i need a better RO sander

[Andrew R Miller]

I have a Dewalt RO sander, it's a single speed one I picked years ago, it works but when I sand my end grain cutting boards its a hell of a fight to get some scratches out, even only going from 80 to 120

I Have to hold it sideways and let the edge work to get it out.

I would like something I can hold flat and will do the work for me

I would like to stay with 5inch if possible becuase i have a lot paper for the 5inch 8 hole already

[Chris Fairbanks]

I have a 5" Mirka Delos and love it. It's quiet, light, powerful and leaves no scratches. It was a great upgrade from an old porter cable 5" I had. Like you though I had a bunch of 5" 5 hole paper laying around that would not work with the Deros. I ended up giving it to my brother and switched to Abranet and have not looked back.

[Patrick Curry]

You didn't mention price so I'll make a couple of suggestions. My first ROS was a 5" Ridgid (Home Depot) and I think it cost about $60. Variable speed, more than ample power, strong exhaust (dust), and reasonable vibration control. I can't imagine a better ROS at that price.

Wanting a larger sander I switched to a Bosch 6" (ROS65VC) and gave the Ridgid and a lifetime supply of paper to my brother in law. Kind of regret giving away the smaller ROS but he's always been generous to me.

Anyway, I'd recommend the Ridgid to anyway looking for a low cost ROS.

[Van Huskey]

My first suggestion is dump the 5", for cutting boards a 6" sander will work about 40% faster. The second thing is what paper or you using now and do you use a vacuum?


Also include a budget since ROS can run from $30 to $600.

[Andrew R Miller]

I just realized mine is a vibration type, i don't think it is an RO type LOL it does great on sanding finishes and such

I was looking at the 1250DEVS from Bosch, has really good reviews even from people with the fextool rotex.

Bosch has another tool for 30 bucks cheap that can take both 5 and 6-inch pads, but it is 3.3 amp vs 6.5 amp of the tool above

so it looks like 6inch is the way to go for boards



You didn't mention price so I'll make a couple of suggestions. My first ROS was a 5" Ridgid (Home Depot) and I think it cost about $60. Variable speed, more than ample power, strong exhaust (dust), and reasonable vibration control. I can't imagine a better ROS at that price.

Wanting a larger sander I switched to a Bosch 6" (ROS65VC) and gave the Ridgid and a lifetime supply of paper to my brother in law. Kind of regret giving away the smaller ROS but he's always been generous to me.

Anyway, I'd recommend the Ridgid to anyway looking for a low cost ROS.



My first suggestion is dump the 5", for cutting boards a 6" sander will work about 40% faster. The second thing is what paper or you using now and do you use a vacuum?


Also include a budget since ROS can run from $30 to $600.

[lowell holmes]

I have a Ridgid (Home Depot). It replaced an old Porter Cable that gave up the ghost after 12 years. I am satisfied with the Ridgid.

I don't use it that much, but I feel it is a good one.

[Van Huskey]

I just realized mine is a vibration type, i don't think it is an RO type LOL it does great on sanding finishes and such

I was looking at the 1250DEVS from Bosch, has really good reviews even from people with the fextool rotex.

Bosch has another tool for 30 bucks cheap that can take both 5 and 6-inch pads, but it is 3.3 amp vs 6.5 amp of the tool above

so it looks like 6inch is the way to go for boards


The best thing for cutting boards especially if you level them a lot is a drum sander (well a wide belt but those are another huge leap in cost). Hand belt sanders are also useful if you get the technique down.

The dual mode sanders like the Rotex and 1250 can be very aggressive but do their best work with lower grit abrasives and are not easy to handle but pair well with a standard or finish ROS.

The ROS65 is a great sander, not as good as the Mirka or Festool ETS EC sanders but great for the money and will do a great job if you don't have to level the surface of the cutting board that much. In any event, it will do a much better job than the oscillating sander you have now in the lower grits.

I think first you have to decide how much you are willing to spend and get the best sander or group of sanders to handle the job. If you are getting fairly flat cutting boards to start sanding you may be able to be efficient with just a 6" ROS.

[Andrew R Miller]

The best thing for cutting boards especially if you level them a lot is a drum sander (well a wide belt but those are another huge leap in cost). Hand belt sanders are also useful if you get the technique down.

