Planex

As much as I hate to finish drywall I find myself doing more and more of it. Has anybody had any experience using the Planex. 

Do you seriously want me to tell you about it? You know it’s gonna cost you!!!!

I know thats why I’m asking is it all that they say, and should I get the CT 36 AC? $1,800 is a big chunk of cash to drop on a sanding system.

For $1800 you could pick up some cheap workers in front of the store.

chadlanthier wrote:

For $1800 you could pick up some cheap workers in front of the store.

 Yes that is true but then I would have to watch them all day so they are not roaming around the customers house and ripping them off. Also the less dust in the air the better.

Is so weird you bring this up. I find myself doing more drywall work too. I looked into the Porter Cable power sander with vac attachment. $400 on the Amazon. It’s no Festool…

Brien wrote:

Is so weird you bring this up. I find myself doing more drywall work too. I looked into the Porter Cable power sander with vac attachment. $400 on the Amazon. It’s no Festool…

I know a couple of guys that have the Porter Cable and they really have nothing good to say about it.

I gonna buy a hand sander with vacuum attachment for around $30 when I start with my garage.

or maybe I can rent such a unit to sand everything

regopit wrote:

I know thats why I’m asking is it all that they say, and should I get the CT 36 AC? $1,800 is a big chunk of cash to drop on a sanding system.

I’m not sure if my humor came across but I wasnt questioning wether you wanted to know about it rather just jokingly warning you that as soon as I tell you how nice it is you are gonna be dropping some cash!!

I’ll be honest, I dont do a ton of drywall work.. I had used a freinds porter cable on a few of my jobs and realized how useful it would be for me as a remodeler to own one… sand drywall seams or full skims, remove texture ceilings, prep painted walls, even light or small floor refinishing jobs..

I bought the Planex without the AC vac.. do you already have a CT vac? I have the ultimate dust deputy setup for my CT’s which does a excellent job of separating the fine dust. If you arent going to use some sort of cyclone separator then I would say the AC is a must. Also if your gonna do a ton of drywall then you may want it anyway.. the drywall dust will eventually choke up the CT bags if used alone.

The planex is SICK compared to the porter cable.. the fact that it packs down into a maxi systainer, I love how it can be made shorter or longer, the ergonomics are amazing, the speed and suction adjustibility is great and the power is excelent.. I am no way an expert at using a drywall sander but my results with the planex were probably 3x nicer than with the porter cable.. the porter always left swirl marks and gouges etc., haven’t experienced that yet with the festool.

If you dont need it right away check Craigslist and ebay.. it’s one of those tools that not a ton of people buy so used tools sell for better prices. Plus if you find one that was only used for a few months then you can still rely on the remainder of the 3 year (excelent) warranty. I wouldn’t worry about used, these things are built like a tank.

If your gonna go for one, let me know.. I’ll let you know what I got for a sandpaper assortment (custom from Tom at tool home)

Bottom line, if you think you can use it even just a few times a year I think it’s worth it just for the better quality your work will be, time savings and the convenience

you can easily justify the cost if you are doing more contract work over cost plus…..

It all depends on how much Drywall work you do. I don’t know if you sub out drywall a lot of it out or what. Drywall is a funny thing some GC’s will take it on others don’t want to deal with it even for really small jobs. It’s probably because they suck at mudding hanging rock inst too hard mudding is one of those dark art skills you need time to learn it, and you can lose it if you don’t do it enough The Planex is great for people that want a clean dustless job site which is perfect for remodeling work. I would want one just because it looks cool 🙂

doesn’t seem like it but your right there is an art to it, I watch my older brother drywall/tape/mud/sand and paint a room ….clean and easy as folding money

Yea I try to do what I have seen others do while mudding, but It always ends up being a mess that needs a ton of sanding when I do it.

I had a speaker in a wall that I was removing and filling the hole he did 1 side and I tried the other….lol needless to say he ended up doing both sides…..lol…anyway he showed me a trick that I will post soon its no wonder he finished so fast ……

After today I’m going to bite the bullet. I’m going to start putting money aside for it. I’m doing a attic master suite. Bedroom, bath, office and my drywall guy called last night him and his son are sick and can not make today and the painter is coming Monday so, I was sanding all day. I don’t care how well you seal things up that dust gets everywhere. Thanks for the info NER. also Festool will be putting out some info on this years Connect soon. 

datta a boy

It sounds like u can easily justify the cost rego and it also sounds like u have talked yourself into it. U need to get some picks when your done.

regopit wrote:

After today I’m going to bite the bullet. I’m going to start putting money aside for it. I’m doing a attic master suite. Bedroom, bath, office and my drywall guy called last night him and his son are sick and can not make today and the painter is coming Monday so, I was sanding all day. I don’t care how well you seal things up that dust gets everywhere. Thanks for the info NER. also Festool will be putting out some info on this years Connect soon.

Keep us posted Regopit. I don’t know if I can but man I really want to go this year. Good for you on the planex and DC. There is no way I could justify it for home use. But….????? Just kidding! If I were a pro doing a single horse job, I’d get it no questions asked.

regopit wrote:

After today I’m going to bite the bullet. I’m going to start putting money aside for it. I’m doing a attic master suite. Bedroom, bath, office and my drywall guy called last night him and his son are sick and can not make today and the painter is coming Monday so, I was sanding all day. I don’t care how well you seal things up that dust gets everywhere. Thanks for the info NER. also Festool will be putting out some info on this years Connect soon.

hand sanding?!?! Nothing sucks more than that..

your gonna love the planex, it’s one of those tools that it’s hard not to get excited

Im already getting excited for connect/JLC me and my guy Ryan were just talking about it yesterday! Gonna be a good time, let’s make sure we meet up.

The planex takes a little getting used to to dial it in nice.. start in an area that isn’t so visible and with a grit much finer than you think you’ll need. Youll need to mess with the tool speed, tool suction and vac suction and when you get it right things work amazingly.. check YouTube for setting recommendations and then fine tune from there to what works best for you.

I’d also recommend getting the soft interface pads for fine finish sanding