ROS bit the dust

[Gary Groves]

I had a 4" Ryobi ROS. I lasted for several years serving me well. But, the Velcro pad wore out, and they don't make replacement parts for this machine anymore.

At Lowes, they have a Bosch 5" for roughly 80 bucks that is variable speed, but there's also the PC 333 that was highly recommended in some magazine recently for 69 it's not variable speed.

Any other suggestions?

Is variable speed worth the extra money?

[Dave Sweeney]

The last time I looked, Home Depot had the PC 333 for under $60 and the 333VS for under $80. Personally, I've had a reconditioned PC 333 for over 3 years now and it's still going strong. Quite honestly, I can't ever remember thinking I wished I had the variable speed option. Whenever taking too much of the surface away is a concern, I just switch the paper to a higher grit.

[Bruce Page]

Dave, I have two of the PC333's, one with VS/hook & loop and one non-VS/PSA. They are both great sanders but I really love the VS/hook & loop. I haven't used the Bosch.

[Steve Cox]

I would look seriously at the 6" Ridgid at HD. I have the Bosch 6" and love it and have used the same Bosch in 5" and liked it as well. The Ridgid is a little smoother and a little cheaper. I lkie the 6" over the 5", less time sanding:) .

[Jim Becker]

If I hadn't bought the Festool sanders, I'd still be using the two PC333 sanders that I had for some time. They are good units and pretty much the ones that other firms shoot to beat in the 5" ROS arena.

[Ted Shrader]

Gary -

My PC 333's are still going strong after a number of years. Mine have two speeds, ON and OFF. Haven't found the need for variable speed.

Ted

[Carl Eyman]

The last thing I'll do on this forum is put down another poster; so wheb you hear a poster say "I've got variable speed and never use it" pay attention, but when you here him say, " I don't have VS and never miss it" , ignore it, He doesn;t know what he is missing. There are many surfaces where the machine grabs and wants to rip your arms off at high speed, but at low speed it is controlable. I've had a PC 333 (variable) since 1989 or 90 and it is still going strong. Believe me it has had a lot of use.

[Bert Johansen]

In the category of "for what it's worth" I've owned the PC333 for several years and find it very noisy. I don't care for the dust collection either. It is now in the repair center getting a new thrust bearing, and when I dropped it off the technician said they had a lot of failures with the PC333 thrust bearing. Next time I'm going to look at the Bosch and Festool.

Bert

[Ted Shrader]

The last thing I'll do on this forum is put down another poster; so wheb you hear a poster say "I've got variable speed and never use it" pay attention, but when you here him say, " I don't have VS and never miss it" , ignore it, He doesn;t know what he is missing. There are many surfaces where the machine grabs and wants to rip your arms off at high speed, but at low speed it is controlable. I've had a PC 333 (variable) since 1989 or 90 and it is still going strong. Believe me it has had a lot of use.Carl -

Ah, but I do know that I am not missing variable speed. I had two DeWalt VS ROSs. Never used the variable speed function - it was available, but I didn't need it. One simply needs to vary the pressure that the sander is exerting on the wood.

I bought those DeWalt variable speed sanders for the ergonomic profile - they fit my hand well. But the sanders did not last. They were swapped out for the PC's and have never looked back.

I had one thrust bearing failure on one of the PC333s. Very simple repair. Go to your local bearing shop and get the right size sealed bearing. The swap out takes less than 10 minutes - not hard at all.

Interesting thing about this board is you can collect opinions and experiences from all, weigh them as they suit your needs and then make your own decisions. The important thing is to pick what is right for you.

Regards,
Ted

[Ted Daigle]

I had the PC333 and enjoyed it until it konked out in less than a year. I was probably to rough with it or applied too much pressure too often. I'm not sure. Anyway, I switched to the Ridgid 5" ROS with variable speed and like it alot. Dust collection seems a tad better, as well.

[Dan Mages]

I have the PC333 and it has been a great tool to have. If you ever have the need to do some very rigorous sanding, remove the belt that is below that sanding pad. Without that belt, it will spin like a bat out of hell!

Dan

[mil ford]

if you just wanted to replace the velcro pad HD sells 5" sander replacement pads, you could trim it to fot

[Wes Bischel]

Some have also sanded the hooks off the pad and used PSA disks instead.

FWIW,
Wes

[Gary Groves]

Thanks for all the input.

Desision, ended up being pretty easy though. <GRIN>

2 uneeded x-mas presents from Sears.

PC 333k ros on sale for 59 bucks = FREE ROS. HMMM what should I do?

So, now I'm the proud owner of a a brand new PC ROS!:D (well almost free, I had to kick in a couple bucks)

Sorry no pics! No digital camera. :(

[Larry Browning]

Gary,
You should look into the generic replacement hook pads for your old ROS. These work great! And even though you have already bought a new sander, consider the replacement pad. You will now have 2 sanders so you wont have to change disks so often. The pad on my Makita wore out, I replaced it, several months ago and it still works like new.

Larry

[Gary Groves]

I'll look at that. I did see some conversion pads at the big orange box, but since they were 5" vs my 4.5" i ignored. Now, with nothing to loose, I'll check into them again.