Friday, July 24, 2020
Tradespeople are all too familiar with the scenario of laborious, time-consuming sanding using a sanding block, sanding through edges and resurfacing edges. A thankless task and hardly profitable. Every edge is different: Sometimes it is sawn, sometimes it is routed, sometimes it is untreated or painted. To sand edges as easily and effectively as possible, Festool is launching a mobile edge sander in September 2020.
“With our new edge sander, you can finally say goodbye to manual edge sanding. Many people use a hand-sanding block to sand edges and although this is cheap, it is time-consuming, produces a lot of dust and is prone to flaws,” explains product manager Simon Gröger at Festool. Larger businesses usually have stationary edge belt sanders for coarse sanding applications or machining centres. These can sand edges quickly and cost-effectively. This is good for larger series and batch sizes, but involves considerable investment and operating costs. The stationary systems are less suited to small parts, small series and fine/paint sanding.
“There was previously also the option to sand the edges by hand using an eccentric sander, belt sander or orbital sander. However, this requires skill and expertise, as more aggressive machine sanding can cause the edge to be sanded through or rounded when tipping over. And this usually requires many finishing steps, such as repeated priming or filling,” states Simon Gröger.
The solution: A mobile edge sander for all edges
The new edge sander is ideal for sanding solid wood as well as for intermediate sanding of paint and filler – for all edge finishing work and for trimming edges with any materials or coating. The new sander makes machine sanding as flexible as manual sanding. However, this process is much faster as the edge sander provides the support of a machine and the results are less prone to flaws. The edge sander is positioned on the full surface of the edge and ensures perfect sanding of the edge. “We developed the new edge sander so that even from the first application, there is no more tipping over on the edge or sanding through. Compared to edge sanding with a hand-sanding block, time savings of up to 50% can be achieved. Simply open the new Systainer³, take out the edge sander, position it on the edge and get started – quickly, effectively and faultlessly,” explains product manager Gröger.
The edge sander makes it possible to sand every type of edge, no matter what it looks like: Whether the edge is straight or curved, untreated or painted, perpendicular or at an angle (from 43° to 92°), whether the workpiece is small, large or bulky, narrow or wide (from 5 to 60 mm) – with the new edge sander, all edges can be sanded perfectly. Even external curves on the outline, e.g. on a round dining table, through to inner corners are possible.
Perfectly sophisticated – right down to the smallest detail
The angle adjustment also makes the new edge sander incredibly versatile. This feature enables even free angles to be copied and locked without tools. For the utmost precision, there is a angle display which can be calibrated. “We have designed the new edge sander with two different sanding settings: In Hard mode – in other words in the setting for pre-sanding – the edge is sanded according to the set angle. In Soft mode – in other words in the setting for intermediate sanding – the edge sander adapts precisely to the surface to be sanded,” explains Gröger. This has the advantage that neither paint nor filler is sanded through. Festool has also come up with a feature to protect the workpiece: It is easy and quick to replace the slideway lining on the crossheaded guide to match the surface – velour linings for delicate surfaces, and plastic lining for all other surfaces. Even painted workpieces can be sanded reliably and conveniently – as well as perfectly and reproducibly.
Dust-free sanding: Good for the surface and your lungs
For many years now, Festool has been focusing on protecting users’ health with each new product developed. Against this background, virtually dust-free sanding is of course also possible with the new edge sander: Either using integral dust extraction with a dust bag or in conjunction with a mobile dust extractor.
The new edge sander will be available from specialist retailers from September 2020 in the form of the ES-ETSC 125 Li 3.1 combined package with the ETSC 125 Li 3.1 cordless compact sander and the new AH-ES-ETS/ETSC positioning aid in the new Systainer³ or in the form of the ES-ETS 125 REQ combined package with the ETS 125 REQ mains-powered version with the new AH-ES-ETS/ETSC positioning aid, also in the new Systainer³. For customers who already own an ETS 125: No matter whether it is the ETS 125 REQ mains-powered version or the ETSC 125 Li 3.1 cordless compact sander, you can transform your sander (from model year 2016) into an edge sander with the new AH-ES-ETS/ETSC positioning aid.
Tags: block sanding, Festool, launch, mobile edge sander, new, product manager, resurfacing edges, September 2020, Simon Gröger, sophisticated collection, time consuming
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