How To Make Your Own Festool/Surf Prep Sander Combo in the UK
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I don’t need to tell you how EXPENSIVE a Festool sander is here in the UK. Kidney for sale, anyone?
I know that there’s the argument for investing in good quality tools but unless furniture flipping/painting/restoration is your full-time job and you’re making a decent living off it, then not many people want to shell out upwards of £500 JUST FOR A SANDER.
Not to mention the Surf Prep sander you see all over YouTube and Instagram, that can’t be bought for love nor money in the UK. That soft spongey goodness, that hugs those curvy pieces of furniture and lets you sand around edges without flattening them out. Yes, that one.
Ever thrifty and creative here at Flip It & Restore It, we’ve put together a combo that we think is pretty damn good, if we say so ourselves. It won’t break the bank and it will give you the dust extraction benefits of the Festool and the sponge benefits of the Surf Prep. Want to find out what products we used? Then keep on reading…
STEP 1 – The Shop Vac
For our Shop Vac, we bought the Titan TTB775VAC 1400W 20LTR Wet & Dry Vacuum. This is a great little vacuum – lightweight, wet & dry, blower function and comes with different attachments.
We picked this up at Screwfix for £64.99. You can find a similar one at B&Q here or on Amazon here.
Comparatively, in the UK, the cheapest Festool Dust Extractor is going to set you back about £300, has less power at 1200W and has a similar dry capacity of 15 litres. The Festool is quieter at 70dBA, whereas the Titan has a sound level of 78 dBA.
STEP 2 – The Sander
When it came to the sander we chose, we wanted an orbital sander. It needed to have variable speeds and a hose attachment so we could connect it to the shop vac. This Erbauer ERO400 125MM Electric Random Orbital Sander ticked the boxes for us and was highly rated without breaking the bank.
If you don’t want to use it with a vacuum, it comes with a dust box to collect your sanding dust.
We picked this up at Screwfix for £49.99.
Comparatively, in the UK, the cheapest Festool Orbital Sander is going to set you back about £450 and has the same 400W power as the Erbauer ERO400.
UPDATE JUNE 2024
I recently discovered this PioneerWorks Sheet Sander on Amazon, and based on how closely it resembled the shape and size of the Surf Prep sander, I took a punt and bought it.
I paid £130 for it which is not unreasonable. After having it in the workshop for a couple of weeks now, I’ve found it very nice to use and I’ve been reaching for it more than my Festool sander! I like the rectangular shape of it which makes corners a complete non-issue, the fact it has different speeds and once I’ve added these interface pads, it’s great for curved edges and detailing too! Whilst it’s not a Surf Prep squishy foam pad, it still does a great job!
For veneer edges, I turn the speed right down and as it’s a lot less aggressive than my Festool, the chance of sanding through the veneer if you keep the sander moving is much less likely!
You can see it in action on this Instagram reel I shared…
Out of interest, I thought I would compare some key details about them:
Size:
Weight:
Orbit:
Speeds:
Min Speed:
Max Speed:
Motor:
SURF PREP
3×4 inches
2.47 pounds
3mm
3
4000 RPM
9000 RPM
Brushless
PIONEERWORKS
3×5 inches
4.8 pounds
3mm
6
4000 RPM
10,000 RPM
Brushless
How I interpret these is that the PioneerWorks sander is slightly larger, can go slightly faster, has more speed options and has the same sanding orbit as the SurfPrep. Not bad for an affordable alternative!
STEP 3 – The Sponge Interface Pad
These sponge interface pads have 8 holes and these line up perfectly with the holes on the Erbauer ERO400 sander, which is important, as this allows the dust to be extracted into the Titan shop vac when you are sanding.
Each pad is 10mm thick so provides a good amount of cushioning to sand around edges and details. I wouldn’t press really hard though as you will flatten out your bumps and bits if you do! Plus, it sticks like glue to the Erbauer sander. This isn’t coming off without a fight!
We picked up a pack of two pads at Amazon for £12.99.
Comparatively, in the UK, a Festool
Okay, so we have the three most important elements sorted to mimic Festool and Surf Prep sanders, now just put it all together and switch your Titan shop vac and your Erbauer sander on!
You can see ours in action on this Instagram reel we shared…
View this post on Instagram
Right, down the nitty-gritty, the cost!
Titan shop vac – £64.99
Erbauer sander – £49.99
Interface Pads – £12.99
So, a grand total of £127.97!
Compare that with a hefty sum of £760 for a Festool sander and extractor!
Don’t get me wrong, I am sure that the Festool sander would absolutely eat our combo for breakfast but we wanted to give you a cheaper alternative that could give you a similar result. Does our Titan/Erbauer combo extract every molecule of dust? No. Does it have an adjustable suction flow? No. Does it have an antistatic function? No.
Is it nearly 6 times cheaper than a Festool? YES. Does it do the job of sucking up most of your sanding dust? YES.
Would you give this sander/shop vac combo a go? If you do, we would love to see and hear about your experience!
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See you on the next flip!
Brenda & Stu x
Madeleine
Hi, thanks for this information! My partner says we could use a Henry Hoover instead for dust extraction. Would appreciate your thoughts on that…
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Yes, I believe that you could use a Henry Hoover too. My only thoughts are that the level of dust extraction won’t be as good as an industrial hoover, designed specifically for this purpose. So you might find, there is more dust left in the air rather than being extracted and filtered into the hoover. It would probably be a good idea to wear a dust mask if you go down this route just to be safe 🙂
Lorraine Caddy
I cannot thank you enough for your detailed information and demonstration video.
I already knew that I could neither afford nor justify the high cost of a Festool (even if I could source it) so was delighted to have found your page and thus solution to my predicament.
I have purchased all your suggestions and eagerly await their arrival so I can begin the mammoth task of repainting my whole huge bedroom set!
Thank you
Lorraine
Brenda Melaniphy
You’re so welcome Lorraine – I’m so pleased that this was able to help you. I am literally in the process of updating this post with a new sander I’ve found, which I think is an even closer match for the Surf Prep sander. It’s this one here – https://amzn.to/3xvGXr3.