 80
192 80
177 80
156 100
149 90
140 100
127 120 100
116 120
97 150 120
93 150
78 180 180 150
66 220 220 180
60 240 240
52 240 280 280
46 320 320
42 280
40 360 360
35 320 400 400
30 500
28 360 500
25 600 600
21 400 800 700
18 500 1000 800
15 600 1200 1000
13 800 1500 1200
10 1000 2000 1500
8 1200 2500 2000
7 2500
6 3000

To add to the confusion surrounding
“sandpaper,” there are three different
“standards” applied to describing the size
of the abrasive particles. The US grades
are called “CAMI,” the European grades
including the Festool sanding media are
identified as “FEPA” and in Japan the
grades are identified as “JIS.”
The table on the previous page lists how
these different size grades relate one to
another with the actual size of the parti-
cles measured in microns. In coarser
grades they are quite close, but as you
move to the finer grades the differences
become greater.
It is not as important to know these differ-
ences as it is to recognize how the abrad-
ing materials you are using have been
graded. This is important because in or-
der to achieve a desired very smooth final
finish you need to progressively “sand”
the finish with finer and finer grits before
you apply the finish and often afterwards
as well. You don’t want to be inadver-
tently jumping back and forth between
grading standards or you could be mov-
ing from a finer to a coarser grit without
realizing it.
Dust Control With Festool Sand-
ers
All Festool sanders feature built-in dust
ports to which a vacuum or dust collector
can be attached. These dust ports lead
to pads which have a series of holes cut
in them. The Festool sandpapers have
matching holes cut in them so the vast
majority of the sanding dust is pulled
through the holes and out through the
dust port into the vacuum or dust collec-
tor without spilling out into the open air,
and therefore into the operator’s lungs.
Festool sanders
which use round
abrasives fea-
ture a unique
pattern of eight
smaller holes
around the out-
side edge of the
pad and paper
plus one larger
hole in the cen-
ter of the pad
and paper.
Here is a picture of a typical Festool
round sanding material in the 150mm di-
ameter size. The photo shows the back
of the material which has printed on it the
type (which we will discuss in a moment)
and grade (P180 in this case.) All Festool
sanders and supplied sanding media use
a hook-and-loop style of fastening which
means you can remove and reattach the
sanding material repeatedly and quickly.
For the sanders which use the round me-
dia, vacuum is drawn through the dust
collector port which is routed to the outer
eight holes. The center hole aligns with
specially designed air inlet ports in the
backing plates. This allows air to be
drawn in through the center hole and
then pulled out to outer holes bringing
with this air stream most of the sanding
particles. As a result Festool sanders are
Note the 9 hole pattern on the
pads on these two Festool
Rotex sanders

very efficient in collecting sanding dust at
the point it is created.
Festool Dust Extractors
Festool supplied dust collectors (they
use the term “extractor”) like the CT 22
model shown below are very efficient
vacuums designed to work as a system
with all of the Festool sanders and cutting
tools. Combined with the 9 hole vent pat-
tern in the round pad sanders, and the
variety of hole patterns in the other sand-
ers, this potent team keeps the air around
the sanding area much cleaner and safer
for the person operating the sander.
Since human safety is such an important
topic with respect to sanding, let’s take a
few moments to look in more detail at
how the Festool sanders and dust collec-
tors work together.
First, the Festool dust collectors come in
several sizes. The smallest is called the
CT Mini while the larger units are called
CT xx where xx refers to the collection
capacity of the internal bag. A CT 22 has
a 22 liter (5.8 gallon) capacity, A CT 33
has a 33 liter (8.7 gallon) capacity and so
on.
The CT Mini pictured above has a 10 liter
(2.6 gallon) capacity and hose/cord stor-
age built into the top of the unit. As with
all the other Festool dust collectors, it can
utilize hoses of
different diame-
ters for different
tasks. It comes
with a 27mm
(~1”) hose but
larger diameter
hoses can also
be connected if
need be.
Unlike the other
Festool dust
collectors, the
CT Mini opens

