I also have this sander and the older version: Planex Easy. This one oscillates more like any random sander, but it also rotates (same as Planex Easy). The fact that it oscillates helps greatly in fine sanding. You probably are using 180 grit that came with the sander, but you should try 240 for much better results and lower the speed to 1-2 instead 5 for much more control on how much mud gets removed with each pass. Also, having used my Planex Easy for many years without fail, I'd suggest dusting off ( I use a dewalt cordless leaf blower) your sander after sanding, so it doesnt accumulate dust in that brushless motor. Unfortunately, Festool 36 AC vacuum you're using doesn't have a blower port to help with that. One more thing, when you disconnected the extension you put the sanding head down and didn't check the sand paper before resuming sanding. You'd be surprised how many times a few grains of sand got stuck to mine when I did that and I had swirl marks all over that plaster.

I've got the original Planex and get great results from it. Have to turn it on on the wall or ceiling and turn it off on the wall/ceiling. Turn the vac down all the way then turn up to where it is just at the point of not dropping dust. Also use a finer grit then you normally do. I keep my old 220 paper that is still in good condition for light touch up or difficult areas where I need careful blending. Once you get the hang of it, it saves so much time in sanding and cleanup. Deff a learning curve but I can sand in a house without having to put plastic over everything or Walling off rooms. Still need to cover what is directly below you and I still hang plastic in critical areas just in case. A soft interface pad also helps in some situations. Turned my last ceiling job into less than an hr of sanding vs most of a day sanding with a pole. Great Video!

Hyde makes a nice vacuum pole sanding kit that I use to finish sand using mirka mesh sanding screens. also festool makes a hand sanding vacuum block that works for even smaller applications. Between the Planex, the Hyde pole sand tool and the hand sander basically all of my sanding is done through a vacuum system.

Awesome! I just ordered one a few day ago. Getting delivery tomorrow and I’m pretty freaking excited.

once again an excellent video. Looks much smoother than the fridge door video. Lol

Thanks and Congrats on the 300K subs.

I love your videos a bit too much I think. I have close to no interest in this planex, yet I chose to watch all three videos in the playlist and I’m not even disappointed with myself lmao. You are one of my absolute favorite KZfaqrs. I appreciate your context, thank you.

I get similar results with the Makita sander. It's not the end of the world really since like you mentioned, it gets me 90ish% there and then I just go over spots with a poll sander and sponge where need be. I usually run 220 grit. It still saves me a TON of time on bigger jobs and less dust the better if you ask me.

Congrats on 300K subscribers 😉👍😜✌😊🤘

Good honest vid Ben!

I would say the old and new planex are great tools for large surfaces with harder material on them, it will make it really flat. On softer ones you will get ridges unless you have the surface mirror-like flat already. For the softer finish materials pick something like Mirka LEROS, the random orbital movement makes a huge difference. Result will be close/better to a hand polish with a sponge. both have their pros and cons. I guess best to have both planex for the first coats of hard material - target: get a flat surface. LEROS for the finish coat. Welcom to Poland and the absurd expectations of our customers :)

I’ve been using the porter cable sanders for last 20 years I’ll have to try this one.

Hey Ben - not sure if you’ve done this already, but you can turn down the suction on the CT vac itself, that should help reduce the grooving.

I have a lot of sanding to do--especially sanding down painted popcorn ceilings. Rental is $63 a day. So I found one online with a Amazon coupon and bought it for $163 including taxes. I'm hoping that I can manage this to reduce dust levels in a closed bathroom. Looking forward to getting some good use from it. Maybe not for finish sanding, however!

The trick is keeping the head level not to put too much pressure on any of the edges. I found instead of following a straight line I zig zagged across the edges keeping the pressure light and moving fast. Every time I have used it I would work up a sweat just keeping the head moving.

