Airless Plaster Sanding

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devneydutch

Active Member
Wondering what size and type of sanders/extractors people are using?

Using company festool but looking at buying my own.
 
I have a Starmix iPulse 1635 and I find it does really well with fine cementitious dusts. Great when sanding walls, grinding floors, cutting/chasing brickwork, etc.

Festool vacs are good, but they're more geared towards fibrous wood-based dusts.


The iPulse 1635 doesn't endlessly clear its filter cartridges every 15 seconds or so (like some competing vacs from Nilfisk, Karcher, etc. may do). The iPulse only clears the cartridges when an airflow sensor detects that it's necessary. It also employs 2 identical pleated filter cartridges, in-tandem, which gives it a large filtration surface area.

You may already know this, but there is a lot of badge-engineering going on in the dust extractor marketplace.

For example, Bosch GAS 35 is made by Karcher, if I recall correctly.

Nilfisk machines are rebadged for Mirka, Milwaukee, Flex, etc.

Starmix machines are rebadged for Hitachi, Metabo, Spit, Eibenstock, Baier, etc.
 
You can find the specs here:



For sanding, I currently use a 150mm Mirka DEROS, but the machine is more than capable of working well with a 225mm dia. LEROS or Planex.

It might struggle slightly with a 7 inch angle grinder diamond-cup-grinding a concrete floor (this needs a suprisingly high air velocity), but, in its particular market segment - 35L, sub-£1000, the iPulse 1635 can trade punches with anything else on the market, and is especially good with very fine cementitious dust, because of its large filter surface area and very well-implemented filter sensing and clearing.

You can buy it in M or H class, and if you don't mind getting the 1400w instead of the 1600w version (they are almost the same performance) then you can go for the Metabo ASR 35, which, in the UK, can sometimes be found on offer at FFX.co.uk

The iPulse machine is world-renowned for it's capability in handling fine cementitious dust, and that is one of the main reasons I chose it over the many competing machines on the market, even though I have great respect for Nilfisk and Karcher, who also make decent machines.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sYrTsOSQ-k
www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZ6FiWMxi2Q
www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MHJGF75Elw
 
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I’m going to be sanding walls and ceilings not heavy duty stuff. Im
looking for a sander that works on a low velocity with a big sanding head.Its for sanding airless plaster
 
I couldn’t tell you the model but I know the sanding discs are 150. I wanted to know if they do a larger disc? 7 inch?
 
I have a Mirka Leros and Mirka vac. About £1100 plus vat. Best sander I’ve ever had. Got 5 or 6 speed settings. Use 180-240 grit for airless plaster. Only current made in 240v
 
I have a Mirka Leros and Mirka vac. About £1100 plus vat. Best sander I’ve ever had. Got 5 or 6 speed settings. Use 180-240 grit for airless plaster. Only current made in 240v
what is the biggest pad size with the mirka
 
I don't own a LEROS (I will do, at some point), but, as I understand it, the LEROS is the only circular-pad electric pole sander that has true random-orbital action.

Almost all other circular-pad electric pole sanders appear to be rotational action only, but I'm not an expert on pole sanders.

I can tell you that I have had a very positive experience with my handheld DEROS, so I'm not at all surprised that TonyM likes his LEROS.

I can also tell you that Mirka are a firm with integrity - I've had dealings with their support team and they're stand-up people.
 
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