The dual mode sanders like the Rotex and 1250 can be very aggressive but do their best work with lower grit abrasives and are not easy to handle but pair well with a standard or finish ROS.

The ROS65 is a great sander, not as good as the Mirka or Festool ETS EC sanders but great for the money and will do a great job if you don't have to level the surface of the cutting board that much. In any event, it will do a much better job than the oscillating sander you have now in the lower grits.

I think first you have to decide how much you are willing to spend and get the best sander or group of sanders to handle the job. If you are getting fairly flat cutting boards to start sanding you may be able to be efficient with just a 6" ROS.


so i have the super max 19-38 drum sander, I put 120 paper on it and while my board are flat, they still rock a little and I cannot figure out how to get this rock out because I noticed the drum just follows the rock, for cups and stuff it work great. I guess i need to shim the low corner to get this out out?

I usually just take my belt sander to even it off on the high spot once that side does not the rock the sander can take care of the top with the 36 grit installed................ lol

my board a perfectly flat across the surface they just have a rock to them even after planer trip

even still with 120 paper on the sander I have to get lines out of the boards, I can't feel them but i can see them

and if it is on purple heart forget it, ill be there all day !!

i want to spend less than $300 I have a JDS DC (that im going to upgrade to a CV1800 soon)

[Van Huskey]

so i have the super max 19-38 drum sander, I put 120 paper on it and while my board are flat, they still rock a little and I cannot figure out how to get this rock out because I noticed the drum just follows the rock, for cups and stuff it work great. I guess i need to shim the low corner to get this out out?

I usually just take my belt sander to even it off on the high spot once that side does not the rock the sander can take care of the top with the 36 grit installed................ lol

my board a perfectly flat across the surface they just have a rock to them even after planer trip

even still with 120 paper on the sander I have to get lines out of the boards, I can't feel them but i can see them

and if it is on purple heart forget it, ill be there all day !!

i want to spend less than $300 I have a JDS DC (that im going to upgrade to a CV1800 soon)


With a drum sander if you have some rocking often I would build a short planer sled (google it) and sent it through on the sled until I had a flat reference surface then do the other side without the sled. If you have much wood to take off I would start with a lower grit probably 80 for the task.

Since you have a DS I would let it do the heavy lifting and look past the harder to control dual mode sanders and get a quality 6" ROS for the work off the DS. You may need to start with the same grit on the ROS as on the DS for two reasons, DS tend to give a finish equal to 1 or 2 grits lower than on a ROS and the scrtach pattern tends to be more visible since it is essentially a straight line pattern, even if you skew it through the machine which I would recommend if you have enough width to do it in one pass on the open ended sander. Under $300 the best general purpose ROS in my mind is the Bosch ROS65 since the Mirka and Festool sanders start (well) above that.

[Andrew R Miller]

With a drum sander if you have some rocking often I would build a short planer sled (google it) and sent it through on the sled until I had a flat reference surface then do the other side without the sled. If you have much wood to take off I would start with a lower grit probably 80 for the task.

Since you have a DS I would let it do the heavy lifting and look past the harder to control dual mode sanders and get a quality 6" ROS for the work off the DS. You may need to start with the same grit on the ROS as on the DS for two reasons, DS tend to give a finish equal to 1 or 2 grits lower than on a ROS and the scrtach pattern tends to be more visible since it is essentially a straight line pattern, even if you skew it through the machine which I would recommend if you have enough width to do it in one pass on the open ended sander. Under $300 the best general purpose ROS in my mind is the Bosch ROS65 since the Mirka and Festool sanders start (well) above that.


thanks for the advice, so get this, I just ran 2 board through my planer after glue up, one did NOT have a rock to start......... now it does, I use a straight edge and found this

going across the board width, it looks fine middle has a very slight gap, on the length same thing, corner to corner one shows a very deep gap in the center of the board, the other corner to corner is nearly flat with the gap showing up on one end

what the heck is going on?

I'm going to pick one of those 6inch and see if it removes the ds better, I usually do run the DS at an angle to grain like the manual says (it removes material much better! )

[Van Huskey]

thanks for the advice, so get this, I just ran 2 board through my planer after glue up, one did NOT have a rock to start......... now it does, I use a straight edge and found this

going across the board width, it looks fine middle has a very slight gap, on the length same thing, corner to corner one shows a very deep gap in the center of the board, the other corner to corner is nearly flat with the gap showing up on one end

what the heck is going on?


