Thread: Belt sander vs geared ROS

So how do you go with the heal and toe effect when using the 100mm Makita? Have you mastered it?

What curious timing! I just gave my new Bosch GET 75-150 a spin this afternoon. It has a geared mode (Turbo) and a ROS mode. I only had a few minutes with it and will be flattening some laminations with it, the smallest being a 1.6m x 0.75m desktop. Compared to a belt sander it is fantastic. Stock removal is very rapid with an 80 grit mesh disc. Dust collection connected to a vac is superb and that's compared to a Festool ETS 150/3. I'm pretty sure I'm going to use it over my belt sander any opportunity I get as it is more comfortable to hold and operate - it does require some force to keep it going in your preferred direction but it is not as bad as a belt sander. The chances of gouging the surface are also way less with the 150mm pad. I'll likely do an opinionated review on it after I've used it for a few hours but so far, I'd use the geared any day over the belt. Better ergonomics, better dust collection, similar performance. The surface left behind definitely needs refining - it's smooth, not torn up like belt sanders can leave - but has many many squiggle lines, but that's kind of expected when applying 80 grit paper to wood with the equivalent of an angle grinder. I don't envisage a big job getting it to a finish ready state.

I have a Festool RO 125 and its an angle grinder. Its feral when in rotex mode. It absolutely gnaws through timber and chews everything to bits.

Its easy to control and highly predictable. I love it.

Previously had a Festool BS75 belt sander with the cage. I loved that machine. I very very stupidly sold it and regret it constantly.

It was fantastic at doing large surfaces, such as tables.


The RO125 was bought to help with a renovation, especially for stripping paint off door frames and it excelled at it. The BS75 was second hand and sold after a time here on the forum.

There is a video of Ramon Valdez showing how he uses one of the Makita sanders in a variety of excellent ways. Those Makitas look like GREAT machines.


edit - here is the full video on YT

I bought a used Festool BS75 belt sander to compliment my Rotex. I made 25 solid timber frame and panel doors and used the belt sander with the special frame which prevents digging in. The results were excellent followed by 120 & 150 with the Rotex.

I have found it very easy to get a wavy surface with the Rotex when hogging a lot of material off- the belt sander with frame is faster and gives a flatter result.

For shear material removal both ,machines are pretty agressive, but the belt sander is slightly faster. It is more tiring to use however for obvious reasons.

FYI - the nice slow belt speed of the 9400 is perfect.

So happens has the 9400G 940w 100mm for only $169 -- Sydney Tools

Im off tomorrow to grab one!

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Yes powerful noisy belt sanders are great for the occasional use when necessary and they have lots of traction with coarser grit sandpaper.
Much flatter results because of the metal plate under the belt.
With practice a my Makita belt sander produces great results.
A cheap junk belt sander will just drive you to madness with poor tracking.
I use random orbital sanders more than my belt sander. Haven't purchased a buffer, polishing, sander design yet. Too expensive and haven't needed an aggressive sander design like that yet.

I've had a 100mm Makita belt sander for ages.
Then I bought a Rotex 150 maybe 7 years ago.
It hasn't occurred to me since then to pull out the belt sander. I only found it recently in my shed move - it was like coming across and old friend you don't really anything in common with anymore.
I can imagine the belt sander would be better for flattening as someone above mentioned. I find the Rotex with a hard backing pad pretty good, though.

Originally Posted by scottbr

I've had a 100mm Makita belt sander for ages.
Then I bought a Rotex 150 maybe 7 years ago.
It hasn't occurred to me since then to pull out the belt sander. I only found it recently in my shed move - it was like coming across and old friend you don't really anything in common with anymore.
I can imagine the belt sander would be better for flattening as someone above mentioned. I find the Rotex with a hard backing pad pretty good, though.

I gave my belt sander away as don’t have a need for it anymore. The Rotex does the job just fine

For those that use rotex/makita or Bosch geared ROS. Do you usually start with geared mode on your first grit then process in ROS mode lfor subsequent grits?

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Originally Posted by qwertyu

For those that use rotex/makita or Bosch geared ROS. Do you usually start with geared mode on your first grit then process in ROS mode lfor subsequent grits?

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Depends on how bad the finish is on the timber that needs sanding, I guess. Sometimes you need to start aggressive and stay aggressive for a while.

I always switch to the less aggressive mode for finer grits.

Strangely, I got out my belt sander the other day. I needed to take a gloss finish off some 100 x 100 oregon posts. It worked better than the Rotex for that job - I switched between them to see. Once I had the finish off with the belt sander, I stuck with the Rotex.

Originally Posted by qwertyu

I'm curious for the opinions of those who have used belt sanders and geared ROS. I hear a lot of people say that the Rotex is a beast and use it when they want to remove a lot of material. ...

Not just the Rotex, qwertyu. Since I got a Festool ETS 150/5 my big and well used Makita belt sander has sat in a drawer largely unused.

I virtually always use the 150/3 with Abrunet (or other mesh) sandpaper and with a shed vacuum attached. My findings are that the vacuum makes the abrunet last twice as long as other papers, sands faster and gives a slightly better finish. I also think that the 80 grit ROS paper sands faster than the 60 grit belts. And the ETS is quieter, much less vibration, and much nicer to use.

I always say that random orbital sanders have made orbital sanders redundant; I suspect that belt sanders may be on the same trajectory.

Geared mode for grits lower than 120. Then I run the Bosch in ROS mode with the same grit that I finished geared mode with. I find this removes all the sanding marks from the geared mode. Geared mode (in my limited experience) is also hard on the abrasive. I've got some ancient sheets to use up but mesh abrasives definitely seem to last longer, likely due to better heat dissipation.

For what it's worth the latest Katz Moses sand paper test has shown the new 3M Xtract mesh sandpaper to be really quite amazing. The test is very fair as they used a robotic arm to apply the same pressure across all papers tested.

The 3M Cubitron (which came first last year) came second this year and the new Xtract paper blew the Cubitron away.

It doesnt seem to be available in Aus just yet but I have purchased some from Taylor Tools in the US and It's available in 50 packs from RS Components.

Largest Sandpaper Test EVER Done - Top 19 brands Tested using Robots for Unbiased Data - YouTube

Zounds! These look too good to be true....

3M™ 710W Xtract™ Net Sanding Discs Cubitron II ™ Hookit™ (Hook and Loo — Taylor Toolworks

edit: and from RS Components here in Oz: https://au.rs-online.com/web/c/power...Term=3m+xtract