random orbit sanders

[chuckpierce]

Hi, guys, I am new here and need some advice. I have a project that I am working on for the wife (a sofa table made of salvaged white oak flooring from our 80 year old house). I also have a set of plans for a Two-Paw pram, which will be my next large project. I have been talking to my wife about having the proper tools for the job, and I think that I need a decent ROS to supplement my Makita finish sander so that I can do a proper finish job on this tabletop . I would use it with a shopvac, so dust collection attachment is a must. Variable speed might be nice-What do you guys use? There is a lot more out there than the last time I looked seriously at these, and I am trying to make sure as always that I can buy this once and have the right tool. Thanks!

[Howard]

In addition to my finish sander, which I never use.....I have a similar sized Porter Cable ROS, which uses 5 inch disks. A simple on/off switch and it does a decent job. I almost always use it hooked to my shop vac. The other ROS I use is the serious tool.....a Bosch 6 inch, with variable speed and variable pattern. It requires two hands to hang on to. It too is always used with a shop vac. It will eat the wood (and you) alive.

Other big capacity sanding tool is a DeWalt angle head grinder with flapped sanding disk. It will do some serious damage in less than a heartbeat.

But with either one, I finally gave up on the small packages of paper from either the local hardware store or even the big boxes like HD and Lowes. McMaster Carr has better paper for half the price. For most boat projects, assume you are going to need massive quantities of sand paper (or accept a rough finished boat).

If you have enough air compressor capacity, you might also look into air tools. I hear they are pretty good too.

BTW, speaking of tools, I learned from a local industrial tool supplier that for all these products, there are different grades of tools. The box stores sell cheap consumer tools that don't hold up. The local tool shop also sells a DeWalt angle head grinder but it's a different animal. Say $110 vs. $85 at the box store. But you get better motor, switches, etc. that will hold up to constant use.

[John Burritt]

When sanding on boats, remember that the goal is "fair" as well as smooth.  The best tool for fairing is a long sanding board that will eliminate the high spots & not make new low ones.  The closest power sander I've found that comes close to this is a flat-bed 1/2 sheet sander.  Milwaukee makes a good one, as well as others.

[bruegf]

Festool's Rotex sanders have amazing dust collection and versatility.  I once sanded the plywood floor inside my closed up 32 footer and never had to clean up any sanding dust.  They function as both a rotary sander for rapid material removal and as a random orbit sander for finish sanding.  The only down side is cost.  Well there is one more downside - don't buy any of their tools if you are into wood working tools and don't want to buy a lot more tools.  Once you buy one, its hard not to want more.

http://www.festoolusa.com/products/rotex-sanders

Fred

[Peter HK]

Festool's Rotex sanders have amazing dust collection and versatility

I'll second that.

I used one with the small festool shop vacuum to sand the high build undercoat on my CS17. Fast on rotary and precise on random orbital and basically worked as a vacuum cleaner- the boat was cleaner at the end of a sanding session than at the beginning :-D

Price is a bit painful :-(

I would however never go back to inefficient dust extraction.

Cheers

Peter HK

[bruegf]

I used both Porter Cable and Bosch sanders before I bought the first Festool sander and I can tell you w/ absolutely no hesitation I would never go back.  You just can't believe the level of dust extraction until you've actually seen it first hand.  And its the same for all their tools (sanders, routers, circular saw, loose tenon cutter, jig saw).

I recently drilled over 50' worth of 5mm holes (a hole every 32mm) for shelf support pins using a Festool guide and router and had zero dust to clean up.

The tough part is definitely the price.  Sander and vac with HEPA filters will set you back around $900.  The good news is only hurts until you get it paid off :-)

Fred

[Dogdad]

I just used a basic 5" Porter-Cable for my S&G canoe project.  Worked fine, no complaints, but I don't have much experience with other makes & models to judge.  I did get an optional soft pad which helped on the curved surfaces.  

If I preparing for another build I'd replace my shop vac first -- it's a cheap Craftsman and is ridiculously loud.

[Hirilonde]

I'd replace my shop vac first -- it's a cheap Craftsman and is ridiculously loud.

Most of them are.  The Fein is very quiet considering the power.  Fein also makes some very nice DAs (aka RO) sanders.  But like when purchasing Festool tools, check your balance before writing the check.

[bfeller]

I've had a smaller Bosch ROS for a few years.  I liked the Bosch and the other Bosch tools I've used.  I recentyl used a Porter Cable ROS - one slighty larger than my Bosch.  The Porter Cable was a hands down winner over the Bosch.  I have no experience with the Fientool's products.  I suspected that the dust collection technology has advanced quite a bit since my 15 to 20 year old Bosch came one the market.  The vibration felt in my hands was much better with the Porter Cable.  The Bosch always leaves my hand tingling for a few minutes  The Porter Cabel did not. 

[bruegf]

Fein and Festool are both very quiet vacs for the amount of power they have.  The tools make more noise than the vac.  Fein is a bit quieter than Festool, but Festool has the advantage of variable suction, which makes a large difference for sanding.  Too much suction and the sander sucks down onto the work piece and jumps around - too little and you leave more sanding dust.  Another benefit of sanding w/ a vac is that I find my sandpaper lasts far longer because it doesn't clog up as fast.

Fred

[chuckpierce]

Well. it looks like I have some serious saving up to do. I saw one of the Festool RO 125 sanders yesterday-I must have it.  It will take some time, but I have always believed that buying the right thing once was cheaper in the long run. Thanks to all for your advice!

Chuck

[bruegf]

Chuck,

I'm not sure whether I should say congrats or apologize for helping you start down the path :-)   Just like potato chips, its very hard to stop after one tool.   There's a great forum forum for Festool at:

http://www.festoolownersgroup.com/

Fred

[chuckpierce]

"Chuck,

I'm not sure whether I should say congrats or apologize for helping you start down the path :-) " 

Well say congrats to me for having the sense to get the good stuff although it will take a while, apologize to the wife because after researching the brand, I see other Festool products in my future and it is largely YOUR FAULT! 

[bruegf]

The sander and vac were my first (and at the time, intended to be the only) puchase of Festool tools.  I now have about a 6' high stack of their systainer boxes.   The only hard part is getting over the purchase price, but I've never regretted any of the purchases.   They've completely changed the way I do woodworking.  There's just something about using a high quality tool that can't be beat.

Fred