I love the rambling at the ends of your videos!! I watch till the end! Keep up the good work

I have the original Planex, and for finish sanding use the interface pad, 320 grit mesh (not sure if that's available for the new one, but huge difference from the granet), speed 2-1/2 to 3 tops. Always start and stop on paper with the head fully contacting. The dust itself has the odd gritty bit that can leave swirl marks, so light pressure, and clean often. Takes some practice and finesse with the vacuum settings.

Ok..I have this sander. Turning the dial to the ceiling suction engages the centre holes and towards the wall suction engages the outer rim suction. The centre hole suction are what take the weight of the whole unit but it ties of more mud due to pressure from suction towards the drywall. The Hilti sander is way lighter and much more manoeuvrable with a 180°head, it never spins off on you and you can hold it literally vertically above you making ceilings easier on the shoulders. A COB L.E.D. usb light around the edge attached to Milwaukee usb battery and your golden. Much more gentle sander. Only ever use 220 grit and keep the revs on 2 to 4

If you’re not already my drywalling company uses 220 grit sand paper on our circular power sanders and it sands out completely smooth and flat

Saw it for real this week, we have this store In Qc called Outils Pierre Berger. For a time I knew them as an online shop but last year they opened a location here and damn I hate going there!! They manage to burn a hole in my pocket every time!! Too many nice tools!!

If you are going to be doing a lot of overhead sanding with the Planex, suggest using their harness which supports all of the machine weight. 120 grit appears to work well for finish sanding.

Awesome machine. Yeah trying to have control with the extension is got to be hard. Probably only suitable for a rough sand before fine sand using hand tools.

I have the original planex. I've also got the harness, but I only use that flatten a textured ceiling before skimming. They sell a 36 grit paper that really speeds that up. I've found that doing the ceilings and top third of the wall off a pair of stilts works much better. Set the sander up to be as short as possible and go to work. It's still more demanding than hand sanding, but the time is a bunch faster so the total work is quite a bit less. That said, if I were starting over I'd probably go with the mirka. The flutter marks will go away with practice. You just need to back way off the vacuum and let the machine float over the problem areas, particularly the butts.

The recommendation at least for the old Planex model was that you should start the machine only after it's in contact with the drywall and it should be removed only after the machine has stopped. Otherwise it can gouge the surface (which I've done).

300k! Nice!!

That's a powerful tool, maybe you need to use a considerably finer grit sandpaper?

I do the exact same thing it uniforms everything cause of the sponge ...the black widow festool combo is a must....you will get a perfect job every time.. If u double up your pad on your festool it will help eliminate any circle marks from sander ..

I agree. I always have to go over my work with a sanding sponge. I have tried different speeds, different sandpaper. Nothing beats hand power. Where the power sanders excel is, sanding between paint coats, or when painting someone else’s disaster paint jobs

Try moving the sander the way you moved your hand across the joint at 8:16 in the video . That way an edge of the sander doesn't ride into your joint go lightly and quickly. I did my entire kitchen in 25 minutes with the older version.

6:38 As an electrician i can tell you that doesn't need sanded...*The Bus Bars Inside However* can use a little sanding (Joking, hopefully obviously, look up Arc Blast; it's no joke)

Omg. 300k subs!!! ❤️

the black widow is the best pole sander ive ever used !!!!! cuts down on sponging drastically !!!!

Just a suggestion, call Festool and request a rep. to come out to the job site to show you the proper way to use their tool. If it performs the same for him as it did for you,, ask him to come up with a solution to remedy it... it would be to both your benefit!

I have a knock off power sander...no where near the quality of Festool...But it works well, I use 240 grit and turn the vacuum and speed WAY down to finish sand...gives me more control and less gouging. I absolutely love using it for nice almost dust free sanding. i still use the corner sander and i check over everything with very minimal touchup sanding. I will never go back to hand sanding!! I dont think Ben told us what grit he was using but he said a five for speed...maybe try turning down speed too...can't hurt to try!