by releasing catches on the sides of the
unit and then lifting the whole top assem-
bly off of the base section as is shown in
the bottom photo on the previous page.
The bag snaps into the bottom assembly
and a cone shaped section in the upper
assembly engages the bag opening
(which is sealed by a soft lip running all
around the bag opening) when the two
assemblies are brought together.
Air is sucked in through the hose port and
into the bag trapping most of the airborne
particulates. The now largely cleaned air
that passes through the disposable bag is
further scrubbed by replaceable automo-
tive type air cleaner elements (shown in
brown in the upper assembly in the bot-
tom photo on the previous page) before
being returned to the room.
Suction is 99 CFM with up to 80” of static
water lift so performance is impressive
even for such a small unit. The CT 22 and larger units are different.
First, the top hinges open rather than lift-
ing off. The disposable bags fit into a
chamber tightly connecting to the incom-
ing air hose tube shown in the photos
above and to the left.
An “O” ring seals the bag chamber to the
top when the top is closed. As with the
CT Mini, the air coming through the dis-
posable bag is quite clean. But unlike the
CT Mini which uses automotive style air
cleaner elements, on the CT 22 and
larger units, before the air is returned to
the room, it passes through dual HEPA
filters shown in white in the photo on the
next page. These remove 99.97% of all
particulate down to 0.3 microns in size
so that the air coming back into the room
where you are operating the sander is
99.99% dust-free.
Inlet air tube
CT 22 Dust Extractor
Inlet air tube
CT 22 Dust Extractor

This is why the de-
signed interaction
between the dust
collection built into
each sander and
the dust extraction
system itself is so
important to discuss
before we move on
to the sanders
themselves.
HEPA (High Effi-
ciency Particulate
Air) filters were de-
veloped by the U.S.
Atomic Energy
Commission to re-
move radioactive
dust from industrial
exhaust. These
type filters are now
the primary filtration systems used in the
most sensitive manufacturing and health-
care environments.
They are a most welcome addition to my
studio and will be to your studio or shop
as well!
Another important feature of the Festool
dust collectors is the sealed motor cham-
ber shown above. Only clean air drawn
from the room is used to
cool the motor which is
never in the path of the
incoming dirty air. That
means a longer service
life and little down time.
The green tabs shown
on the inside of the back
wheels in the picture to
the left operate wheel
locks to keep the unit
steady when you want it
fixed in position.
The front wheels are
casters for easy rolling
around.
As the size increases on
the CT 22 and larger
units the motor assem-
bly remains the same,
but the lower chamber holding the bag
HEPA
Filters
CT 33 behind
CT 22 in front

gets taller. A CT 22 is shown in front of a
CT 33 in the photo on the previous page.
Notice how the white lower section is
taller on the CT 33 than on the CT 22.
They draw 134 CFM and pull an impres-
sive 90” of static water lift (23000Pa)
while generating only a 72dB noise
level.
I can’t leave the discussion about the
Festool dust collectors without com-
menting on the boom arm shown
mounted on the CT 33 on the previ-
ous page and to the right. This highly
useful device keeps the vacuum
hose and the power cord up off the
floor and out of your way no matter
which Festool product you might be
using.
When I first heard about the boom
arm I must admit that I thought it was
just one of those ‘nice to have but
certainly not critical’items. From the
minute I first used one, I changed that
position 180 degrees. It simply alters for
the better how well the already very good
dust collection system works in a shop or
studio setting.
As you can see, bottom left, for years I
kept a Festool dust collector under my
primary sanding station with all the vari-
ous Festool sanders close at hand. Yes, I
was always stumbling over the hose and
the sea of cords shown in the photo be-
low but, it was so much better than any-
thing I had used before, I guess I just ig-
nored the mess and instead
enjoyed the dramatic improve-
ment in productivity brought on
by the tight integration of the
sanders and the dust extrac-
tors.
However, as soon as the boom
arm mounted on the Festool
DC moved to the far side on
one end of the sanding station,
everything changed for the bet-
ter. As the photo above clearly
shows, the sanding station now
is free of the hose/cord clutter
on the floor. The power strip
into which all the sanders
Before the boom arm
After the boom arm

