Best ROS for Dust Control - Festool ETS or Bosch ROS65VS?

[eugene thomas]

I have the 125, with ct22 or ct33 vacume hooked up no dust. Only time see dust escape is if sanding edge of narrow board. dylos reading not change

[Kelly Colin Mark]

Kelly, you mentioned that the particulate count jumps with the RO use. Have you tested with the ETS 125? I'm wondering if the dust collection is more efficient with smaller particles that the ETS sanders would likely produce.

Tom,

No, sorry I I haven't. And since another poster says he doesn't get a change in use, I plan to retest sometime when I get all my sanders together (I also have an RAS115).

[Michael W. Clark]

I think the ETS150 is a very good choice, I considered the ETS125 this year to supplement my other sanders. I already have the RO150 and the 6" pad can be a little cumbersome. I have to disagree with some of the other posts. In Rotex mode, the RO150 it is very aggressive, would rival most belt sanders, and can be about as noisy. However, in random orbit mode, it does excellent at finish sanding. I don't have an ETS so I can't compare to it. I would expect the ETS to be a better finish sander as that is it's primary design function. I do have one of the better Dewalt 5" ROS and the Rotex in random orbit mode will beat it hands down on finish, vibration, noise, less jumping, faster, and better dust collection. It should, its quite a bit more expensive. Just my observations. I think you will really like the ETS 150.

Mike

[Tom Willoughby]

Sanding the edge of the MDF was exactly how I created my dust cloud. I'm wondering if dust collection is an impossible task when sanding the edge of a board.

[Michael W. Clark]

Sanding the edge of the MDF was exactly how I created my dust cloud. I'm wondering if dust collection is an impossible task when sanding the edge of a board.

Edge sanding will be more difficult for dust capture and MDF is tough regardless. I use an RTS400 for edge sanding and face frame parts ( I think it is the same motor as the ETS125?). With part of the sander on the edge, you can crank up the vac speed to improve dust capture, but it will still probably not be as good as when sanding on the flat.

Mike

[Chris Padilla]

Jim alluded a bit to this earlier but the center of the pad pushes air out and the 8 holes around the perimeter pull air back in. This flow of air is interrupted if the pad isn't in full contact with the surface being sanded and thus dust extraction will suffer.

[Chris Padilla]

On a side note, have any of you ever started sanding with your Festool ROs only to discover you forgot to put sandpaper on it? It is funny, but the sander feels no different with or without sandpaper and due to the dust extraction being so excellent, you have no idea save for the fact that the surface doesn't seem to be improving! I have done this a few times and for 10s of seconds. It did not ruin my pad in the least so that is good.

[Tom Willoughby]

Thank you all for your input. I ended up getting the Festool ETS 150/5 sander through Bob Marino, who was great to purchase from. I am looking forward to receiving it next week and putting it to good use.

Thanks again.

Tom