Mike Konobeck
09-12-2011, 1:25 AM
I just finished assembling my dining room table and the bubinga top has been quite a challenge to plane/scrape/sand. I tried everything from a PC belt sander w/ 50 grit to a LN #8 to every scraper I own. The #8 was sharpened with a 17 deg back bevel and the throat closed up really nice and tight. I would have trusted that with the most difficult of grain but this top was something else and ended up with some significant tear out. Not just superficial and I shed a few tears and put the plane down to go drink. I broke down and brought it in to a local shop and they did a great job taking out the tearout with their big 53" drum sander but I still had some minor sanding marks from the belt to get out. This led me to standing in front of the Festool display at Rockler drooling and nearly dropping $1k on the vac and one of the 150/3 or 150/5 sanders. It kind of annoyed me that I had to chose between the 3 or 5 so I decided to think about it and look around.
I stopped by Menards and pretty much nothing but junk. Stopped by Home Depot and looked at the 5" sanders and they were like every other one I have and have had. Simple and effective but I needed something bigger and was about to walk away when I saw the 6" Ridgid ROS sander (R2611). Started checking it out and I thought what the heck for a 1/3 of the price of the sander and it hooks right up any old vac. I already have one of the nice Ridgid vacs and the Dust Deputy so it killed me to think about buying the Festool vac. Then upon closer inspection I saw a button on the handle and it said 1/8" and 1/4". Read the back of the box and low and behold it was a selector for moving it between fine (1/8") and coarse (1/4") sanding. Something I thought the Festool should have had as I was looking at it. Needless to say I picked it up and began basically running for the door so I could get home and try this thing out.
Brought it home and went to work on the table top with 150 and 220 grit. It impressed me right from the start. The top was smooth as silk in about 2 hours. Having the selector was nice because I could simply work my way up from the 150 at 1/4" stroke to 1/8" stroke with the push of a button. Then do the same with 220 for a very nice surface. Now I just have to find some 320 for it and the table is ready for finish. The dust collection was great. I wouldn't say that I didn't need a mask and have the air cleaner running but it was close. Not a lot of dust in the air. Head and shoulders above my little Bosch and I don't need to buy a $15 adapter to hook it up to a regular vac hose.
The only downside is that it uses 6 hole paper and I feel that if it had 8 hole it might be better at keeping the abrassive clean. It never loaded up but bubinga doesn't really load up so on something softer it might.
Just thought I would mention this for those contemplating a new 6" ROS because there is not a lot of recent info out there on this sander. You can't beat the price and warranty. Just so it is clear I am not saying this is a better tool than the Festool sanders but just a better value for me. I still want one of everything when I look at the Festool display. My wife was very surprised I didn't end up buying the Festool package as she knows I have a soft spot for high quality tools. I believe Festool makes a very versatile product line but the cost to enter into that realm has been somewhat cost prohibitive for me.
I stopped by Menards and pretty much nothing but junk. Stopped by Home Depot and looked at the 5" sanders and they were like every other one I have and have had. Simple and effective but I needed something bigger and was about to walk away when I saw the 6" Ridgid ROS sander (R2611). Started checking it out and I thought what the heck for a 1/3 of the price of the sander and it hooks right up any old vac. I already have one of the nice Ridgid vacs and the Dust Deputy so it killed me to think about buying the Festool vac. Then upon closer inspection I saw a button on the handle and it said 1/8" and 1/4". Read the back of the box and low and behold it was a selector for moving it between fine (1/8") and coarse (1/4") sanding. Something I thought the Festool should have had as I was looking at it. Needless to say I picked it up and began basically running for the door so I could get home and try this thing out.
Brought it home and went to work on the table top with 150 and 220 grit. It impressed me right from the start. The top was smooth as silk in about 2 hours. Having the selector was nice because I could simply work my way up from the 150 at 1/4" stroke to 1/8" stroke with the push of a button. Then do the same with 220 for a very nice surface. Now I just have to find some 320 for it and the table is ready for finish. The dust collection was great. I wouldn't say that I didn't need a mask and have the air cleaner running but it was close. Not a lot of dust in the air. Head and shoulders above my little Bosch and I don't need to buy a $15 adapter to hook it up to a regular vac hose.
The only downside is that it uses 6 hole paper and I feel that if it had 8 hole it might be better at keeping the abrassive clean. It never loaded up but bubinga doesn't really load up so on something softer it might.
Just thought I would mention this for those contemplating a new 6" ROS because there is not a lot of recent info out there on this sander. You can't beat the price and warranty. Just so it is clear I am not saying this is a better tool than the Festool sanders but just a better value for me. I still want one of everything when I look at the Festool display. My wife was very surprised I didn't end up buying the Festool package as she knows I have a soft spot for high quality tools. I believe Festool makes a very versatile product line but the cost to enter into that realm has been somewhat cost prohibitive for me.