were plugged is gone, replaced by the
one power cord that is right beside
the vacuum hose. All the sanders
are still in the same place and right
at hand, it is just that now the hose
and cord are both up off the floor and
out of my way.
The boom arm mounts easily to the
back of any of the CT 22 or larger
dust collectors. It swivels through a
wide arc so there is good work sur-
face coverage. You can mount stabi-
lizing out-riggers (supplied) if you
wish but I don’t find them necessary
the way I use the unit. I can’t say
enough good about the boom arm.
I won’t cover here the several other
neat features of the Festool dust collec-
tors like the 20 amp power cords, the
self-locking stacking storage for the
boxes the sanders and other Festool
products come in (called “Systainers,”)
but instead will direct you to the Festool
catalog and web site for more details.
All the Festool products with built-in dust
collection have either round or oval ports
on the tool.
Many of the sanders also come with
handy “mini bags” which attach directly to
these ports when you are working in ar-
eas not easily reached by the dust collec-
tor hose. The photos here show both the
round and the oval port configu-
rations. Notice the “O” ring seal
at the bottom of the port fitting.
A nice touch.
Festool vacuum hoses have
soft rubber ends that can easily
mold to either the round or the
oval shape, and the green ver-
sions of those hoses are anti-
static so they don’t build up dust
on the outside as normal vac-
uum hoses do.
Ok, now we know something
about the three different grit siz-
ing “standards” (remember Fes-
tool supplied grits all use the
European FEPA
“O” ring seal

standard,) and we have covered the very
important topic of user health via the dust
collection ports built into every Festool
sander working in conjunction with the
HEPA filtered Festool dust collectors, so it
is now time to move to the topic of the
sanding media itself.

Festool Supplied Sanding Media
Festool supplies an extensive line of
sanding media for each of its sanders.
These different sanders utilize seven dif-
ferent shapes and sizes of pads so there
are seven different shapes for the Festool
supplied sanding media as shown here.
The round shapes are 150mm, 125mm or
115mm in diameter. The triangular
shapes are 100mm x 150mm or 93mm x
93mm while the rectangular shapes are
either 80mm x 133mm or 115mm x
228mm. These equate to 6”, 5”, 4 1/2”
round, 4” x 6” or 3 11/16” triangular, and 3
5/32” x 5 1/4” or 4 1/2” x 9” rectangular.
For each of these shapes several differ-
ent types of media are available. Each is
given a name which can be a bit intimi-
dating at first. In the catalog and on the
web site an icon is used to identify the
most common use for each media type.
For our purposes I think the following
simple explanation will help clear things
up.
For bare wood the recommended type is
called RUBIN. For bare wood, paint,
varnish or filler materials either CRISTAL
or BRILLIANT can be used with success.
Cristal is a much more open grit paper
while Brilliant media is more densely
populated. This means that for any given
grit size, there will be fewer actual gran-
ules of grit per surface area on the Cristal
paper than on the Brilliant paper. As a
result, the Cristal paper will cut more ag-
gressively and load up less than the Bril-
liant, but the Brilliant will leave a finer sur-
face at any given grit level than will the
Cristal.
For really heavy duty work where tearing
of the media could be an issue, the rec-
ommended media is called SAPHIR. For
cleaning and mild sanding a scouring pad
type material called VLIES is supplied.
For solid surface (manmade countertop
materials) and automotive work where
paper loading can be a major issue, a
stearated media called TITAN is avail-
able.
PLATIN is a special purpose mesh on
foam media designed for fine sanding of
metal or surfaces to be polished.
The ones I use the most in my furniture
making are Brilliant, Rubin and Cristal
and I use them on bare wood inter-
changeably. On finished surfaces that I
want to flatten before applying additional
top coats or before final polishing, I use
Brilliant. I also find lots of uses for the
scouring pad type material called Vlies. It
will brighten and clean metals, clean up
plastics without burning, clean rust off my
cast iron tool tables without changing the
surface itself, and scrub sinks and floors
clean when I gunk them up with finish or
glues.
There is no right or wrong here. Any me-
dia can be used for any task, it is just that
each is optimized for the task indicated.
Let’s look at each in a bit more detail.