Personally I love it for large jobs, it is a time saver. I use it to bulk out the majority then fine tune with a pole and sponge sander. Feathering edges, screws and fields It's a beast. I stay off the butts, beads and flats less pull offs and edges. A good finisher shouldn't need much more than a couple swipes with a pole anyway. The price tag is beast as well at $2100.00 plus tax in the states. Handyman or repairs? Naw... not worth it. (just my two scents)

I will look up that sander I'm remodeling my son's home and will be replacing the old lath and plaster with drywall and I just did a shop addition so I will be needing to do a lot of sanding

My 2 cents. I tried it all. Nothing beats Trim-tex black widow 180 grit sand pads.

That’s a pretty cool tool, I can see more contrast when the cameraman is further back, but not the surface. Have you ever tried it with the lights out, maybe you could see better contrast while you work?

And also lower your sander speed to 3-3.5 at the most. It might take a little longer but the end product is so much better with a lot less touch up

Nice video but I’m not spending $3000 to pick up a pole sander. I’m learning how to use this thing from start to finish no pole requirements 😂

I used many different drywall sanders. Dewalt. Festool. Wen. They are all heavy and ceiling are a pain to sand. Mirka leros is above and beyond. Ceilngs are easier to sand than walls. Amazing machine

That client's garage fridge and cabinets are nicer than my kitchen fridge and cabinets 😅

I wonder if a variable speed trigger would make it easier to use

You know we watch til the very end...always.

Were you using the 180g that comes with it? Bump it up to 220 or 240 if you are still getting scratches.

As electric sanders are a lot more aggressive than pole sanders you should use at least a 220 grit (or finer) for ready mixed mud. For example I use a 320 grit (Mirka Iridium) and get great results for finish sanding. By the way I like the Mirka Leros way better than the Festool because it's better balanced. In my opinion the led light that comes with the Festool is a little overrated. Yes, you won't miss a scratch anymore but you'll never see how the complete wall or ceiling looks with that inspection light. If I have walls or ceilings with critical light I use the Festool STL 450 inspection light. Edit: I have read a lot of comments here saying that you get better finish with the Mirka because it's a random orbital sander. Please notice that the Planex 2 is a random orbital sander, too.

Can’t wait to find out how many thousands of dollars a festool dustless sander costs!

Hey mate… you need to use the old festool interface pad on top of the new one.

I use and love the radius 360 pole sander

It does the job.

be good if it had a attachment for internal corners

Small tip: Next time try it in almost dark room

I'm here to see how well this expensive tool worked.

instead of going up and down, try going in a circular motion. I find it helps with the lines.

I use a Mirka Sander it leaves no scratches atall, and I think the ceiling version is even lighter.....

I noticed that the first contact with the ceiling caused a semi-circular ding because the sanding head naturally is at an angle. I have the same problem with my Wen sander.

You should show us how much dust is in the vacuum after

It seems that all these sanders are a bit top heavy and puts a strain on the shoulders. However Festool is one of the lightest weighing just 4kg and I noticed from its website that they sell a harness, not that cheap...hey we`re talking Festool here! Have you tried out that option, or anybody? Thanks for the video.

Will it be good to use on a parquet floor, wood floor....?

I found the absolute deal of a lifetime on Facebook marketplace. This past week, I got a festool drywall sander with case, as well as a tape tech Mud runner with 8 different angle heads and flushers, paid 100 for the mud runner w. attachments, and 150 for the festool , 250 total for 2 tools that combined cost over 2k . Gota love crack heads!

For content to add to your channel could you get ahold of some of the cheaper drywall sanders off amazon, they are cheaper than i thought before the price jump up to the festool. Curious if any of the cheaper ones in your opinion are worth it. I am really in the market for a drywall sander with a vacuum to cut down on dust after sanding and also to make ceilings easier. I just do so little drywall but I have become very proficient from watching all of your videos. Can Anyone else also in the comments add to the experience of a sub $300 powered drywall vacuum sander? Love all your videos I know you rather not be the vancouver drywall carpenter but your just too good at it.

