Thread: Sanding Walls with a ROS

Hi Tony, after consaulting the All Seeing All Knowing Festool catledog, I believe the best OEM disks to use are the "Brilliant" ones (green colour coded).

It doesn't actully say "for plaster" anywhere, so I am guessing.

BTW, plaster dust is a killer (of tools, settle guys), but I guess Festool is made for this sort of thing.


Would I lend my Festool RAS to other people?

Only if I knew they could afford to replace it if it got busted.

thanks for that, yes other than myself there will be trusted people using it.
thanks again
tony

Tomarton, I recommend you look into this a bit more carefully. If you use an orbital sander on any plaster it will generally wreck it. The vibrations break all the bonding in the plaster. You end up with a nice finish which you paint and then the paint peels off because the plaster is more like dust. DAMHIK

Cheers

thanks for that I will most certainly contact a plasterer before using the sander on plaster.
thanks again
tony

Ben dont worry I dont mind getting called Tom, My grandfather is tom and my son is thomas.

Here is how we came up with the name

toNY marilyn tom

Tony,
I think you'll find that sanding by hand, using the proper sandpaper holder and the mesh type abrasive , will be much faster and give a better finish than machine sanding. Unless of course you use one of the purpose built Porter Cable plasterboard sanders.

Mick

Thanks Mick, What type of mesh abrasive is it, I am fairly remote, and have access only to the local hardware which is 35 kms away.

thanks tony

Tomarton, I use the CSR Gyprock sanding float for which you can buy pre-cut sheets or just tear off a roll like I do. By the time you have powered up a sander I can have the wall half done with a good size float.

Trust me, plaster and vibes don't mix.

Cheers

I do a fair bit of repair plastering and have tried both methods. To small work, repairs etc, I find the ROS (I use a Dewalt with a Kratcher Vac) is best. For those long joints, the hand sander is better as you sand the whole joint

The comments about the plaster being a tool killer are REAL. I have had repair my dewalt a couple of times.

That's my 2cents worth.
Matt

Originally Posted by matt_edwards

The comments about the plaster being a tool killer are REAL. I have had repair my dewalt a couple of times.
Matt

Yeah, we used an old vacum cleaner to suck up the plaster dust from a pretty big extension.

It now sounds like a smoker trying to clear his throat. :eek:

Tony,
I don't know that it's got any other name. Your plasterboard supplier should be able to provide a float and the mesh as well as joint setting compound, top coat etc etc.

Mick

Ive use my metabo ros for wall sanding & its great, absolutely must use dust extraction.
I have an old nilfisk vac with a paper dust bag which i save for the puropse.

don't even think about using a vac with out a paper dust bag as you will stuff up the filter real fast.
you will need to open the vac & give the bag a flick every 10 min if you are sanding raw plaster to unclog it.

I agree with the recomendation to do the bulk of your shape & joint sanding with a float by hand.

the ros is great for a final smoothing & clean up, and for sorting out patches.

Its not as usefull on new plaster as it is on repaints, on repaints they are a delight.

I've found 120 gritt to be about all you need for interior painting.
you will need to use the speed controll particulary of raw plaster and board.

be very carefull on jointing compound & fill as you can take off a lot of material real fast.

call me fussy but I like to lightly sand between earlier coats such as sealers... I find it gives you a more uniform finish.

cheers