My first Festool sander should be....

[amt]

... RO 150?

I plan on buying a dust extractor and a sander pretty soon.  I know many of you have multiple sanders, but I need to start with just one.  I am thinking a RO 150 would be a good all-around sander.  I expect that until I get more sanders, I would be doing some of the sanding by hand to cover the sanding situations that the RO 150 is not a good fit.

The type of sanding I would do would be for new furniture projects.  The first project is a table made from white oak.  Other projects are probably going to be a banquette, an outside table made of Ipe, and a few built-ins for the house.

So, is the RO 150 a good first sander?
Could adding a RO 90 later then cover most of the big & small sanding needs?

 

[semenza]

The RO150 is a good fit for what you are doing  and the ETS150/5 as well. The RO90 would be a good add in later with either of them. 

Seth

 

[tbellemare]

The RO 150 is my go to sander for medium to large surfaces. It sounds like a good choice for what you describe.

Tom

 

[tjbnwi]

I started with the 125 line, still don't own a 150 sander. 125 with the RTS or DTS should get you by for a long time.

Tom

 

[barnowl]

... RO 150?

...The type of sanding I would do would be for new furniture projects.  The first project is a table made from white oak.  Other projects are probably going to be a banquette, an outside table made of Ipe, and a few built-ins for the house.

So, is the RO 150 a good first sander?
Could adding a RO 90 later then cover most of the big & small sanding needs?

My first, and only for quite a while was the ETS 125 EQ...

It served well, and is still my favorite go to sander, and is a pleasure to use one handed.

Then I added a Rotex RO 125 FEQ for when I wanted a more agressive action, but still use it seldom.

I rounded out the collection with the DTS 400 EQ.

Yes, I heartily recommend a dust extractor, throttled to about 1/2 suction for the sanders, or the suction will make the sander "stick" to the flat work.

 

[Sparktrician]

I started with the 125 line, still don't own a 150 sander. 125 with the RTS or DTS should get you by for a long time.

Tom

I'm with Tom on this.  I did add in the RO 90 and the ETS 125 for a great combo.  The RO 125 is much easier to use on vertical surfaces or overhead. 

 

[tjbnwi]

I am going with a Shinex next. I need to polish my truck. Then the 90, I could have used it this week. Problem is the paper will cost me more than the sander.

Tom

 

[Frank Pellow]

The Rotex 150 was my first Festool sander and it's the one that I recommend to almost everyone who asks.

 

[amt]

Thanks for all of the replies.  Sounds like it's down to either a RO 150 or RO125.  I am leaning towards the 150 and hoping down the road a RO 125 could handle the vertical/overhead & small sanding jobs.

One other thing that might influence the decision is that I'd like also use the sander for car finish polishing.  It seems like the 6" polishers & pads are more the standard than 5".

As for ETS, I am hoping I can start out with the RO sander filling most of that role.  Eventually I may get tired of two handed operation.  That IMO, seems to be the major draw to the ETS over the RO, or is there another reason I have not considered?

 

[fidelfs]

Something you need to know about Festool sanders.  I think most of them have a break-in period.

An easy way accomplish the break-in period, it is to let it run a couple of hours by itself to have run smooth after that.  Without the break-in period they are though to handle, you will ask yourself what I am doing wrong, but it just how the sander behave at the beginning.

Search in the forum and you will see some ideas how to break-in period.

 

[tbellemare]

Eventually I may get tired of two handed operation.

When I use the Rotex sanders for random orbital sanding, I use one hand. I hold lightly it back by the tail, where the Plug-It connects. I just lift the weight of the hose and cord off the end and let it float. You can still steer it without much effort but to get a good finish in RO mode, you just want it to float across the work.

Tom

 

[leakyroof]

Thanks for all of the replies.  Sounds like it's down to either a RO 150 or RO125.  I am leaning towards the 150 and hoping down the road a RO 125 could handle the vertical/overhead & small sanding jobs.

One other thing that might influence the decision is that I'd like also use the sander for car finish polishing.  It seems like the 6" polishers & pads are more the standard than 5".

As for ETS, I am hoping I can start out with the RO sander filling most of that role.  Eventually I may get tired of two handed operation.  That IMO, seems to be the major draw to the ETS over the RO, or is there another reason I have not considered?

  I went the 'Seth' route. Bought a ETS 150/5 sander way before I bought my Rotex 150. You WILL be able to Polish with the Rotex very nicely, so if that's a task you want to do in addition to sanding and refinishing, the Rotex sounds like it's for you.
One caution, gently remove all dust and crud from your Rotex before polishing or waxing a vehicle or other fine surface. It only takes the hidden piece of abrasive dust to fall out of your tool and onto the surface of what you're working on, giving you headaches in the form of a scratch pattern you never intended to have... [embarassed] [eek]
If you DO ever want a lighter, but still capable sander after using your Rotex, then the ETS sanders are a great way to go with two different orbit choices.  I use 6" pads for all my vehicle paint work unless I really need the smaller pad of my RO90.
I bought the Shinex after years of using a Bosch ROS with various 6" foam pads.

 

[Paul G]

RO90 was my first and only festool sander, already had a 5" and 6" random orbital so the RO90 was a great addition. Funny thing though is I turn to the RO90 first more often than not because it is so versatile.

 

[zapdafish]

I went with Rotex 150 and love it.

I used to do everything with the rotex but picked up a used rs2 and a recon ets 150/3 and switch to them if I go to grits above 150 or so now.

 

[phmade]

I agree with the RO 150 opinion.  I just purchased an RO150 and an RS2.  They are both great but the RO150 is much more versatile.  If you'll be sanding anything vertical or above your head, the RO 150 will quickly wear you out but it's so aggressive that it won't take long either....

 

[Oldwood]

Another vote for the RO 150. I would also suggest getting a hard pad with it. The hard pad flattens better and behaves better also. I follow up with a ETS 150 3 with a soft pad.
I sold my stroke sander do to lack of space & although the RO 150 won't replace a stroke sander in a production shop it will do very well at most any task you use it for.

One thing to consider is that the harder the pad the deeper the scratches left by the sand paper. That is why I follow up with a soft pad on projects that are going to be stained.
If you want to test this get a series of blocks with various density ( foam cork wood) and a piece of course grit paper sand a piece of hard maple with each block & the same grit of paper. When examined under rake lighting you will see the scratch pattern depth varies a lot.
You can use the soft pad the RO 150 comes with to finish up on stain grade jobs if you don't have a ETS sander as it is quite easy to switch them out.

Gerry

 

[Kev]

ETS150/5 was my first. Many followed!

 

[ShawnRussell]

same as the majority, Rotex 150 was my first sander.

Unless you are doing a lot of vertical or overhead sanding the 150 is a much better choice than the 125. The 125 is 19.6sq/in the 150 is 28.2sq/in. When you average the cost of paper and time saved in sanding the choice was clearly the 150.

And if you intend to do any work on your floors or deck the Rotex is a clear winner over the ETS.

My order of tools was the Rotex 150, ETS 150/3(3mm stroke), and the Rotex 90. The Rotex 90 is a great choice if you need to do vertical services and small touch ups to drywall.

 

[wondersofwood]

My first and only Festool sander (so far) is the ETS150/5... it's great!  I wanted one a little less rough than the RO at first, but I plan to get the DTS400 and later add one of the RO's.

 

[MrToolJunkie]

Another RO150 first.  I added a DTS as my second to get into corners and that combination worked very well.  The RO90 of course could be substituted for the DTS, but I like the feel of the DTS a lot...one of Festool's gems.

Scot