POWERFUL RO Sander Recommendations?

[Jacob Reverb]

Hello, all,

I'm looking for to get another random-orbit sander as my old Skil is starting to fall apart.

I do fiberglass work on boats as well as woodworking, and I hate sanding, so I'm looking for a 5" or 6" RO sander that's POWERFUL...the more horsepower the better. (Dust collection is not much of a consideration for me, if that matters.)

Can anyone recommend any, preferably reasonably priced?

I'd prefer electric, but I have a big compressor, so air-powered is not out of the question. (But I do have a question on air-powered sanders: Do they spit oil all over the work and thereby cause finishing problems, especially on wood?)

Thanks in advance for any help.

Jacob.

[Joe Scharle]

Borrow someone's 6" Rotex if you haven't already tried one.

[Chris Padilla]

By their nature, I wouldn't consider a ROS as a "powerful" sander. Rotary sander...now those are powerful...like a handheld grinder. ROSs are a more gentle type sander, IMO, and meant more for finishing type of woodworking. I mean, you wouldn't want to use a ROS on a gnarly piece of rough hardwood...it would take all day even with very low grit sandpaper but a rotary would chew it up pretty good along with your arms from trying to hold it steady!

If you want a sander than can do both ROS and Rotary, the Festool Rotex is an excellent, yet versatile sander but the price may send you into shock. This is a 6" dual-mode sander and anyone who has one loves it dearly.

You mention that you don't care about dust collection but that is also a point where Festool excels as dust collection is a primary design criteria in all their tools and their sanders do very well in this regard. In sanding wood, you will swear that you are removing NO WOOD because there won't be an iota of sawdust to be found. Your hand will tell you otherwise!

Festool also has a line of air sander and I think the one they have is 7". Again, the price will likely send you running.

[dan lemkin]

I was just looking into this and did a bit of research. Finewoodworking has a review of several variants of this, and the festool did come out on top. They dinged the bosch for vibration, and the makita was dinged as well... interestingly they did not eval the cheapest of the bunch, which is the porter cable 7336 which I have.

It is cheap, around $130 I think, has dust collection, and a 6x6 H+L replacable head. It can be a challange to keep a hold of when laying completely flat on a piece, and definately has some vibration issues... but I have no basis for comparison with the other vendors. The amazon reviews for the same are glowing.... worth a look. About 1/4 the price of the festool.

[Cody Colston]

I was just looking into this and did a bit of research. Finewoodworking has a review of several variants of this, and the festool did come out on top.

One of the two Festool models they tested was chosen as Top Tool. The other one was given very poor marks due to it's tendency to jump around and for poor stock removal. FWW stated that there were far better sanders to be had at half the price.

FWIW, one of the Makita models tested removed more than double the stock of any of the models tested. IIRC, it was single mode and a vacuum hose ony for DC...no attached bag.

[Jason White]

Festool ROTEX.

Jason

Hello, all,

I'm looking for to get another random-orbit sander as my old Skil is starting to fall apart.

I do fiberglass work on boats as well as woodworking, and I hate sanding, so I'm looking for a 5" or 6" RO sander that's POWERFUL...the more horsepower the better. (Dust collection is not much of a consideration for me, if that matters.)

Can anyone recommend any, preferably reasonably priced?

I'd prefer electric, but I have a big compressor, so air-powered is not out of the question. (But I do have a question on air-powered sanders: Do they spit oil all over the work and thereby cause finishing problems, especially on wood?)

Thanks in advance for any help.

Jacob.

[John Thompson]

One of my ROS's is the Ridgid which I purchased several years ago when the tool was made by Metabo in Germany. Excellent sander. The current model is the same design but.. they took their business to China so I cannot say if it has the same motor.

If you work on boats.. I would consider a pneumatic...

Sarge..

[Steve Jenkins]

check the dynabrade air sander line. they have two different orbit sizes and the larger one does a nice job and still gives a good finish. They are 5".

[Peter Quinn]

Ditto the dyna brade if your compressor can handle it. Maybe another pneumatic would work for you as well? I know a guy that swears by his grizzly pneumatic ROS, much cheaper than a dynabrade (which he also has several of). For electric, ROTEX, ROTEX, did i say ROTEX?

None of the other festool electric sanders are meant for anything beyond a 30%-40% duty cycle, so if more than 40% of a given 8 hour day is given to sanding, not many electrics are going to last that long. I'm not making this up, its in the festool literature. Sand more than 3-4 hours per day, go pneumatic.

[Clifford Mescher]

I have both the Makita B05021 and the Festool 150/3. I really like the Festool but when I need to aggressively remove alot of stock, I reach for the Makita. The Festool cannot touch the Makita for stock removal. Clifford.

[John Thompson]

I will third the dybabride and BTW,, I failed to mention the Ridgid I have is the 6" and not the 5".

Good luck...

Sarge..

[Jim Butterfield]

I have a 5" Makita that I've used to remove several layers of paint from cedar siding. It's like the Energizer bunny -- keeps going and going and going (i.e., it's really durable). If you don't wanna drop the bucks on a Festool...

[Jacob Reverb]

Great responses. Thank you all very much for the intel.

[Karl Brogger]

I'd prefer electric, but I have a big compressor, so air-powered is not out of the question. (But I do have a question on air-powered sanders: Do they spit oil all over the work and thereby cause finishing problems, especially on wood?)

Mine don't spill oil at all. The only problems I have is in the summer when it gets super humid and I don't religiously drain the tank on the compressor, I sometimes get water spraying out of them. Not a big deal, more of a pain that just reminds me to drain the compressor.

I have both Dynabrade, and Porter-Cable air sanders. The Porter-Cable seems to be more aggressive, while the Dynabrade seems to do a better job at finish sanding, ie it doesn't leave as many swirl marks, but it does have a softer/thicker pad on it. 3M also has a line of pnuematic sanders, I don't own one, but have used them and they do a good job. No idea about longevity though.

I preffer air over electric for most things just because they start and stop quickly, and they're very manueverable provided you have a good light hose. When I'm sanding box parts I will grab the electric one just because I'm usually doing big flat parts and the crap DeFalt one I have is pretty agressive so things go quickly which is fine in my opinion for things behind doors.

[Jason White]

So, what's it gonna be??

Great responses. Thank you all very much for the intel.