Brilliant is a
paper based
material of dif-
fering weights
to which high-
strength alumi-
num oxide has
been bonded
by a synthetic
resin com-
pound. It uses
antistatic
agents to re-
duce loading of the abrasives as you
sand. It is ideal for both sanding of bare
woods and for sanding paints and var-
nishes (sanding the finish itself). Since
the backing is thinner than Rubin or Sa-
phir, it will follow minor contours some-
what better. It is also less expensive
which makes it an all-around good choice
for most furniture making applications.
Cristal is an open coat material similar to
Brilliant but with fewer grit particles per
unit of surface area than Brilliant or Ru-
bin. It is especially good for rapid stock
removal and for taking off old finishes
without undue damage to the underlying
surface. It is my first choice if the wood
surface is damaged and in need of flat-
tening before finish sanding can begin or
where I am intending to shape the wood
before final finishing. It cuts very quickly
and does not load up even on resinous
woods like Bloodwood, Jataba, Teak, Co-
cobolo, Rosewoods and other exotics. It
does leave a more noticeable grit mark-
ing than either Brilliant or Rubin but those
grit marks can be quickly taken out by
starting with Brilliant or Rubin several grit
levels coarser than the last Cristal grit
used.
Rubin uses a heavier weight paper to
which another form of aluminum oxide
has been bonded, also by a synthetic
resin compound. It uses special filling
materials to prevent premature clogging
with sanding dust or wood fibers. It tends
to last longer than Brilliant and is some-
what more expensive. It is also a good
all-around choice for most furniture mak-
ing applications and does an especially
good job on bare wood.
Saphir is a
cloth based
aluminum oxide
designed for
rapid stock re-
moval on wood,
metal, or man-
made materials.
It is most com-
monly used
with rotary ac-
tion sanders.
The heavy cloth
type backing can take more heat and
abuse than the paper backed materials
used on Brilliant, Cristal and Rubin.
While it can take more heat, be careful as
it is very aggressive and can remove a lot
of stock very quickly. In the process a lot
of heat can be generated. Use a light
touch and the results are very impressive.
Titan has a water resistant backing mate-
rial and is designed for smoothing solid
surface (manmade) countertop materials
or automotive finishes.
Vlies is more like a
scouring pad and is
designed for smooth-
ing finished surfaces or
for removing rust,
paints or pollutants
from just about any
surface. It uses both

aluminum oxide and silicon carbide parti-
cles embedded in a synthetic fiber mat
allowing it to easily follow surface con-
tours and to reach into surface imperfec-
tions. It does a great job of cleaning most
anything and in coarser grits can be quite
aggressive.
Platin is a mesh material impregnated
with silicon carbide abrasives on a foam
layer which I use either as a final step on
polished surfaces or for the final flattening
steps just before the use of rubbing or
buffing compounds. They are available in
“grits” up to 4000 so produce a really nice
fine surface on their own.
The view above is of the working surface
of Festool’s Platin while the photo above
right shows the foam layer (this photo of
another manufacturers similar product).
When Platin is followed by rubbing or
buffing compounds an extreme high gloss
can easily be achieved. Try this on highly
figured woods like big leaf maple that
have been finished by quality clear water
based conversion varnish and people will
just have to touch the surface to make
sure it is flat. It looks so three dimen-
sional they will swear there are peaks
and valleys a bit like a topographical map
rather than a flat surface.
If Platin is used as the final step you will
get a very flat surface which will refract
light well but which has less surface
sheen than is achieved by following with
rubbing or buffing compounds so the sur-
face will reflect a bit less light.
For some “real” magic on bare hardwood,
especially resinous exotics like blood-
wood or rosewood, sand to around 800
grit and then use Platin working up to
4000 grit. The surface of the unfinished
wood will take on a gloss and patina of its
own that simply cannot be matched by
any finish I know if. A bit of wax will main-
tain that patina, but it is an easily marked
surface unsuited for any wear and is not
at all water resistant.
There are a number of other abrasive
materials available from other manufac-
turers that can also be useful but some
may present a bit of a downside as well.
One, sold by Mirka, is called “Abranet”. It
is an open silicon carbide mesh. Without
the interface pad also sold by Mirka, the
use of Abranet may prematurely wear the
hook and loop elements on the Festool

pads, so be careful when using abrasive
materials supplied by others.
Why so many different kinds of
sanding materials?
Offering an array of different engineered
abrasives came about naturally for Fes-
tool. While they first became known in
Germany for the development of a port-
able chain saw in the 1920’s (photo right),
they really made their mark shortly after
WWII with the development of the first
powered orbital hand sander (lower photo
right.)
This tool so improved the efficiency of the
German furniture makers that, according
to a story in the January 2005 issue of
“Handy” magazine, those artisans would
travel for miles by bicycle to pay their de-
posits knowing they would wait weeks
just to receive one.
(These photos are from the Handy maga-
zine article which can be found on the
Festool web site, www.festoolusa.com.)
Since that time Festool has refined and
expanded the art and science of power
hand sanding. Along the way they have
introduced numerous machines for mov-
ing the abrasive particles across the sur-
face of the wood, added all these differ-
ent kinds of abrasive materials, and de-
signed integrated dust collection creating
whole “systems” optimized for this task.
Our next task is to look at the sanders
themselves.

