5" ROS upgrade - recommendations

You are a victim of the present exchange rate against the Euro.

I have a 6" Bosch ROS that I have beat the crap out of over the last 5-6 years, and like Timex, it just keeps ticking.

Yes, Bosch is worth the money, IMHO.

HTH

Lew

when my bosch was stolen i replaced it with a dewalt. when the dewalt dies i will replace it with a bosch. the dewalt is more like a toy the bosch is more like a tool.

jim

On Mon, 27 Dec 2004 00:58:39 -0500, "Ollie" calmly ranted:

But will it handle the dust of sanding? Check with PC before purchase. Are you sure you want a right-angle sander?

Not a random orbit sander. 7336?

That's "moolah" and Bosch always seems to be worth the money. Why not try the Bosch 3727DEVS 6" Random Orbit Variable-Speed Dustless Sander/Polisher at $144 from Amazon.com? I believe the difference is in the locking to remove the ROS for straight orbital use, but you wouldn't use that on wood for furniture.

Here are some reviews:

Wow, you must be right. OP listed the Bosch price at $205. Eleven hours later at the link he gave it is $229.99.

Rrrrrridgid has a cpl of nice ROS sanders. I swear by the R2610. Best bang for the buck IMHO. (Pssst German made Metabo)

But because you can buy a Festool ETS 150/3 (or 5) EQ for $235.00, why stop at the Bosch? $155.00 buys the Festool ES 125 EQ, definitly worth a look.

I am NOT affiliated with Festool...I just admire their no-nonsense approach to design for the pros.

Rob

"Common sense is not common" (Voltaire)

...

... Personally, I don't think so...I use the PC 333/334's (one's for H&L, the PS, but I forget which is which just now). They last a long time even being abused and are cheap enough to be simply discarded. There's nothing else that has the hand comfort and balance as far as I'm concerned. I've tried the Ryobi, Bosch, DeWalt, Milwaukee and none are nearly as nice to use.

We've gone through two in the last year, but in that time we've rough and finished sanding every square inch of a 80-year old severely weathered 38x66x14 (to the bottom eave, 38 ft to the top of the loft) barn in preparation for priming and painting. Plus, all the finish lumber, and the first one was several years old before we even started. Replaced one set of bearings in each at ~$5/bearing from the local bearing distributor and one died from a broken winding (after being dropped off the lift I have no idea how many times by the hired hand). W/ that kind of abuse, the plastic dust collector gets worn and vibrates some which a little bit of an annoyance for fine sanding, but no issue from an operational standpoint.

Replaced a pad on each and went to PS exclusively because of paper cost. I do like the new "brake" on the pad on them nor any of the others. It is simply a "do-nothing" o-ring placed like a belt around the drive shaft and a fixed(!) internal post. It's to stop the pad for the whiners who complain about scuffing or the run on if set it down before it stops but the first of those problems is solved by just picking it up cleanly and the second isn't really a problem to me. What the brake actually is is a terrible heat generator that contributes to hot hands holding it for extended periods and bearing failure.

I personally have never felt a need for the variable speed on a ROS but acknowledge others could find some use for that particular feature.

IMO, YMMV, $0.02, etc...