Festool Abrasives
THE FESTOOL SYSTEM
Festool offers a fully integrated sanding solution for everything from aggressive stock removal to super fine, finish sanding. With a complete line of abrasives in seven different types, and grits ranging from 24 to 4000, Festool has the perfect product to meet your specific application needs. Festool abrasives, with their high tech coatings, provide maximum resistance to clogging and smearing, which means longer lasting abrasives and less reworking for you. Save money by reducing costs. Achieve consistent, high quality results. And, by adding Festool’s portable dust extraction system, you’ll protect your Health, too.
UNIQUE JETSTREAM SYSTEM
Festool Jetstream technology reduces the surface temperature, which is one of many reasons why our abrasives last up to 30% longer. With our patented Jetstream pad design, air flows trough an additional hole in the center of the pad, moving dust to the outer holes where it is vacuumed up. The continuous air flow significantly improves dust extraction, prevents debris accumulation, clogging and increases abrasive life. When sanding dust is removed from the sanding surface, the abrasive wears more evenly and will last longer. Longer abrasive life and more reliable work results mean you spend less time sanding and achieve better results. With Festool’s Jetstream technology and efficient dust extraction, Festool abrasives give you better results and save you both time and money.
UNIFORM ABRASIVES Abrasives with uniform dispersion prevent scratches and ensure the best surface quality and finest sanded finish. Festool abrasives mean less reworking and more reliable results.
STICKFIX SYSTEM
With its unique hook-and-loop design, the StickFix System allows quick and efficient abrasive changes. Festool hook-and-loop provides a secure, non-slip bond for better results. Abrasives can be easily removed when desired. You’ll save time when changing abrasives and you’ll also save money by re-using slightly worn abrasives.
TIGHTER TOLERANCES
Festool abrasives conform to tighter tolerances than US CAMI standard abrasives. This produces a more uniform scratch pastern which results in the very best sanded surface possible.
TECHNICAL COMPOSITION
At Festool, we use only top-grade materials for our abrasives. This ensures the finest sanding results and extremely long-lasting abrasives.
StickFix Our unique hook and loop design ensures a secure hold, fast change and re-use of marginally worn abrasives. As a result, you’ll get the most out of your abrasives and reduce replacement costs.
Backing Material Festool has different backings to match a broad range of applications, from rapid material removal to superior surface quality. Backing materials are:
Paper Festool uses only top-grade paper of varying weights to assure high tear resistance, durability and superior surface quality. Using only high quality materials assures the best and most reliable work results; this saves you time and money. different paper weights we use are:
- b-wt 115 g/m2
- d-wt 165 g/m2
- c-wt 130 g/m2
- e-wt 185 g/m2
Fabric Festool uses a special x-type woven fabric which ensures its abrasives are long-lasting when used under tough conditions and on uneven surfaces. The fiber increases strength and prevents the abrasive from tearing at the edges. This backing is excellent for heavy duty jobs and results in a very long operational life and considerable cost savings.
Fiber Festool uses a special elastic fiber mat. This mat is embedded with abrasive particles. Festool’s name for this abrasive mat is Vlies. With Vlies, it’s easier to achieve consistent results on complicated contours.
Foam and fiber A foam backing compensates for uneven pressure to protect the surface and allow you to achieve perfect results. Foam and fiber works great on transitions, too. The foam efficiently adapts to the work piece contour. This produces reliable work results and high surface qualities. The special velour on top of the foam assures the best grit bonding and prevents the edges from tearing. Like the foam, it is air permeable and open pored. It extracts almost 100% of the particulate through the backing and ensures a clear view of the work piece. You will achieve better, more reliable work results and less reworking.
Impregnation We saturate the backing material with a special solution to fill up the pores. This impregnation assures the best bonding and prevents the backing from being penetrated by the bonding. Impregnation gives the bonding better adhesion and protects grits from breaking off, especially on the edges. Impregnation extends the abrasive’s useful life which help save you money by reducing replacement costs.