Let’s start by understanding how
the different kinds of sanding
machines do their job.
We are going to look at nine different
Festool sanders covering the range of
different ways of moving the abrasive.
The seven shown in this photo
sitting atop two Festool Multi
Function Tables (model 1080)
joined together are from my
studio and are in use daily. I
did clean them up a bit for
these photos, but they show the
marks and scuffs from continu-
ous use.
Festool has also introduced an
upgraded version of the dual
mode sander shown second
from the left above (called the
“Rotex” sander), also shown in
the picture to the right. We will
cover the differences between
the “old” and the “new” Rotex as we dis-
cuss that sander. The 150mm (6”) pad
diameter Rotex (the two shown on the left
in the bottom photo) is now also joined by
a 125mm (5”) pad diameter unit (shown
right most of the trio).
To help you judge relative size, each
sander we talk
about will be
shown with the
same collection
of different sizes
and shapes of
media and they
will also be
shown with me
holding each.
Hopefully, these
two visual cues
will put the differ-
ent sizes into
better perspec-
tive.
Each different
kind of sander is
designed to

move the abrasive in a different pattern or
to have a different abrasive form factor to
reach different shapes of surfaces.
There are basically three different ways
the abrasive can be moved by a machine
sander: linearly in a fore-aft motion, in
a circle in a rotary motion, or back
and forth in an arc. Festool uses the
first two motions but not the arc motion.
If these motions are combined or the
pivot point is also moved at the same
time, the motion becomes much more
complex. If the pivot point rotates and
the pad is free to move independently but
not forced to move in a defined path, then
the motion is called “random orbit”.
We will discuss each of the different Fes-
tool sanders in terms of how they move
the abrasive from the pure rotary sander
to the various random orbit units.
RAS 115 uses a pure rotary motion
(third from the right in the picture).
LS 130 uses a pure linear back and
forth motion (center one pictured).
RS 400 (not pictured), DS 400
(second from the right) and RS 2
(third from the left) use an orbital
motion.
DX 93 Deltex (right most pictured)
uses a tight rotary motion.
ETS 150/3 (left most), 150/5 (not
shown), and ETS 125 (not shown)
use a random orbit motion.
RO 150 Rotex (second from the
left) and RO 125 (not pictured) can
be switched between a random or-
bit motion and a rotary motion with
a rotating pivot point.

Let’s start with the RAS 115.04 E
sander. It is a pure rotary sander with a
circular pad 115mm (about 4 1/2”) in di-
ameter. Some might liken it to an angle
grinder. The abrasive material is affixed
to the pad by a hook and loop system
that allows the material to be removed
and replaced without damage.
You can see from the photo above right
(RAS 115 in foreground) that there are no
holes around the perimeter of the pad as
in the other Festool sanders like the RO
150 behind it. Instead, there
is a space between the pad
and the base of the machine
through which particles are
drawn out through the built in
vacuum port at the rear of the
machine. There is a brush
about one third of the circum-
ference of the pad (at the bot-
tom of the pad in the photo)
that can be rotated to any po-
sition around the outside of
the pad to help direct these
cut particles into the vacuum
port. The handle on the side
of the machine is rotated to move the po-
sition of the brush. The speed of rotation
can be varied from 1500 to 4000 RPM.
This is a VERY aggressive machine ca-
pable of removing a lot of material in a
hurry. This much abrasive action gener-
ates a lot of heat. It takes a light touch to
prevent digging the pad too far into the
work piece and to prevent overheating of
the pad or the work piece.
I find it ideal for rough shaping wood such
as carving a chair seat for example. In
furniture designs where I want to instill an
Oriental feel, I often will curve the under
sides of top or shelf components, a proc-
ess I refer to as “boating.” The curves
are more abrupt (have a smaller radius)
at the outer edges and be-
come softer (have longer ra-
diuses) towards the center.
Such complex curves can be
roughed out easily and
quickly with the RAS sander
and then finished with one of
the less aggressive sanders
we will discuss later on.
The RAS sander is also very
handy for removing paints,
rust or surface contaminants
as long as you keep in mind
just how much heat doing so can gener-
ate. You don’t want to burn the work
piece nor do you want to burn and ruin
the pad.
Brush can be rotated

