RE: Scott's Festool Sander Thread From 11/3

[John Hollaway]

I'm a bit confused. I've been power sanding projects for near forty years, with nearly every brand of machine out there. Some I liked, some not. My present favorite 6" ROS is a Metebo dual-orbit unit. In the 5" size I enjoy the Ridgid. I also like my 2" Metebo ROS for some things. But, I've been considering trying the Festool for some time now. However, after reading Scott's thread, and many others like it, I have no clue which model would make for a good general purpose ROS. Seems everybody has a different model, and each owner thinks his is the best. So, can any two or three Festool sander owners agree on a recommendation as to the optimal general purpose ROS ?

John

[Andrew Pitonyak]

I think that there are a couple of problems.

Few people have reason to use the full line, so, they own one or two. Which Sander will I recommend? Well, the one I own, of course. If my primary usage differs from yours, then I may have just made a poor recommendation.

http://www.festoolusa.com/Web_files/How_to_pick_the_right_Festool_sander.pdf

I own two 5" sanders. One is Dewalt and one is Festool. I like them both. I have toyed with purchasing a larger sander (say a 1/2 sheet or a 6" sander) for when I am sanding larger surfaces.

I won't bother explaining why one sander might be better than another because in the back of my mind, I feel like if you own all those sanders, you probably know more about sanders (in general) than I...

I hope this helps a bit.

[peter gagliardi]

John,
Depends on the amount and type of sanding you expect to do? For just general finish sanding flat and vertical- basic furniture and cabinet stuff, you should look very seriously at the newest model- the ETS EC 150/5 EQ which is compact, lightweight, and powerful. About as maneuverable as you will find in a vac equipped unit.
If however you have a need for sometimes more aggressive work, the dual mode Rotex 150 which is a 6" disc, or the Rotex 125 which is a 5" unit would be your best options. A lot more aggressive- I have sanded the floors in my house with it! But you can also change to the more mild random orbital sanding mode for cabinet/furniture work.
Concentrate on those, and you can't go wrong.
The Rotex units are a bit heavier, bulkier, and less ergonomic, but we're all I used for 8-10 years every day in the shop.
I would not even bother with any sander that wasn't random orbital in action.

[Greg R Bradley]

I think Andrew is exactly correct.

I would also add that people just say I own the "Bosch" or the "Festool", about as specific as when someone asks what car they should buy and someone says "Chevrolet". Then someone says "my Ford" will tow more than "my Chevrolet" and they MIGHT eventually tell you that "their Ford" is an F350 truck and "their Chevrolet" is a Corvette. And the Corvette is 25 years old so the current one is not even similar.

Magazine reviews are not much better. The FWW RO test from about 5 years ago compared "RO" sanders and included models that were not very similar to each other.

People read the spec sheets for Festool and buy a Rotax because it does both coarse and fine removal. They think it will be every bit as good as the ETS150 as a normal 6" Random Orbital because the spec sheet shows it has the same stroke and takes the same sanding disks.

Add to that the people that automatically think anything Festool is automatically perfect and the people that think anything Festool is automatically horrible, at least for the price.

I think you should go to a dealer that is knowledgeable and will let you try them out or talk to a knowledgeable dealer like Bob Marino. Alternatively ask a question on Festool Owners Group Forum and be prepared to wade through the Festool fanatics responses like the ones that say you will eventually have to buy all of them.

As a point of reference, I have the Festool ETS150/3, ETS150/5, ETS125, RO150, and the small orbital square and triangle shaped units. I have the Bosch DEVS1250 unit that competes with the RO150. I dearly loved an older Bosch 5" RO that eventually died, where I bought the current replacement and gave it away as it was junk. I think Bosch called them palm sanders. That old Bosch 5" RO was every bit as good as the Festool ETS125. I can't understand why Bosch blew that.

I have tried the new Bosch $300 RO units that compete with the ETS150 series and they are good but not as good as the Festools and almost the same price. I have an old Bosch 1/2 sheet sander that competes with the Festool RS2.

Specific to your request for a general purpose 6" RO, I would buy a ETS150/3 or ETS150/5. The 3mm stroke is the popular choice. I think the 5mm stroke is better all around but either is fine. People I trust have said the Mirka Ceros is better but it is also more expensive. My personal feeling is that nobody should buy the RO125 or RO150 unless they KNOW they need its function.

