Edge Sanding

[Leon]

So, I have built hundreds of cabinet doors. AND edge sanding is a RPIA. It is time consuming and relatively inaccurate at best.

So 10 or so years ago I decided a stationary edge sander might be the solution. And then I reconsidered, given the price and all. So up until the day before yesterday I continued to edge sand with my hand held sander. In fact I edge sanded 29 white oak kitchen cabinet doors on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Going back about 6 months I learned that, wait for it, wait, wait, Festool has come out with an edge sanding attachment for their newest ROS 125 sander.

Woah.... Smaller than a stationary edge sander, and, well that is about it. Not available in the U.S. until some time in October. And yet I did not see the attachment become relatively available until a week or so ago. So I started searching to buy this attachment. Amazon, Woodcraft, all the normal stockers of Festool had it in stock. Price $99. What??? What is the catch? The catch is that it only fits one of two brand new Festool Sanders. OK so which ones. Ah, the new corded one and the battery operated one. The corded one is $205. The ETS 125 REQ-Plus.

Soooo a corded Festool 5" ROS and edge guide for $304.00??? Yup that is it.

So I proceed to buy both items and come to a scree4ching halt. No one has the sander in stock and the earliest expected delivery date is late May. ;~(

I searched on line for 3 days and no luck untillllll, I finished edge sanding 29 cabinet doors. and the next morning I decided to check a local hard wood dealer in the down town Houston area. I thought maybe they will have the sander and if they do I can buy the attachment anywhere. So call, Yes, Steve says that they have 2 of that particular sander in stock and I tell him I am on my way. Oh! One more thing Steve, do you have the edge sander attachment? YES! he says, and I'm already out the door.

So Steve works for a hardwood dealer that is not known to be the least expensive supplier in town but they have been around forever, well they looked old 40 years ago and Steve was there 40 years ago too. He seemed much younger then. So On the way to the lumber yard I was thinking. Thank goodness for Festool pricing policy, every one sells for the same price. And indeed Steve sold me the combination of tools for exactly what every one was selling the tools for. Whew!

So I am back home and begin attaching the attachment to the sander and calibrating the 90 degree setting and all is well. I actually remove the sander from the attachment via 2 5mm hex head bolts, and then reattach. I wanted to see if the calibration remained accurate, Yes!

Then on to testing. WOW!!!!!!!!!!! Shockingly easy, fast, great results!!!

Soooo this pic is of a scrap piece of 3/4" white oak plywood. It's hat you would expect the factory edge to look like.

Then about 5 seconds of sanding with the new edge sander with 180 grit paper.

And is the edge still square? YES!

And best of all, that edge is as smooth as glass with sharp corners.

If you ever considered a Festool sander, this one is relatively inexpensive, $205.00 and includes the new reusable style dust collector bag, and Systainer. And for $99.00 more you have a very very good edge sander.

[Leon]

The goods!

And a pro that I feel is truthful.

[DerbyDad03]

Nice find - after all these years.

I have but one suggestion: You need to get your camera calibrated. The color of your square doesn't show even a hint of green. ;-)

[Leon]

Sometimes,,, I buy other brands.

[krw]

Highland said they had it several months ago but, of course, they're closed for the 'rona holiday and I wanted to see it before buying. Still waiting...

It also fits the "Pro 5 LTD". You don't have one?

I understand that there is a huge backorder on almost all power tools.

At Festool prices, dealers don't HAVE to gouge customers.

That Jet still has its shipping plastic on it!

...as soon as I see one. I had to convince the local Woodcraft that they even existed in someone's imagination.

[Bob D]

...and then there were none. After you told me the long sad story of all your days of searches, I called and bought the one remaining sander at Clarke's Hardwood. I ordered the edge guide from Harteville Tools.

Bob

[Leon]

The attachment? Order it from Amazon. Remember you have a return policy with Festool.

Wow! It looks like it would actually work. I think the main difference is that the later version may have a 250 watt motor and includes the new style dust bag. That think works pretty well and reduces the bulk of the hose for this particular use.

No I don't have that one, I have the larger ETS EC 125/3. It is more robust and slightly heavier.

I have been seeing this on most all brands. And a reason that I chose a Jet over a Hammer machine 3 months ago.

Exactly, they all make a reasonable profit. Dealers have to sell service to have an advantage. Although I have seen some pretty inflated prices on some Festool Items on Amazon. I saw a MFT table being offered for over $1K. It normally sells for under $800 IIRC. Probably not a dealer and someone buying up extras to sell to the desperate.

LOL That was in January.

If you do any amount of edge sanding at all and you see one, or get one, you will not want to return it. It looks a bit too simple to be effective but it really does a good job with little effort to keep it sanding squarely. And because it does sand squarely, motorized sanding is much faster as it is cutting the whole surface all at once.

[Leon]

I thought of you BOB when Steve said he had one more. LOL

Have you ever been to Hartville HArdware??? MY DIL's parents live about 3~5 miles from that store. INCREDIBLE!!!

Obviously a long drive to Ohio but wow it is almost a destination by it self.

The store is similar in size as HD or Lowes but multi stories. And every department is HUGE.

