Thread: Walked into tool shop to buy a Metabo ROS

Blackbutt is a very hard timber, I feel you would have been better served buying a cheaper ROS and spending the rest of your cash on EBAY from a sandpaper vendor getting a bunch of velcro paper (and changing it frequently...). I personally found that ROS's die frequently and rather spectacularly (because people over use them by pressing too hard, not changing paper often enough and pressing too hard [Yeah I know I said pressing too hard a couple of times but its true....]). Get a cheapie.

if you have that much timber to sand you'd be better served with a drum sander ???

I've had a rotex for about 10 years now.... I tend to only use it fur hobby use, but occasionally onsite.

It has never let me down.....
Working properly through the sandpaper grits you can go from rough sawn Redgum sleeper to mirror finish without too much effort (still takes time but you let the sander do the work while you just direct traffic)

It will make short(ish) work if the blackbutt and be in your kit for countless jobs afterwards.....
Nice one beardy !

Gab

I have a Bosch Gex 150 turbo, and it works great and very aggressively in rotary? mode. However, if you have a lot of sanding the thing to be aware of is the amount of hand-arm vibration you expose yourself to. Based on the vibration dose values given by Bosch you should only use it for 40min a day in rotary mode before you start doing damage. I did a couple of days of sanding beams like you for a few hours per day and my hands were going numb and I had tingling in my hands amd fingertips for several days afterwards. Not sure if the Festool is significantly better, but something to be aware of.

Cheers, Dom

I'm long past buying cheap tools for whatever justification.

The Rotex is on my list when I get to the serious work around the house. Pad saver, abranet, go!

Originally Posted by DomAU

I have a Bosch Gex 150 turbo, and it works great and very aggressively in rotary? mode. However, if you have a lot of sanding the thing to be aware of is the amount of hand-arm vibration you expose yourself to. Based on the vibration dose values given by Bosch you should only use it for 40min a day in rotary mode before you start doing damage. I did a couple of days of sanding beams like you for a few hours per day and my hands were going numb and I had tingling in my hands amd fingertips for several days afterwards. Not sure if the Festool is significantly better, but something to be aware of.

Cheers, Dom

Not going to get a lot of work done in 40 minutes a day and fatigue was a consideration. I would like to think that the Festool wins out in this category, time will tell.

I have a couple of the Festool Rotex sanders. We have sanded two Queenslanders and a few smaller projects. I can only use them on weekends and holidays etc so time saving was important. I really like these sanders, to the point that I sold all my other sanders with the exception of my Japanese made Makita belt sander.


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All you need to do with the ETS 150 is guide it and allow the abrasive do the work. The Rotex is quite a bit a bit more robust and you can find yourself fighting against thesander. If you use the gentlersetting, you'll still get the work done to a most suitable finish. If you're sanding Railway Sleepers the Rotex on the more rugged setting will do the job for you. My advice is to buy the RO150 and the ETS 150. Not many jobs you can't fix with these two.

Regards,

Rob

Good Morning Beardy

You won't regret the purchase. Few, if any, sanders transmit as little vibration as the Rotex.

Given the amount of hard sanding that you plan to do, may I suggest that you invest in some Abranet sanding disks. Abranet costs a little more, but it cuts faster and smoother than other brands and last longer. In the long run it works out cheaper; much cheaper if you cost your time into the equation.

Also remember that all sanders work faster if they have a good vacuum dust remover attached.


Cheers

Graeme

Originally Posted by GraemeCook

Good Morning Beardy

You won't regret the purchase. Few, if any, sanders transmit as little vibration as the Rotex.

Given the amount of hard sanding that you plan to do, may I suggest that you invest in some Abranet sanding disks. Abranet costs a little more, but it cuts faster and smoother than other brands and last longer. In the long run it works out cheaper; much cheaper if you cost your time into the equation.

Also remember that all sanders work faster if they have a good vacuum dust remover attached.


Cheers

Graeme

Thanks for the tip Graeme, I bought some packs of the Festool Grantat paper of varying grades to find the sweet spot
Festiol have a desk going at the moment where you get 109 disks of your choice via redemption
I was going to see what size suits me best before ordering

Where do you suggest to get the Arbranet disks from?

Originally Posted by Beardy

Thanks for the tip Graeme, I bought some packs of the Festool Grantat paper of varying grades to find the sweet spot
Festiol have a desk going at the moment where you get 109 disks of your choice via redemption
I was going to see what size suits me best before ordering

Where do you suggest to get the Arbranet disks from?

Hi Beardy

I went from the white Festool disks to Abranet - my view is that the latter are much better.

I used to get them from Germany, but the supplier will not export now - "EU only" - Got last lot from the Mirka sander agent at Wooden Boat Show.



Cheers

Graeme

Abranet can be purchased from Best Abrasives - I believe they're the Mirka dealer in Australia.

Do not forget you will need an interface pad!

Assuming you're using the RO 150 - here are your abrasives: https://www.bestabrasives.com.au/col...l-sander-150mm

And as far as I'm able to tell, here is your interface/protection pad: https://www.festool.com.au/products/...-d150mm_203343

I note that Festool recently also introduced Granat NET abrasives...

Went to Werribee power tools last Friday and picked up a mirka deros 650 cv. I was thinking of getting Sianet mesh from the sandpapernan bcos it seems to be cheaper but found wurth net on thise videos below.

Does anybody know where to get Wurth net from retailers here in Australia? ?

I found wurth site but they only sell to tradies!
https://eshop.wurth.com.au/Product-c...2522%257D%255D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dy_luMvvMDQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTxjT-axnsM

My local tool shop gave me a couple of Fe$tool's net abrasive discs to try. They seem to work very well (but I have limited experience to compare). I've got boxes of abranet which came with my last Axminster uk order - worked out cheaper, even with post, provided you got enough.

But maybe you'll be able to get the Granat Nets as the redemption offer? And don't be afraid of contacting the fe$tool rep and asking them to come and demo the stuff - it's part of the service, and you've paid for it. They're perfectly happy to come out to hobbyists with a van full of tools and consumables.

Originally Posted by Hoey

Does anybody know where to get Wurth net from retailers here in Australia?

I don't believe Wurth retails at all, your best bet is probably to call them.