Comparing ETS 150/3 and 150/5

[Tezzer]

So it seems theres nothing very significant to be gained by purchasing (read ransom the cats) for a 150/3 when you have a Rotex,

Interesting. The best thing to do is to find someone with the "other" sander and swap for a week to see if the difference is "real" 

 

[Loren Hedahl]

Fair enough, now I just need for my PC 333 to die before I buy one...

That shouldn't take too long. I killed a whole bunch of those sanders before I finally gave in and bought the Festools. Those little PC sanders are nice to use, but they're terrible in terms of durability. I probably have more hours logged on one ETS150/3 than I had on five PC 333s combined. All but one of the PC sanders are dead and the ETS is still as good as new.

On the PC 333's the ball bearing on the escentric gets clogged with sawdust.  It is a sealed bearing, but the rubber seals can be peeled off.  Then the bearing can be cleaned and regreased, seals reinstalled and sander reassembled.  Another option is to replace the bearings with a better quality available from many auto parts stores or bearing supply houses in larger cities.

You see, I was also secretly hoping my PC sander would bite the dust and it did about the time the Domino initial sales promotion was about to close.  So I bought a Domino setup and fixed my old PC sander.

Fair enough?

Loren