Which Festool ROS should I buy

[ahwoody55]

Here is the deal. First off, I am somewhat of an amateur woodworker. I made a large dining room live edge table for our dining room and it turned out pretty good. Not perfect but ok. Then the wife wanted a new kitchen island so I made her one. She is into rustic so most of the stuff I have made is rustic/industrial. Anyway, our friends and family who saw my work said , "you should start selling this stuff". Well, I am retired and have a small disability so I thought why not give it a try, a little extra cash never hurts and I love doing it, with not what I would call expert experience. I did the first few pieces all with junky tools I already owned and not really the right ones. Now all of a sudden I have sold 3 pieces and have new custom orders for 4 other pieces. I do this all in my garage in Northern Michigan .LOL Who would of thunk! I have accumulated more of the tools I really needed. Planer, Jointer, Sliding Mitre Saw, Router and several different sanders. I recently purchased the Rotex 125 and a Midi Dust Extractor. The Rotex is going to be great for rough and semi finishing but I have found that for fine finishing on film finishes like Waterlox, it is a bit too cumbersome, vibrates a bit and hurts my hand as I have an elbow issue and carpal tunnel.

All that for my question. Which Festool ROS would be the best for me, keeping in mind all of my Festool  sanding discs are 5"  (close to 500 discs)  and I really cant afford a butt load of money right now after the other Festools I bought. I need some thing light I can use with one hand, low vibration and able to fine finish with up to 1500 grit paper and 4000 grit abralon.

Is there really that much difference between the Festool 574993 ETS 125 REQ 5" Random Orbital Sander at $200 and the Festool 571897 ETS EC 125/3 EQ Compact Brushless Finish Sander at $400. I realize one is a 2mm stroke and the other is 3. Im just trying to justify the doubled price. Any other suggestions would be welcome.

BTW I  am now hooked on Festool and will probably be spending most of my future sales on replacing all of my tools with Festool. absolutely love the Midi dust Extractor. Here are some pics of some of the things I have made

 

[rvieceli]

[member=69255]ahwoody55[/member] just do yourself a favor and grab the ets ec 125. It is a wonderful sander and well worth the extra money

Ron

 

[James Carriere]

+1 on the ETS EC 125/3 EQ.  It's my favorite of my sanders and it a natural fit for one-handed operation with it's low profile.  I love it, smooth, easy to control, no swirl marks, and very low vibration.  Yes, a $200 difference is $200 but I can't imagine you'd be disappointed.  I've done my best to wear it out and it still sounds and runs like the day I got it.

 

[justaguy]

I suggest going to a dealer and trying both if possible.

I have both sanders and for horizontal or flat work I use the ets ec. For vertical or overhead work I use the etc. 

FYI you might want to check the amazon warehouse they have both models available as of right now. I’ve had pretty good luck buying from the warehouse.

 

[rst]

ETS EC would be my choice for fine finishing. 

 

[ahwoody55]

Thanks guys. I will probably end up with both at some point

 

[rst]

Your next choice after the ETS EC should be the RO.  Those two would cover just about all your sanding needs from rough to finish.

 

[ahwoody55]

Your next choice after the ETS EC should be the RO.  Those two would cover just about all your sanding needs from rough to finish.

I just purchased the RO 125 and the Midi dust Extraction unit. The RO is a little cumbersome for the fine finishing. With the dust extractor hooked up it was difficult to keep it flat. It kept getting away from me a bit. Thats why I think i am going to bite the bullet and go with the suggestion of the ETS EC. I like a light one handed stroke for the fine finishing. I have one of Makitas better ROS but it seems to leave a lot of swirl marks  and with just the dust bag it is hard to see what I have done with all of the fine white finish dust all over. I tend to finish a lot of my stuff with Waterlox and once it has cured it leaves a bunch of white dust even with 1500 grit. Im going to use Odies oil on my next table so I will probably be sanding wood to 1500 grit so I will really need the dust extraction and minimum swirl marks.

Thanks again to all for all of the advice

 

[Alanbach]

First of all let me add my name to the list of commenters that vote for the ETS EC. It is a great sander and you will not be disappointed. It is more powerfull, smoother and better ergonomically, in my opinion. Now that is out of the way let’s talk about your comments concerning your new ROtex. 1. Believe it or not they will smooth out a bit after a few hours of break in time. 2. Play around with your hand positions until you fine the sweet spot balancing the tool on the work. Search for some YouTube videos on the subject. 3. Turn the variable suction control on your vac down until you start to see residual dust being left on the work, then turn if back up only slightly from there. In other words use the minimal amount suction needed to extract the dust, nothing more. In my opinion nothing effects a rough ride from a Rotex  more than too much vac suction and bad hand position. Oh, one more thing. I was at a Festool event a few years back just after getting my first Festool sander (ETS EC). I complained to the rep about difficulties keeping the sander flat and vibration free. I now use The tip she showed me every time I use any of my sanders. She showed me to wrap the vac hose over my wrist. This effectively puts your right wrist under the hose instead of over it and helps maintain a level tool on the work. It took a few tries to get used to it but it really helps.

 

[Sanderxpander]

I don't have an ETS EC but it seems like a great product. I do have a Rotex 90 which I love/hate and a Mirka Deros which I love. They do a 5 inch and a 6 inch and you can get 3, 5 or 8mm orbits. I suppose you'd go for the 3mm for your fine finishing, I have the 5 and it's so smooth I've never felt the need for a smaller orbit. But I've also never needed to go higher than 320 grit so don't take my word for it. Anyway, if you get the chance check it out. It's really, really smooth and light, it has swappable pads (one machine for 5 and 6 inch), great dust extraction... It fits the midi' s 27mm hose with some jiggling. I use mine with one.

 

[rst]

All of the ROs have a definite learning curve and while they can be used for fine finishing, the ETSs are a much easier option.  The ROs excell at taking off large quantities of material quickly and can be unforgiving if not used efficiently.

 

[travisj]

I have the regular ETS sanders (150/3 and Pro 5).  I like them, but I like the lower profile of the EC sanders better.  If I were starting from scratch, I would get the EC.

On a different note, I like the Great Lakes Inlays with (assuming) epoxy.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[ahwoody55]

Thanks folks. LOL I decided I am gong to just bite the bullet and get both. They will both get used on different projects.

As to the Great Lakes inlay's, yes those are epoxy. I actually hand carved those out about 1/2" deep. I tried my compact router but couldnt get enough detail with an 1/8th " straight bit. I ended up using a dremel on some of the more delicate parts but all in all I was happy with the results. Getting ready to do my first "Epoxy River Table" and a bit nervous about it. If you screw up that much epoxy it gets expensive fast. LOL