How long after milling the boards did you glue them up? Sounds like moisture changes in the wood.

[Andrew R Miller]

How long after milling the boards did you glue them up? Sounds like moisture changes in the wood.
within an hour or so

mill, glue, let it sit (6-24 hours depending if I'm using the drum sander or planer)

once flat, cut and glue for end grain

once dry sand/plan

with the 36 grit the DS will work great but is much slower than the Planner so I usually use the planer

[Van Huskey]

within an hour or so

mill, glue, let it sit (6-24 hours depending if I'm using the drum sander or planer)

once flat, cut and glue for end grain

once dry sand/plan

with the 36 grit the DS will work great but is much slower than the Planner so I usually use the planer


Normally you mill boards to almost the final dimension then let the acclimate to equalize the moisture then come back later and take the last little cut off the boards, unless they warp, then move to glueup. If you didn't let them acclimate after rough milling that may be the issue.

[Andrew R Miller]

Normally you mill boards to almost the final dimension then let the acclimate to equalize the moisture then come back later and take the last little cut off the boards, unless they warp, then move to glueup. If you didn't let them acclimate after rough milling that may be the issue.
so the board i just did sat cut for a week after the first glue up yesterday i glue them up and today i planned them

[Van Huskey]

so the board i just did sat cut for a week after the first glue up yesterday i glue them up and today i planned them

OK first my mind blanked the board was a cutting board vs a regular board...

I assume it is an endgrain board. Honestly, I don't do those too often (read never) so you may want to start another thread just for you warping issues so people that do a lot of them can chime in.

[Jason White]

I own a few Festool sanders, so I'm spoiled. However, I recently used a RIDGID 5" cordless sander on a project and I was pretty impressed with it. You just have to remember to vacuum in-between grits and go very slowly when sanding so you don't get swirl marks. The bag also did a decent job collecting most of the dust.

[jack duren]

I have a Dewalt RO sander, it's a single speed one I picked years ago, it works but when I sand my end grain cutting boards its a hell of a fight to get some scratches out, even only going from 80 to 120

I Have to hold it sideways and let the edge work to get it out.

I would like something I can hold flat and will do the work for me

I would like to stay with 5inch if possible becuase i have a lot paper for the 5inch 8 hole already

Get 60 grit. We deal with this all the time. 40 grit if you can find it...

[Prashun Patel]

I have a mirka ceros and it does not make sanding end grain cutting boards any easier than with my Bosch. You need the right grit sandpaper.

[Andrew R Miller]

I got the ROS65 Bosch, it is amazing for me so far, I can see where i might need to get the 1250DEVS to go along with it.

I just used it sand a couple boards to finish them after salad bowl finish, I got the ABRNET discs and hook up to my DC, I get 0 dust, the finsh is amazing i did from 240-600 grit, and you could almost use it as a mirror!

I have not used it to try and get sanding line out yet will do that today how even i have high hopes

[Andrew R Miller]

tried it off a band saw rip and on some stock i sent through the drum sander with 36 grit on it,

I had 80 grit on the ROS65 (lowest I have right now) and it took the stuff from both of these out very very fast

compared to my old one this actually worked I just had to go over the board a few times

again I can see where the 1250DEVS would be needed in some cases for fast remove of a lot of stock, but I have other tools for that, so unless what im working on can't be moved or does not fit I think this will suit me for a while

Thank you to everyone for the excellent advice

[Van Huskey]

tried it off a band saw rip and on some stock i sent through the drum sander with 36 grit on it,

I had 80 grit on the ROS65 (lowest I have right now) and it took the stuff from both of these out very very fast

compared to my old one this actually worked I just had to go over the board a few times

again I can see where the 1250DEVS would be needed in some cases for fast remove of a lot of stock, but I have other tools for that, so unless what im working on can't be moved or does not fit I think this will suit me for a while

Thank you to everyone for the excellent advice


Glad you are happy that is a very good sander.

As to the 1250, Rotex and all the other dual mode sanders they can be VERY aggressive but difficult to control. Given you have a DS the only time I would suggest you add a dual mode sander is if you need rapid stock removal on parts you can't send through the DS such as curves or doing refinishing.