Ros

[Robert Delhommer Sr]

I have a 1/4 sheet palm sander and wondering about a 5" random orbital sander. Is there any advantage to a ROS over a 1/4 sheet palm sander? Would a ROS be any more agressive than a 1/4 sheet palm sander using the same grit sand paper? A 1/4 sheet palm sander has the advantage of being able to use a 1/4 sheey of sand paper or a roll of 4 1/2" of paper cut to 5 1/2" long, where a ROS needs the 5" round disc with hook/loop fasteners. Just wondering if I would gain anything getting a ROS since I already have 2 of the 1/4 sheet palm sanders.

Bob

[cody michael]

I greatly prefer the roster compared to sheet sander. I gave some craftsman and a dewalt and they are both ok, they are nicer ones I'm sure

[Lee Schierer]

Generally speaking, a ROS will sand more quickly than a palm sander. They work well when you have frame type joints where the grain meets at 90 degree angles. A ROS can leave swirl marks in your wood if you start with too coarse of a grit paper on softer wood or don't adequately work through the grits to the final finish you want. You have to buy specific sized paper for your ROS, but there are aftermarket suppliers of all the common types. 5" ROS sanders also come with pressure peel and stick paper as well.

[Brian Henderson]

The ROS is faster and it has a much more random path, thus that the scratches aren't concentrated in one area. You have to do all of the work moving the sander with a palm sander. The ROS does a much better job by itself. You get much better results with an ROS IMO.

[Mike Chalmers]

The 1/4 sheet palm sander is most commonly referred to as a Finish Sander. To me, that about says it all.

[Kent A Bathurst]

ROS removes fiber faster, so you spend less time on the sanding. THe H&L discs are faster to replace than the 1/4 sheets on the palm sander, but you are paying more for them.

Most of the modern ROS have good to excellent systems for picking up dust, when connected to a shop vac.

The palm sander I had [it was great] threw off clouds of dust. No more of that mess.

Because the ROS is a random pattern, it makes no difference which way you move -with or across the grain. You will typically hear that it is best to do one final, light pass by hand, using your last grit and moving with the grain. I usually do this, but not always.

[Mike Schuch]

I have three 6" right angle random orbit sanders. Two are Porter Cables and one AEG. They are much faster than my Porter Cable 1/4 sheet sander. All 3 of my ROS's use PSA (peel and stick) paper and I prefer it to hook and loop because I am cheap but also because I prefer the harder surface of the PSA backing disc. The AEG was my fathers and it is a bit quicker than the Porter Cables. I believe that 6" right angle sanders are considerably more powerful and faster than 5" ROS sanders.

I also have three Porter Cable / Rockwell 505 half sheet sanders. They are much faster then my 1/4 sheet sander but not as fast as the ROS sanders. I use the half sheet sanders on large surfaces like cabinets and such because it is much more difficult to sand through a veneer or gouge the surface. I use the ROS sanders for face frames, smaller parts, for leveling joints and anywhere I want to remove stock faster than the sheet sanders but not as fast as my belt sander. I also have a Craftsman half sheet sander and it is not nearly as fast as my 505 half sheet sanders.

ROS sanders do not do inside corners. Inside corners are where the 1/4 sheet sander works best.

[Bill Adamsen]

I have several of the Porter Cable 1/2 sheet and palm sanders and they do a great job on panels or other larger flat surfaces ... especially knocking dust out of a previous finish coat and preparing the surface for the next coat (as well as getting into corners). As Mike mentions, they are a safe sander - meaning they do their job without risk of damage to the materials. Their lack of dust collection as Kent mentions, has relegated them to pretty much outdoors use only.

You'll find lots of posts on the random orbitals (search for Dynabrade, Mirka or Festool) in this forum. I like to think of them as falling into one of three flavors ...



The 5/16" - 3/8" (8mm) orbit is the largest and designed primarily for rapid removal of material. [Dynabrade orange]
The 3/16" orbit (5mm) is a common "multipurpose" woodworking level of aggesssiveness [Dynabrade gray]
The 2.5mm are designed for very fine finishing ... typically using grits in the 150 range. [Dynabrade black]


Make sure the unit you intend to buy has the dust collection option you seek. And obviously a compressor with the required cfm if you choose an air powered tool.

[peter gagliardi]

As the owner of a pro shop for 20 + years, I can tell you a couple things.
1. There is absolutely, positively no way whatsoever that these two types of machines belong in the same comparison!! A ROS will literally leave the pad sanders in the proverbial "dust", except that the better machines have pretty excellent dust collection.
2. I could not in any way, shape, or form run a competitive woodworking business without ROS!

Pad sanders have their place, don't get me wrong, but it's not in my shop, where I'm trying to make a living.
Sanding is very important to the finished product, but that is no reason to extend the length of time for that portion of the product.

[John TenEyck]

Since I bought a ROS I have used my 1/4 sheet pad sander once. That was 2 years ago. A ROS sands quicker, yet better than a pad sander. I often had problems sanding face frames with a pad sander; it would leave defects at the joints if you weren't super careful. Not so with the ROS; it cares not which way the joints run. And as Kent mentioned, I almost never hand sand anymore after using the ROS. I'm more likely to create defects than eliminate them. My only caution about getting a ROS is to get a good one. Cheap ones won't do a good job and have a lot of vibration. Spend $50 and you are likely to be disappointed; spend a couple hundred $'s and you will be happy.

John