Official Luthiers Forum!

I am concidering a new sander, either the festool rotex or their ROS. I know the rotex will do ROS or circular for rapid sanding, but in guitar making,(archtop) is it worth $200 more. I don't want to cheap out on a tool I'll have for a long time, but I don't want to be excessive either. Anybody have the rotex and feel it is not needed. Thanks.

Mike

hi mike,

i have been hovering over the festool sander for a while now...... the thing about it is the sanding pads them selves, the reason the dust extraction etc on the festool is so good is because of the pad design, which means that you are tied into their discs also, and for woodworking the pads only go to 180 grit, they have finishing discs whiich go higher but i'm not sure how they will hold up with wood, or if they will chuck out a load of stearate particles and make things look yellow under lacquer, plus over here you have to buy the discs in 50 packs, and at about $80 a pack, thats a lot of money sitting in sanding discs by the time you get the grits you need......... so i'm still not sure, beautiful tool though,

i have been looking at the dynabrade sanders also, but again i'm not sure....... does anyone have experience with the dynabrades?

paddy

I'm fixing to pull the trigger on a Dynabrade right now. Everything I hear is that they are THE Cadillac of sanders. MSC currently has the 5", 3/16" orbit for $149.00. MSC #AP86297199, if you're interested.

Dynabrade Sander

_________________
Wes McMillian
Santo, TX
http://www.wesmcmillian.com

I looked into the Dynabrade, the 5" model with vac hookup, and yeh I thought it was the way to go also, BUT it takes sooooooo much air. I don't think I have the compressor for it. Rated at something like 15cfm @90psi. No way I could run it for long. If you have a Big compressor I'd say go for it. Also I read you must have 1/2" hose and very high cfm couplers or it does not work well..

My brother has been running a Dynabrade in his cabinet shop for years, and
he uses standard 3/8" hoses with 1/4" fittings. No problems at all. But you
do need a compressor that puts out 18 scfm @ 90psi, according to
Dynabrade's web site.

Does anyone have input about the comment that Festool sanders must use
Festool discs? It looks like a standard 8 hole pattern should fit, but I would
like to be certain of this.

i read about the problem in a product review.... a guy bought the sander and they supplied regular discs, the guy try sing the sander, and was pretty ticked off because his $800 sander and extractor combo made more dust than his makita without extraction...... he phoned up the company he got t from and ""explained"" his problem, they said that they didnt know what the problem was, so he went to another place, they explained that because of the special design of the festool pad, in order to extract properly it needed to run on festools pads (i think they are called rubin) he bought some, and then he realised why it was an amazing tool, hardly any dust and fabulous finish!! i guess you could modify standard pads, but i think you would get pretty tired of it fairly quickly,

thats what i ahve to say about that!!

I have two of the festool sanders.
They have the best dust collection of any sander I have used.
Brook,
Klingspor sells disks that fit both sanders-the 5" and the 6"-but for some reason only the sterated paper.
I can't remember how much cheaper it is though.

I just purchased the 6" Rotex last week. I was looking at the other models, the 5" in particular. the 6" rotex is on close out right now, reg $420, now $350. The new 6" is due out this summer. I have bosch, dewalt and makita sanders also. the bosch and dewalt have been getting tired lately, so I have been on the lookout.   I have used the rotex for about 6 hours so far, and I can say without a doubt that it is the best tool I have ever owned. Is it worth $350? Each to his own, but I would do it again. I was sanding some purpleheart that I had taken down to 80 grit on my drum sander. I used 80 on the rotex and then 220. As hard as purple heart is, it took it down to a fine polish very quickly. The paper holds out well, and it does have to be purchased in boxes of 50 and 100 count. The rotex does not have the detachable power cord like the newer models. I did not buy their special vacuum hose or their expesive vacuum system, but used regular vacuum hose and hook it upto my craftsman shop vac, and it operates near dust free.
I would buy it again tomorrow.
Tom Harbin

I just checked, klingspor 6" disk with hole in th ecenter are $32 for a pack of 50. I only saw the ^", but I must have just missed the 5". That a little better then $80!! I just can't decide if I want the rotex or just the ros. And I am leaning towards 5" for some reason I can't explain, weight, getting in tight places,, I don't know.. I do know I don't have 18 cfm at 90psi... wish I did    ...