Thread: What Festool sander is the equivalent to the Metabo 450 duo

Hi,

I would recommend either the ETS 150-3 or -5. Both have dual speeds and both produce an excellent result on many woods. The other I would consider is the Rotex. This sander will give you immense rough sanding capacity in Rough mode and finishing ability of either the ETS's How do I know? I have them both. I think the Prefix letter are different and they've been tweaked a little. I've had my sanders for about 10 years. The ETS150 has beeen to the Dr. once for a switch problem. I also use the ETS a lot for sanding wet (oil) wood.

Regards,

Rob


use the sander for burnishing oil soaked

There's no equivalent Festool. The Rotex 150 comes close, but takes different papers, has a rotary mode, and won't have anything like the very fine (3mm diameter eccentricity) finishing capabilities of the Metabo. The Rotex features a switchable gear driven rotary mode, with about 5mm of eccentricity, which is really only suited to the very roughest of sanding duties & polishing with sponges & bonnets.

Closest equivalent is the "dual eccentricity" DeWalt D24610 with 3/6mm eccentricities. This is the same tool as you have already - a SXE450 Duo, in yellow livery.

There's the new/er Metabo SXE 450 Turbotec, which has almost universally positive user reviews. This is lighter, more powerful & has slightly greater range of eccentricity (2.8/6.3? mm).

I've heard of difficulties with pad exchange before. It's by no means unique to your sander. Every brand (including Festo/ol) is subject to the finest of wood, paint & glue resins & residues finding their way into that M8 threaded screw hole, where it heat-sets solid, effectively locking the screw in situ. A preventive remedy would be for the user to occasionally free the grub screw a few turns to prevent the baking process taking hold.

Festo tried to address the problem by introducing a plastic bayonet pad mounting setup in their rotex range, and instead introduced another set of problems whereby premature wear of the plastic male & female parts would lead to the pad actually falling off the sander repeatedly in use!

That's not much help for you however. Perhaps a light soaking with some sort of organic solvent may help. Something like Yuk-Off or other citrus based equivalent perhaps, or maybe the "usual suspects" the likes of CRC, WD40, Inox et. al., or as a last resort some petroleum &/or distillate cocktail to apply elements of both solvency & lubricity to the problem?

OK. So firstly I'd like to thank Rob and Ratbag for their quick response and quality posts.

I thought about the responses and what I could do. Given that I don't have a Festool dealer nearby, I wouldn't be able to sort anything out until Monday at the earliest (same with acquiring replacement Metabo parts).

In regard to Ratbag's solvent/soaking suggestion I decided to try some methylated spirits. I chose this because it has capacity to dissolve some oils yet would be harmless to the plastic and rubber parts. Metho also evaporates over time, so leaving the machine to air dry over a couple of days will ensure its ready to go again if I could get the backing pad off.

I turned the machine upside down to rest on the palm grip. I then poured just enough metho into the centre well of the backing pad so that the bolt was submerged. I waited about 5 minutes and tried the hex spanner for no reward. I then waited another 10 minutes (metho still soaking the bolt) and managed to loosen the bolt out of its thread. The bolt loosened with a decent cracking sound, however on inspection there was no harm done to the machine. The internals of the machine are still dusty and dry, suggesting that the metho didn't travel through the whole machine.

Thanks heaps for your suggestions and input. Now to find a replacement brake

A pleasure. Good luck.

Well done. A clever bit of lateral thinking there. Metho would be infinitely less messy or damaging than anything I'd suggested!

Maybe a further clean of the "socket" with a cotton bud soaked in metho might be in order to remove those pesky residues.

Originally Posted by Ratbag

Well done. A clever bit of lateral thinking there. Metho would be infinitely less messy or damaging than anything I'd suggested!

Maybe a further clean of the "socket" with a cotton bud soaked in metho might be in order to remove those pesky residues.

Thanks. Yeah I'll follow up on that suggestion.

i wonder if the brake for the turbotec is the same as for the duo 450? Part numbers appear to be different. Anyway I'll chase it up with Metabo on Monday.

I'm conditionally doubtful. The tool was fairly heavily reengineered when it was updated. The 2 models appear only superficially similar.

Originally Posted by LGS

Hi,

I would recommend either the ETS 150-3 or -5. Both have dual speeds and both produce an excellent result on many woods. .........

Regards,

Rob

Agreed, Rob

I also like my ETS-150, but a look at the Festool website shows that it has just been superceded by the ETS-EC-150 series which looks even more ergonomic, but the price has crept up from $530 to $925.

OUCH !!!


Fair Winds

Graeme

Crept?????

Originally Posted by GraemeCook

Agreed, Rob

I also like my ETS-150, but a look at the Festool website shows that it has just been superceded by the ETS-EC-150 series which looks even more ergonomic, but the price has crept up from $530 to $925.

OUCH !!!


Fair Winds

Graeme

The regular ETS still shows up on the Festool site http://www.festool.com.au/epages/too...roducts/571919
If you want ETS-EC ergonomics at ETS prices, look at the Mirka CEROS

I got a brochure dumped on my desk today from a tool supplier. In there were Festool sanders, routers and scms all with discounts of between $100 to $150 with free shipping. Is Festool having a sale?

Originally Posted by elanjacobs

The regular ETS still shows up on the Festool site http://www.festool.com.au/epages/too...roducts/571919
If you want ETS-EC ergonomics at ETS prices, look at the Mirka CEROS

Confusing, Elan. And on another page on their website Festool say it is discontinued!
ETS 150/3 Random Orbital Sander - No Longer Available

http://www.festool.com.au/ets-150-3-random-orbital-sander

I also like the look of the Mirka - fits my hands beautifully - pitty about the $800 price tag.



Cheers

Graeme

I saw the no longer available page as well, definitely confusing

BC Coatings has the Ceros for $605, not to be confused with the Deros which is $800. The main (only?) difference is that the Ceros has a separate transformer that you'll need to find a home for. Mine just hangs off the back of my vac

I was in Carbatec today and they had ETS150/5 and 150/3 on the stand as usual. nothing to say they were being discontinued. Might give Total Tools in South Melbourne a ring, Or better still, I'll call Anthony at Ideal Tools. It'll be good to catch up with him.