Edited to add: I have not tried Festools new brushless RO versions. I think they are called ETS EC. My big concern is that they may not be balanced as well as the ETS150 where you can let the sander do the work. I would trust Festool more than other companies to introduce new tools that tend to be good but that doesn't mean I trust them completely.

[Andrew Pitonyak]

Side note, someone is selling one on the forum (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?236293-Festool-ETS-150-3-Sander) if it is what you want, snap it up. Well, I did not check the price, just that is is on the forum for sale.

[Bill Adamsen]

John, I bought the RO150 for gelcoat, and have been surprised at how effective it is on woodwork, where I might have previously opted for a belt sander. It works well on the fiberglass/gelcoat removal (does anything work "really well?"). For finishing I bought the ETS-EC-150/3 and very much like it. May buy the 150/5 to use on the coarser grits. I too have a plethora of older sanders some of which i really like, and am now working to get adaptors for the Festool system.

[Julie Moriarty]

I had a Bosch 5" ROS for years and it was reaching the end of it's life. Besides, dust collection wasn't all that great and I had a big sanding project I was about to take on. I bought the Festool ETS 125 and coupled it with the CT 26. I was trying to keep costs down. The dust collection was amazing!

After a while I realized I needed something bigger so I bought the ETS 150/3 and the 150/5. I couldn't decide which was best so I blew a bundle on both.

Once I had the 150 sanders, I almost stopped using the 125. Of the 150/3 & 150/5, I would say the 150/5 would be the sander I would want if I only could have one.

[Victor Robinson]

I'm a bit confused. I've been power sanding projects for near forty years, with nearly every brand of machine out there. Some I liked, some not. My present favorite 6" ROS is a Metebo dual-orbit unit. In the 5" size I enjoy the Ridgid. I also like my 2" Metebo ROS for some things. But, I've been considering trying the Festool for some time now. However, after reading Scott's thread, and many others like it, I have no clue which model would make for a good general purpose ROS. Seems everybody has a different model, and each owner thinks his is the best. So, can any two or three Festool sander owners agree on a recommendation as to the optimal general purpose ROS ?

John

The thing with Festool sanders is that they break up specific sanding tasks into different machines. Many woodworkers, prior to using Festool, are used to ROS machines, with the main difference being the size of the pad (as in your case).

With Festool, the motion of the sander (random orbit vs. orbital vs. linear) varies from model to model, in addition to size, ergonomics, and power. So you are able to choose sanders that are specific to certain types of sanding.

When most woodworkers refer to a "general purpose" sander, they're thinking a ROS, similar to what you might buy at the home center from the usual brands. In Festool's case, the models here have either 5" (ETS125) or 6" sanding surfaces (ETS 150/3 and ETS 150/5). The two 6" models differ in their stroke size...the 150/5 would be slightly more aggressive. But really, both of these would be considered "fine" sanders and you'd use them how you'd use any other ROS.

With the Rotex sanders (RO90 - 3", RO125 - 5", RO150 - 6"), you can switch between orbital (aggressive circular motion) and random orbit modes. This adds an aggressive sanding mode to your arsenal for stripping and heavy stock removal, which you'd otherwise get from a belt sander or possibly grinder. Because they have an orbital mode, they can also be used as you'd use a polisher - for high grit polishing of wood and finishes, even your car or stone (with the right abrasives of course). This makes the Rotex series quite possibly the best "general purpose" sanders in Festool's lineup because they are flexible and can tackle a lot of tasks. That can also mean they are a jack of all trades and master of none - just depends on how discerning you are in each type of task you are requiring from your sander. There are sanders in Festool's lineup that are MORE aggressive, and there are also sanders in Festool's lineup that are better at fine sanding. The RO90 comes with an additional triangular head, which is great for corners and edges.

There are more specialized sanders but not worth discussing here since we're talking general purpose. So it comes down to whether you're looking for a sander in the woodworking shop where you're mostly doing fine finishing, or whether you want an all-in-one machine for not only pure woodworking, but renovation/remodeling/painting/stripping/decks etc.

The other part of equation is considering which size makes sense for your work. For mainly flat work in the woodworking shop (one of the ETS models), I like the 6" size. For a Rotex, an important consideration is whether you need power/pad size (6") vs. the flexibility of the little guy (RO90).

The reality is if you get sucked down the Festool rabbit hole, there's a good chance you'll end up with both an ETS and a Rotex.