04-04-2017, 03:19 PM
Just received my Festool Pro-5 today and had to take a break from work to go out to the shop and plug it in. I put a 150 Grit Granet disk on the new Pro-5 and a new 150 grit Rhynodisk from Industrial Abrasives on the Bosch. I grabbed a 12"x12" chunk of white oak that had been run through my drum sander with 150 grit... lots of sanding lines on the board. Both sanders were set to their highest speed - 6 on both dials.
Initial impression is that the Pro-5 is a LOT lighter than the Bosch - maybe up to half the weight of the Bosch without actually weighing it. The Pro-5 is a lot smaller than the Bosch as well - the handle should fit smaller hands easier than the Bosch. I have big hands, so the size of the Bosch isn't an issue, but the weight can be.
The Pro-5 seems a little louder than the Bosch, definitely a higher pitched noise than the Bosch with the same FEIN vacuum attached. The Pro-5 seems to vibrate my hand slightly more and the vibrations feel sharper for lack of a better word. Both are dramatically better than the $50-70 DeWalts, PC and cheap Bosch sanders I have used in the past. It was fairly easy to stop the larger disk rotation on the Pro-5 by applying light to moderate pressure, but the smaller oscillation never stopped. I really have to bear down on the Bosch to stop the larger rotation. Dust collection was very good on both - hard to tell a difference. Both sanders seemed to remove the drum sander lines in about the same speed, but the Bosch/Rhynogrip 150 paper left far fewer swirl marks than the Festool/Granet 150 paper did. The Bosch finish was close to usable, the Festool finish needed another grit or a finish sander before staining.
Has anyone else noticed a difference in the finish left by the Pro-5 and the Granet paper? Not sure if it is the sander or the paper, but the quality of the finish was the biggest surprise of my initial encounter with the Pro-5.
What paper do most folks use with Festool sanders? Festool Granet is really expensive compared to other Festool compatible papers.
Dave
Initial impression is that the Pro-5 is a LOT lighter than the Bosch - maybe up to half the weight of the Bosch without actually weighing it. The Pro-5 is a lot smaller than the Bosch as well - the handle should fit smaller hands easier than the Bosch. I have big hands, so the size of the Bosch isn't an issue, but the weight can be.
The Pro-5 seems a little louder than the Bosch, definitely a higher pitched noise than the Bosch with the same FEIN vacuum attached. The Pro-5 seems to vibrate my hand slightly more and the vibrations feel sharper for lack of a better word. Both are dramatically better than the $50-70 DeWalts, PC and cheap Bosch sanders I have used in the past. It was fairly easy to stop the larger disk rotation on the Pro-5 by applying light to moderate pressure, but the smaller oscillation never stopped. I really have to bear down on the Bosch to stop the larger rotation. Dust collection was very good on both - hard to tell a difference. Both sanders seemed to remove the drum sander lines in about the same speed, but the Bosch/Rhynogrip 150 paper left far fewer swirl marks than the Festool/Granet 150 paper did. The Bosch finish was close to usable, the Festool finish needed another grit or a finish sander before staining.
Has anyone else noticed a difference in the finish left by the Pro-5 and the Granet paper? Not sure if it is the sander or the paper, but the quality of the finish was the biggest surprise of my initial encounter with the Pro-5.
What paper do most folks use with Festool sanders? Festool Granet is really expensive compared to other Festool compatible papers.
Dave
MKM - Master Kindling Maker
