Thread: Best Orbital sander?

hi jon.

i highly recommend festool sanders.

are you looking for an orbital or random orbital sander?

justin.

what he said.

150mm festool random orbital at work did 4 years of heavy use (furniture manufacturing) before needing a service. As with everything German, they're at least 50% more expensive than a Makita or Hitachi which are just as good for normal hobby/DIY use but a festool will be the last sander you buy for many years

Thanx for the replys guys.
Oh yes without a doubt if I had the work coming in I would buy every bit of kit Festool had.
Unfortunately since moving to New Zealand from the UK I have had very little work and so have been relying heavily on Trade me buys.
This has uncovered a wealth of Elu kit, which as we all know is great stuff.
Unfortunately it means I have a lot of outdated and in some cases some fairly dangerous kit.
So I am at present just about to invest in the Festool plunge saw and rail and so am trying to offset that investment by buying something slightly cheaper on the sander side.
Re your question about whether I a looking for orbital or random orbital sander Justin, you tell me.
It's been a while since I have been in the joiners shop and to be honest it's the plummeting down turn in house building that has made me go back to my routes, so to speak.
Really I am looking for an all rounder, needs to shift a lot of material for some jobs but then give a nice fine finish for others.
I an guessing that this does not really exist, but a happy medium would be nice.
Also something affordable that can be chucked in a year or so but does a nice job while it's working.
You know how life is at present, all very short term aims.
So any thoughts or advice will be gladly accepted.

Cheers guys.

Jon

We have the big festool random orbital sander & a makita at the community shed & i myself have the smaller festool ROS at home. This IMO is 1 area where the extra $$$ for a festool is really worth spending. I avoid using the Makita wherever possible, tho it feels nice & comfortable in the hand, there is a huge difference in orbital speed from load ( on timber & sanding) to no load, this is regardless of the speed you have the sander running at. Where as both the festool sanders maintain their speed on or off load. Now this might sound like a pretty trivial issue right up until you actually start using the sanders then you quickly realize just how much of an issue it can be - You have to be particularly careful when first placing the Makita onto the timber as it has a tendency to want to run away leaving unwanted scratches.
The problem with the Makita is certainly something a person could get used to & learn how to work around but if anyone can stretch their budget to the festool i guarantee you won't regret it.
1 thing i particularly like about the large festool sander, the Rotex, is that it has 2 different sanding orbits, 1 fine that does fine random orbits of about 5mm i think, the 2nd is a much more aggressive cut with much less of the fine orbit but a much greater overall spin. I hope that makes sence.

I have the Metabo Duo 450 and love it

Using a ROS to remove a lot of stock would be a bit time-consuming.

The ROS excels at finishing; the belt-sander excels at stock removal.

Can't afford a Festool? Chants: "Metabo, Metabo, Metabo Duo!"

They're good... but take note of what Ern just said. Don't expect to use 'em for sculpting.

I use a 75mm Makita belt sander for removing stock. The finest grit I can get readily is 150/180. I use a Bosch 125mm ROS (green casing, handyman model) for finishing some projects. Finest grit readily available is 400.

The Bosch was a revelation for the quality of the sanding. Fairly coarse grades of abrasive came up the equiv of several grades higher than with eg a sanding block. Can't speak about other brands of ROS.

I have an AEG (orange) ROS and love it. It has variable speed settings and I can easily get up to 400 grit to suit it. I find it leaves a very nice finish but I don't have any experience of other sanders to compare it to.

Festool ETS 150/3 best sander ever made. Mine has been used flat out for a couple of years now and hasnt missed a beat. With a 38# disk it will remove an incredible amount of timber, and excels like NO other sander on the market with fine swirl free sanding. Its a ripper

And as others have said if you dont want to spend that much, the Metabo Duo is the next best by a mile.

Dont go cheap, you will always regret it. The other day i read a quote (cant remember who wrote it)

"The bitter taste of poor quality lingers long after the cheap price has been forgotten"

Originally Posted by Skew ChiDAMN!!

Can't afford a Festool? Chants: "Metabo, Metabo, Metabo Duo!"

What 'e said.

Originally Posted by Waldo

What 'e said.

Curiosity, how much are the Duo sanders?

Originally Posted by Lignum

Curiosity, how much are the Duo sanders?

$415 versus $500 for an ETS or $570ish for an ETS with a container.

hi jon.

even though you have stated the festool is out of your price range.
i would recommend that you save the extra dollars and get the ets 150/3 sander that lignum has spoken of also.

with every festool purchase that i have ever made over the last 10 years, i have always had a good old dummy spit at the bloody price they charge!

but, as soon as i start using the tool, my whinging stops abruptly.
i have used a festool ets 150 sander for 10 years. it copped a good flogging, and never once did i have an issue with it. i changed the pads a few times as these will wear out like any consumable will.

i have used every brand of sander you can think of, and the best example i can give is that after 12 hours of use in a single day, i was still happy to continue sanding, but i had to stop because there was no natural light on that job.
the motors are very well balanced.
normally after a long period you start to get numb fingers, then numb hands, then numb arms.
not with the festools.

and if you ever do have a problem, festool service is the best i have ever experienced.
not that i have much experience with their service.
in 10 years, with over 20 festools, i have only used festool service twice.
both times was chippy error, not a fault with the tool.

justin.