If you use softer lightweight I recommend 220 or 180 if you don’t like the aggressive scratches

aren't there some 5 mill or 10 mill sponge interface pads for the planex? i got 5 mill pads for my ETS 150 and with 180 grid that thing sands perfect

Do you use this after you prime and after your first coat of wall color as well or just a pole sander. I only paint and was entertaining getting one

I've heard some ppl saying it leaves swirls / grooves. what is the best set up / settings?

Solution radius 360 dustless for touchups after festool.

Gettin old VC Oh well, time catches us all

Will this work on plaster style stucco (not popcorn)? Even if it’s only good enough to then do a full skim?

What grit of paper do you use on your pole sander?

When you sand with an old school sanding pole or by hand ...your arm will still get soar...even with those electric sanders the same ...basically there's no way around certain things your gonna work...I still want one though

Could you have used a lesser grit on the sandpaper for less marks?

I started trying to use a power sander but keep running into a gouging issue. After pushing/pulling the head against the ceiling for 2-3 feet, the head tilts, gouging the ceiling even at the lowest speed setting. I want to say it is my lack of experience and skill. Do you have any tips to avoid this?

might be heavy but cuts the work by 10x with pole sanding manually youd be sanding that all for so much longer and so much more dust so worth it to get somthing like this or even a cheaper brand if you do drywall at all

Think about moving to midweight compound. I nearly returned my Planex 2 before taking it out of the box after watching this video. I have *zero scratches or swirl marks*. I did gouge a couple of times due to operator error (inattentiveness when putting it on the wall), but they sanded out easily. I bought a pack of 220, which I regret. I actually want to get 150, 120, and even 80.

That "garage", looks like a kitchen.... that garage is nicer than my actual kitchen. 👀

For garages only maybe?

How do you feel in your shoulders

Can you attach a shoulder strap connected to it to take some of the weight?

What was the price for that complete setup?

Salut , moi aussi j’ai un problème de ponçage avec la nouvelle festool , la planex 1 poncer bien mieux et festool ne veut rien entendre 😡😡

Hello, I want to ask you, would you suggest it to someone to buy this machine, do you think that someone can do his job faster and better?

JOEST discs , 220-240 G . Wouldn't use any other sanding disc.

is that a dishwasher...in the garage?

so, let's say you're a DIY homeowner and dont want to drop $2000 on a planex rig. would say a cordless orbital hand sander connected to a shop vac be a reasonable option for smaller jobs?

Honestly having used the Wen version I bought for a big ceiling job in my house, I think the swirl marks and stuff are filled and hidden with primer and paint and from the texture of the nap roller. It does get heavy though. Lol nice work as always.

Once you become accustomed to it and really learn how to use it and watch what you're doing you're not going to want to put it down afterwards we would go over it with a light and a sand sponge

it looks heavy to be doing ceilings with. maybe need slilts to get head close to celing level.

Isn’t there a belt rig for this thing for when you sand ceilings? The unit sits on an open pin on the belt (which holds all the weight) and then you just use your arms to control the sander.

get the backing pad

Trim tex 550 great sander

just mirka or hilti.festool is good but heavy.and dont have 180° head

Thuis department of tools from ceiling sanding is still waiting for breakthrough

So after two years, are you really using a power sander more?

Why do they make the drywall sander to heavy ,should make it lighter 💭🤏

That looks so heavy! You are at least 6’3” tall, this girl is 5’2” short and 105 lbs.

No skateboarding when you pull your groin!

Disappointing to hear that it leaves scratches. Thought with the orbital action it would eliminate swirls and scratches. Can you use a finer grit sandpaper and turn the speed all the way down?

Do an ollie.

What would you recommend for a DIYer who needs to put all new drywall in multiple rooms? I have a hand vacuum sander and I love how it leaves no mess, but it takes a huge amount of time and effort on bigger jobs, and the screens leave small lines. I was thinking of getting a WEN power sander to save some time and effort. On the other hand the rooms that'll need drywall are a garage and basement, so it shouldn't be as hard to isolate dust from other rooms. Thank you!

Why would you paint a garage with flat paint?? less durable than an eggshell or satin paint.