The tool department is incredible, the first place I put hands on a Shaper Origin in 2019. And they have depth on most every tool brand that you would consider buying.

And I just found out, when looking for the sander that Hartville ships for free with no minimum quantity or value of sale.

[krw]

Trying not to deal with Amazon anymore. Not sure how Festool returns work otherwise.

But it don't work. I have an ETS-125 RE but it only fits the ETS-25 REQ. I do have the Pro 5 (for $50 WITH a systainer it was silly to pass on it).

I want to see the new Laguna jointer. I liked the old 8" but they're promising great things with the new one. When? I'm also looking at the Jet. I don't see the extra $500 for the ugly Powermatic.

Sure. If it were a dealer I think they'd lose their franchise pretty quickly.

The concept is so simple it has to work but I'm a show me. I really like the Festool sanders. They're the only ones I've had that don't shred paper and aren't just an all around PITA to use. Dust collection is just the icing.

[krw]

I saw one in Highland before that, I think. At the time I said "that's cool but *$2500* cool???". The demo on Youtube of the floor inlays changed my mind but it's still a lot of money. That's why I was interested in your inlays. I wanted to know how hard it really was. Professionals can make really difficult things look easy. I'd never think of inlaying a $10,000 floor with templates and a router.

Nice. I can't remember what it was that I ordered recently that was fulfilled by , with catalog included in the packing material.

[Leon]

Jointer stand alone or combo? As I have changed focus on what i am building I now have more of a need for a jointer than a planer. So now I have a 12" and 15" planer. HA!

I will likely get rid of the 15" one now as I was hoping to save room with the Jet Combo... So to find a home for the new combo I moved a few things around in the shop and, wow, I have a lot of great room now. ;~)

I agree with you on Powermatic. Since Jet and Powermatic combine/share a lot of their machines, not all, these days color is about the only difference, besides cost.

Speaking of which...... Rockler 10 years ago had Festool.... Then they did not, up until very recently. I had heard rumors about discounting the pricing.

Yes, their sanders are great. My first was the 125 Rotex. Dust collection was so good that I soon after retired my old PC SpeedBloc and got the 400 series Festool with the rectangle pad. Then about 5 years ago the, new then, 125 with the pad brake, and brushless motor. I really like how fast the pad stops spinning when you turn the motor off. And now the edge sander one. I wish Festool would come up with a model number that is easier to remember.. ;~)

[Leon]

To tell you the truth I was interested, but not enough to consider it over a regular CNC. BUT then they came out with the WorkStation and that I all it took. So I have absolutely no back ground in this computerized CNC stuff.

The small boxes that I built, 14 of them IIRC, in December, were a first for me at using the "built in 'box joint" feature and inlaying. Shockingly easier doing box joints on this than my iBOX from Incra and my Leigh Jig with the Finger Joint template.

The YouTube videos really reduce the learning curve, especially the ones that Sam, with Shaper produces.

There was no experimenting on those boxes with the inlay. I used no computer for setting up the inlays or the box joints. I only used Sketchup to design the boxes minus the inlays. AAMOF I was going to experiment with the box joints on some poplar scraps. They came out so well that I actually used them too.

The Texas that I inlayed is from a SVG file of the U.S. This came with the Origin to play around with. The fact that you can scale your drawing on the Origin is a big plus in simplification. And it overlays the drawing that you will be cutting on top of the actual picture of the piece of wood that you will be working with. So placement and scale is handled while you are looking at the built in screen. And you can establish the XY axis for exact placement of the cuts, on the screen too.

I could probably spend a whole weekend in that store.

[Bob D]

There are differences in the details. An 8" 2 HP Jet Jointer and 8" 2 HP powermatic jointer appear to be identical except for the paint. Both are helical head machines. But when you dive into the details, the Jet has 36 cutter blades and the powermatic has 54 blades.

Bob

[DerbyDad03]

I was thinking about this device while I was edge sanding the 1-by flat trim that I'm putting in my bathroom.

Do you think the Big Green F will offer an attachment for the edge sander so that it not only sands the edge square but also eases the sharp edge just a little. ;-)

[krw]

The Laguna was 54 cutters too, for the same price as the Jet. Obviously I don't know what the new ones look like.

[Leon]

So what ever you are sanding, it needs to have a bit of depth, meaning a larg enough surface for the pad on the attachment to register against and ride on.

BUT The attachment has a hard and soft setting. The hard setting holds the angle setting rigidly. Then there is a soft setting that allows the sander to flex a bit with the contour of the surface. I am not totally what application that would be good for but might asst with easing the edges. MAYBE!!!

Easing the edge is really not a big deal, I could do that all day by hand or with a finish sander. A couple of passes full length with a finish sander or the same with a piece of 180 wrapped around a sanding block does it for me.

Easing the edge is really not a big deal, I could do that all day by hand or with a finish sander. A couple of passes full length with a finish sander or the same with a piece of 180 wrapped around a sanding block does it for me.

I think anything more would probably complicate that task.

[Leon]

Well there you go.

[DerbyDad03]

Well, there was a wink after my comment. ;-)