What Sanding Equipment Should I Use?

GF's recommendation: (there are other great sanders in the market. These are the ones we are familiar with) Most pros own more than one sander as they are designed for different objectives.

SANDERS

1. Festool and Mirka systems are designed for the serious, high production professional.
   • Festool is a system not limited to just sanding equipment. All Festool tools hook up to the Festool's dust collection. For those of you in the Chicago area, JCLicht carries the full Festool line.
   • The Mirka is a great sanding system and is comparable to the Festool. Higher-end users report finding this system worth the cost.
2. Bosch offers the GET75-6N 6 In. Dual-Mode Random Orbit Sander with decent performance at a more palatable entry-level pricepoint and also makes a great dust collector.
3. SurfPrep will adapt to any dust collector. Surf Prep's foam sanding pads are now compatible to several models of sanders in other brands.

DUST COLLECTION

Any good shop vac will adapt to any sander that has a dust port connection. Rockler sells a great adaptor to connect your shop vac to any sander. Woodcraft offers Festool and sells many models of dust collection.

SANDPAPER AND OTHER ABRASIVES

• Check out the pricing on sandpaper for all sanders at Klingspors Woodworking Shop. Klingspor is an abrasive manufacturer that has options for multiple sanders. They have 9-hole paper that fits all Festool sander for half the price of most other places.
• All the Festool sanders are 9 holes on 5" sizes including the 5" Jetstream. The 6" models have 17 holes.
• Mirka makes Abranet which is a mesh abrasive pad that works on all types of sanders.

SIZE

• Most customers would find the 5" is suitable for furniture and cabinets. We use the big 6" Rotex on large flat surfaces like tabletops.
• Surf Prep excels at the specialty 3x4" rectangular shaped cabinet sander and their big 3 2/3" x 7" sanders for flat tabletops.