Looking for a new ROS

[Jim Becker]

Mike, the Festool CT extractors are designed well and you can get a small discount buying a sander and one of the CT extractors at the same time. It's the "system" approach. You obviously can use a different brand extractor if you prefer, such as Fein. I recommend you avoid common "shop vacs", both for noise reasons and for filtration. The Festool CT has autosense for turning on when you press the button on the tool and also has variable speed so you can reduce vacuum as you move up to finer and finer abrasives and avoid "sticking" the tool to your workpiece.

[Van Huskey]

Are you sanding wood or finish? A 2mm orbit will be horrific for sanding wood, but great for finish

I tend to agree, I use 5mm (3/16) stroke sanders for bare wood. I use the 2mm for film finishes. I have a bit of a ROS fetish and have 4 of the Pro 5s (same as the current ETS 125) and keep different grits on each one when I am working on finish. I have the ETS EC 150/5, Mirka 650 and a 6" Surfprep/Airvantage and my favorite is the Airvantage which oddly enough was the cheapest. You may remember I decided with some sleuthing that Airvantage almost certainly makes the Surfprep which I fell in love with at IWF this year. I have the external power pack version which brings me back to the Mirka Ceros days.

Mike, you don't have to have the Festool extractor but it is very nice and whole unit HEPA rated. I have gotten used to the hose over time and now feel completely comfortable with it. I use a tapered hose (down to 27mm) and have the cord attached to the hose with braided hose cover and terminated at the ends with heat shrink tubing which means I only have to manage one tail AND the corrugations on the hose can't catch on edges. You can get the hose cover at Wirecare as well as other places. I think Toolnut sells a "kit". I use multiple colors to indicate which tool cord is connected to that hose, I have ones for my different brands of sanders (all have removable cords) and have several Festool "sets" with the small and large gauge cords, those I identify by using the same color cover but different colors of heat shrink. It also helps if the hoses are suspended from the ceiling, I use trolleys on Unistrut, Rockler came out with a system recently, their trolleys are cheap(er) but their track is plastic and EXPENSIVE, the Rockler trolleys work on Unistrut or the copies, you can get it at the BORG or any construction supply house.

I don't use a Festool extractor since I rarely use my tools outside the shop I have a Oneida Dust Cobra plumbed through the shop that provides tool controlled on and off (via select outlets) with overrun to clear the hose. It works like a large Festool extractor.

A regular shop vac works fine but the Festool along with Fein, Nilfisk and a bunch of others are much quieter and have various other benefits.

To be honest the best way to approach this is set yourself a hard budget and work up to it now, you can always expand in the future as you see fit.

BTW Amazon.de is an excellent place to get Festool hoses, Bosch also has some hoses that look like they are made in the same factory and many people use them.

You are at the top of what is a deep rabbit hole, it is usually best to tie a rope on and slowly climb down step by step instead of yelling "Hold my green kool-aid" and diving in head first.

[Mike OMelia]

OK, to answer some questions. I have two major applications. One is wood sanding. By the time the guitar body is built, the wood has spent a lot of time under planers an sanders. So, its not like I have a lot of heavy duty sanding to do. Thus, I think the ETS EC125/3 is a great solution. My other application is epoxy flattening and finish leveling. All of my guitars get a finish coat of epoxy (West Systems, Z-Poxy, etc for pore fill and grain pop) and I have to smooth out before finish coating (Enduro-Var, EMTech 6000, Nitro). And, once the final finish is applied, I have to level sand to get rid of defects, orange peel, etc. To me, the ETS 125 REQ answers that. In the end, there is NO substitute for the hand finish. Its slow and tedious, but it delivers that ultimate flat and shiny surface without risk of sand through. I hand sand with wet paper and mineral spirits. Everything I have read says these tools do a better job with DC. So hopefully, I have explained my requirements better now. Thanks!! BTW, I do not see a need for 6" or Rotax. I understand the EC125 can do 6". So my final question is, which DC? I love rabbit holes.

[Van Huskey]

Honestly, I think you are on the right track for your needs.

The extractor/vacuum options depend a lot on budget, but if budget allows I would get the CT36 and the boom arm set. It is a lot of money but I doubt you will be unhappy. If not the boom arm set build something similar to hold both sanders and keep the cord/hose supported. With that full Festool setup you can roll it all around and have both sanders waiting to just switch the cord and hose between them.

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[Joe Hendershott]

A little off topic as it seems you've made a good choice already but I've been using my festool sander for a few months now. Yesterday we needed to sand a small spot outside so I picked up my Bosch 3275 sander that I used for years. Holy cow! I almost dropped it. The thing was like picking up a hornets nest with the high rev buzzing and vibration. I couldn't believe the difference and considered the Bosch to be a pretty good sander before. In fainess they both work, but one makes sanding almost something to look forward to, almost.

[Van Huskey]

Yesterday we needed to sand a small spot outside so I picked up my Bosch 3275 sander that I used for years.

In further fairness to Bosch the 3275 is now a second tier tool for them, the ROS65VC is their flagship ROS and the VC stands for vibration control. It is a solid sander and would be my choice if you wanted to stay away from Festool and save about $150 over the most direct competitor the ETS 150. It has a "tweener" orbit at 4mm which splits the more common 3mm/5mm options.

[Joe Hendershott]

Good to hear Bosch has something better now. Wasn't trying to bash them really- it wouldn't be a fair comparison from any point of view. I have several of their power tools and all are somewhat satisfactory...sometimes.

[Mike OMelia]

Say what u like, my 390K has been (and sill is) a trouper. Low vibe, excellent reliability. But apparently this was not a widely experienced result. Its ok, on to the newer things

[Van Huskey]

Good to hear Bosch has something better now. Wasn't trying to bash them really- it wouldn't be a fair comparison from any point of view. I have several of their power tools and all are somewhat satisfactory...sometimes.

I didn't think you were trying to bash them, I just thought it might be useful to someone to know about the ROS65VC.

[Van Huskey]

Say what u like, my 390K has been (and sill is) a trouper. Low vibe, excellent reliability. But apparently this was not a widely experienced result. Its ok, on to the newer things

The 390 was a good sander one if not the first brushless ROS, it was in that respect ahead of its time. I was never really sure why it didn't catch on.

[Joe Hendershott]

I didn't think you were trying to bash them, I just thought it might be useful to someone to know about the ROS65VC.

Actually I was, getting cranky in my old age. Went to buying mostly Bosch a few years ago for the perceived quality and have been let down. The MRC23 router kit is a POS, the drill/driver is a real dog- takes me 5 minutes to wrestle a battery out. The Pony router base always creeps around. The jigsaw is really a ...well, you get it. Not pleased. But if you like Bosch there are now some good deals on CL in Atlanta. Just my opinion.