The Vlies scouring pads shown in use
with the RAS 115 to the right are espe-
cially useful for this as they tend to dissi-
pate the heat better than regular abrasive
sheets do and leave far fewer deep
scratch marks than coarse abrasive
sheets will.
In this photo I am cleaning the floor of my
finish room which, as you might imagine,
gets quite gunked up from time to time.
The RAS 115 with Vlies scouring pads is
just the ticket.
The small (115mm) diameter pad helps
get into nooks and crannies that larger
grinder style units cannot such as under
the toe kick on the cabinets that are pre-
sent in my finish room.
My suggestion is to practice a bit with this
machine before starting in on an impor-
tant work piece. Use a slower speed and
a lighter touch until you get the feel of
how aggressive it is with a given abrasive
material. Once you develop a feel for it,
you will find it in your hands often.
Dust extraction, while very good, is not as
complete as with the other Festool sand-
ers which employ the nine hole system
we discussed earlier where air is drawn
through the center hole and out through
the eight outer holes and into the at-
tached dust collector. As mentioned
above, the RAS 115 instead uses a
space between the sanding material and
the body of the unit to draw the sanding
grit out through the vacuum port. The
brushes that can be rotated around the
outside perimeter of this space are what
help to direct the sanding grit into the
vacuum port.

The LS 130 EQ is a pure linear
sander. It moves the pad fore and aft in a
4mm (5/32”) stroke. There is no rotary or
side to side action. This allows the effi-
cient
sanding
of
edges
and
profiles
that
would
not be
possi-
ble by
any other means. Sanders which move
the pad in any direction other than purely
linearly will create a flat spot on any linear
curved surface like a stair handrail. With
the LS sander you can easily do rebates
(rabbets), edges, or profiles that other-
wise would require laborious hand sand-
ing.
Many different pads are available to fit
flat profiles, both concave and convex
radiuses of different sizes, and various
angles. The standard profile pads are
shown here along with the sander itself.
There even is a kit (shown to the right of
the sander) which will allow you to create
a custom profile. A block of foam with
dust extraction holes already formed into
the block is included along with glue and
a hook and loop surface. Temporarily
glue the hook and loop to the profile with
the included contact cement. Fit a piece
of sand paper to carve the backer block
to the shape of your custom profile. Now
glue on the hook and loop surface to the
profiled backer block and you are ready
to sand to exactly that shape. Slick!
Each of these pads has holes in it to al-
low the extraction of sanding dust via an
attached vacuum through a port designed
into the machine itself.
Finally, a scraping knife (shown in the
center of this photo) is offered as an ac-
cessory. Since the motion of the LS 130
is purely fore and aft you can use this to
scrape off wallpaper, carpet, and other
glued on materials far more easily than
you could do by hand.

Next are the orbital sanders.
These move the pad in an orbit around a
fixed pivot point. The DS 400 EQ (pic-
tured) is a very small and lightweight
sander that employs a triangular shaped
pad that moves in a 2mm (5/64”) orbit.
Its companion is the RS 400 EQ (not pic-
tured) which has the same small size and
orbit but with a rectangular pad.
Both are so much smaller than most of
the other Festool sanders that they are
ideal for getting into corners or areas like
the inside of the box pictured above
where the RS 2 E (on the left) and the
ETS 150 3 (on the right) simply won’t fit.
While pure or-
bital sanders
from other
manufacturers
often will leave
very noticeable
circular scratch
patterns, the
small diameter
orbit on these
two leaves a
nearly imper-
ceptible scratch
pattern with all
but the largest grits. They are not in use
every day in my studio like the other Fes-
tool sanders are, but when the small size
or tight corner ability is needed, they are
really handy.
The other pure rotary sander, the RS 2 E
(pictured below) is another story. It is a
big, powerful work horse that is in my
hands virtually every day. It has a bit