Interested to hear any feedback and experiences you have had with RO sanders. I work as a framer and tile setter, so it won’t take daily use, but I need to buy one for woodworking projects at home. Looking for something that has decent dust collection, low-ish vibration, and easy to connect to a shop vac. Have it narrowed to the makita BO5041, Bosch ROS20VS, or Milwaukee 6034-21- but I am open to all suggestions.
I realize Stuart wrote about this a few years ago, just wondering if there was any new insight/products since then. Thanks!
I bought a Dewalt D26450 random orbit sander on Amazon last year. It was on sale for under $50. It works great, but then I found out that Makita makes a cordless one, so I’m considering selling it. But it works good
I bought the Bosch last year and have used it for a few projects around the house. The built in dust collection is ok, but it is prone to leaking a touch. However, I bought an adapter for my shop vac and haven’t look back. Been pretty happy with it overall and would recommend it, especially if you plan on using it with a shop vac.
I run a basic Craftsman, dust collector is OK but what I’ve found is using better paper is the key. Kinda like using good blades on a saw makes all the difference.
I am building some custom closet shelves currently, and most of what I do is custom work around the house. Last year I built my son a small desk and sanding with my (Grandfather’s passed down 20 years ago!) Makita 4" RO sander just took forever. I didn’t want to sand the shelf surfaces with that, I bought a Bosch 6 inch sander (Bosch 3727DEVS) just a couple of weeks ago on sale at Amazon for just over $100. And it’s amazing. I haven’t hooked it up to the shop vac, but the dust collection works well.
I have an 14 year old BO 5021 Makita sander I bought at Costo.
It’s worked pretty well over the years, but I never liked the dust collection. It’s got a non-standard port and it looks like the BO5041 has the same non standard port. I end up duct taping a 1-1/4" hose to the port when I’m doing a longer sand.
It doesn’t vibrate too badly, but after long sessions my hands to feel weird for a while.
I have tried a few and to be honest I don’t see a great deal of variation between them. Right now I have one that is variable speed and the other fixed speed, I don’t remember ever altering the speed so that for me is an unnecessary feature. Dust collection with the bags is almost universally pointless, but if you can find/make an actual adapter to a shop vac then you can get good performance. The only problem with a hose attached though is that it significantly hinders the ease of use.
I have considered cordless, I can certainly see where that might be a good feature, but all my cordless kit is DeWalt and they don’t make one. Also of course being without a cord is useless if you have a great big dust collection hose attached!
One recommendation I do have though, having two ROS with different grit papers on them can really help if you are doing a lot of sanding, particularly on larger pieces. It also saves on wear and tear taking the discs off. If I had no ROS at all I would quite possibly buy two at $50 rather than one for $100.
I made a review video of the BO5041 a while back, if it helps. It’s about middle of the pack for both vibration and dust collection, when it comes to 5" ROS sanders I’ve used.
