5" RO sander

[Dancing Dan]

Need a 2nd one, have the Festool already, don't need another in that range. We had the Makita B05010 but it's disappeared. Is there a rat's ass worth of difference among the major makes? Looking for decent dust control, good feel, variable speed.

[David Meiland]

Does the Festool use 5-hole or 8-hole paper? Whatever it is, I'd get another machine that uses the same.

[Dancing Dan]

Good question - 8 hole.

[Dancing Dan]

And no, I wasn't calling you an 8-hole.

[gburnet]

Does the Festool use 5-hole or 8-hole paper?

As Dan said, 8 hole, but I think it may be proprietary.

You could maybe get around that by using Abranet discs...http://www.mirka-usa.com/products/brands/abranet.htm

Dan, we've used sanders from Festool, Makita, Milwaukee, Ridgid, & PC. They're all VS & all do the job for basic applications. The Festool aside, I personally like the Milwaukee best out of the remaining lot. It has a decent feel & okay dust collection...http://www.amazon.com/Milwaukee-6021.../dp/B0012RWCF6

You can sometimes find a recon version of this for $35-$40, BTW.

[Dancing Dan]

A sharp-eyed regular has given me a line to a used Festool - we'll see. I saw the Milwaukee on ebay and thought it looked pretty good - liked the fact that you could hook a hose up to the dust collection. Thanks, Greg.

[newman]

hate to say it but I got a dewalt that works pretty well...

[m beezo]

I use the porter cable 333 and use them for all kinds of stuff except for fine finishing of furniture. Mostly because I don;t build furniture. This is the older taller style and it has a round dust collector port that I can hook a shop vac to to help catch dust. Mine gets used for everything from sanding down doors and windows (lead dust I know) to drywall and everything in between. It is not variable speed but I can get a 40 grit paper and it will pull thru that as well as the 220 which is about as high as I go.

[mwhafner]

A lot of people rave about the PC 390k, but I haven't used it personally. I had a PC 333 for years, and it worked very well.

To date, the Bosch 3107 has been my favorite 5" RO.

I have not been impressed with the Festool ETS125. It's a good sander, but doesn't stand above the competition like most of the Festool products.

[j reed]

When I was working in a wood shop that was open to the public we had several DeWalt 5 in. Palm ROs that we let the shop members use...and abuse. They held up pretty well and you could attach a Fein Shop Vaccuum for a decent dust collection system - it's not as good a Festool but they held up for 4 years being used by people who used them like they didn't own them and didn't need them for their livelhood.

[joseph]

there is a review said the new poertacable is the smoothest and faster also .
i have the festool ,a dewalt,couple older portacables and a bosch .
the festool ,really not impressed .so slow .sometimes thats an advantage maybe like when i am trying to be careful . the bosch i have is by far the most aggressive ,by far .not sure the model ,if you care i will look .

[whiskytangofoxtrot]

As much as I hate to give them any any credit (Rigid), I have an older RO that I absolutely love.

I hate to say anything nice about Turgid, due to their "Hey! Ours has free batteries for life! / Nah, we were just kidding about that, sorry" cordless boning of the trusting consumer, plus it didn't take them long to farm out production of their tools "offshore" (hint to companies, spin control phraseology just PISSES off intelligent folks who work hard for a living, just so you know) so their quality is suspect.

That said, mine is a kickass sander, w/ great suction. Man, does that thing suck :)

[Bob scott]

Dan,
Tool a day has a refurbished Makita for $40 plus $6 shipping. It's not variable speed.

http://wood.tooliday.com/?utm_source...m_medium=email


Amozon has a milwaukee veriable speed one for $60 with free shipping

http://www.amazon.com/Milwaukee-6021...3747432&sr=1-8

Bob

[BOC Contracting]

Dan,

The cabinet maker I sometimes work with has a 5" Festool that he uses for 150 grit and up. He uses this Bosch http://boschtools.com/products/tools...x?pid=3725DEVS for 80-120 grits, as it is much more aggresive. Bosch makes a couple versions of their 5" RO, and this one seems a bit more durable. He's been happy with it.

We tried a Rigid one day, but it left such bad swirl marks that we couldn't use it in the cabinet shop. It was cheap and aggresive, though, so it might make a good sander for rougher work. Maybe we just got a bad one.

--Ben

[FramerTK]

As much as I hate to give them any any credit (Rigid), I have an older RO that I absolutely love.

I believe the older Ridgids were made by Metabo - I am pretty sure they are not now.