Base bonding Abrasives must have good bonding to be long lasting. The base bonding secures the grains to the backing material and prevents the grits from breaking off. We use only high quality material to give our abrasives longer life and this lowers your replacement costs. For matched bonding, we use different materials depending on the abrasive.
Synthetic Resin Synthetic resin guarantees high flexibility and allows the abrasive to better adapt to the sanding surface. You will see superior results which means less reworking and more time savings. The high strength of synthetic resin prevents the grits from breaking off and ensures high durability. We utilize full synthetic resin and synthetic resin combinations to assure best results and to provide long operational life.
Phenolic Resin Phenolic resin is highly heat resistant. It provides a strong yet flexible bond which prevents scratching along the edges. This high quality bond prevents grits from breaking off even under the toughest conditions. This extends the service life of the abrasive and saves you money.
Sanding grit Festool uses high quality silicon carbide or aluminum oxide. These grits produce the best material removal rates, highest surface quality and greatest durability. Every application requires specific efficiencies which is why we offer a complete system of abrasives. You save on replacement costs and achieve better results with less reworking.
Silicon carbide is almost as hard as a diamond. The particles are sliver-shaped and have the ability to cut aggressively on a wide range of materials while using little pressure. Because it resists heat well, silicon carbide holds up during demanding applications. The particles have consistent size and grading: they provide the best results for high quality surface finishes and produce consistently reliable work results.
Aluminum oxide is hard, sharp, tough and remarkably durable. The particles are wedgeshaped which allows the grains to penetrate at a high cut rate. Aluminum oxide is friable, which means that as it heats up, it breaks down at a controlled rate, producing a fresh cutting edge. Aluminum oxide’s high material removal coupled with extreme durability saves both time and money.
Top bonding Top bonding prevents grits from breaking off and supports their adhesion to the base bond. Bonding agents include synthetic and phenolic resins. This creates greater resistance to tear out and a longer service life.
Coating Our abrasives receive a final top coat specific to their application. These coatings prevent clogging, smearing and extend the abrasive’s useful life. This lowers your replacement costs and produces better results. The bottom line is that you will spend less time sanding and finish sooner.
BONDING LEVEL
Open leveled means that the grains are lightly covered providing a relief for swarf just as gullets on a saw blade clear the chips. This enables efficient dust extraction and prevents the abrasive from clogging which extends its useful life. That means better results and savings on replacement costs.
Closed leveled means that the coating fills the ‘valleys’ between the grains leaving just the ‘peaks’ exposed. The grains are better bonded and highly stable which prevents them from breaking off. The abrasive lasts longer under difficult conditions and you save on replacement costs.
DISPERSION
Festool offers you the perfect abrasive for whatever your application. Our abrasives range in dispersion levels to better facilitate a broad range of applications. The right dispersion level assures the best and most reliable sanding results as well as providing high sanding capacity.
Open-coat means fewer abrasive particles on the surface. Having more space between the grains provides clearance for sanding swarf, prevents clogging and ensures a high material removal rate. The sparser the grit coating, the greater the material removal rate and quicker material removal saves you time. With closed-coat abrasives, the concentration of grains is greater and thus the space between the grits is smaller. This results in a softer scratch pattern and a better quality surface. The denser dispersion provides a better sanded finish and helps you produce the finest sanded finish possible - every single time.
Manufacturers use Different Standards
Abrasives manufacturers use sorting systems to classify grains. Coarser abrasives are sorted by screens that used to size the grain. Common grit sizes refer to the number of particular grains it takes end to end to measure one inch. Smaller abrasives are measured in microns. Even with these grit number classifications, some manufacturers use different grading systems such as Federation of European Producers of Abrasives (FEPA), Coated Abrasives Manufacturers Institute (CAMI) or American National Standards Institute (ANSI). When Festool abrasives are classified to the Federation of European Producers of Abrasives (FEPA)and are designated with a P such as “P220”.
