Which RO sander vibrates less?

[Inspector]

I'm about to pull the plug and buy a 6"/150mm electric RO sander. I get tingly fingers even with anti-vibration gloves so would like to know which sanders vibrate less? Festool or Mirka? Would those of you who have used both please comment?

Thanks
Pete

 

[ChaiLatte]

You are hardly going to get an objective answer by asking the collective here.

I do not know how seriously hand arm vibration syndrome is taken in your place, but all tools sold with a CE mark (the other one, not China Export) have vibration figures published both on the OEM website and in the manual that goes in the bin when you buy the tool.

So line up your prospective candidates and then look up the make and model number to find proper data published according to recognised standards.

Just as a for example, see 'technical data' tab on this one: BO6030 - 150MM RANDOM ORBIT SANDER There is even a little 'i' next to the figures to tell you what they mean.

 

[Sideways]

There's a European Standard EN60745 for measuring noise and vibration of elec power tools.
Festool and Mirka should both have measurements available according to this. That should allow you to make a fair comparison.

I have the Deros and that has the ability to alter the balance to compensate for (e.g.) use with and without an interface pad and minimise vibration. I have no experience of the Festool to compare it with.

For a point of comparison, Hilti make two models of sander and their noise and vibration figures are in their (downloadable) manuals. Hilti have been selling to professional users since way back and noise and vibration performance of their tools have been part of their pitch for over 20 years.

 

[Spectric]

How bad is your tingling, I knew someone with white finger and it was not a nice condition to the point it impacted many aspects of their life and it was caused through their work. All sanders will vibrate, just a case of some more than others and how much can you withstand. I have found air ROS sanders to have less vibration, I could use them for longer periods without huge effort.

 

[Inspector]

If I use my 4 stroke Makita string trimmer without Impacto Air Gloves (best anti-vibration glove I have found) I get tingling in less than 10 minutes. With the gloves, about an hour. With my industrial Dynabrade 6" RO air sander with roughly a 5mm orbit it is about the same. They even tingle using a Makita trim router with a 1/8" round over bit unless using the gloves. While not to the White Finger stage it is something I am trying to not make things worse. When you are young and ride a little single cylinder 2 stroke in cold weather with gloves, grind corrosion out of old aircraft for days at a time, use your hand as a soft face hammer things start to add up. You get reminded how dumb you were when young once you loose some hair and grey out. Plus not everyone has the same reactions to the same conditions. I got the shorter end of the shaking stick.

Lee Valley sell both the Mirka and Festool lines. The descriptions for the Mirka state the noise and vibration numbers (a little lower than the Makita ChaiLatte linked). The Festool descriptions do not have them. I looked at Festool Canada and their is no mention in the descriptions and a downloaded manual had nothing either. The published data makers may have is not so easy to find. Sellers don't usually mention vibration or noise levels as selling points. They emphasize power, power and more power! We are behind what should be.

Thanks for the comments. I'm leaning towards the Finnish tools at the moment.
Pete

 

[IBmatty]

Totally subjective answer here but having tried both the Mirka and Festool before committing to buying, all I can say is I own a Festool RO 150 (considering how agressive it is in rotex mode, vibration is very low) and ETS 125/3 (hard to tell it’s switched on!). Vibration was one of the key considerations for me as my hands are aging more rapidly than the rest of my body. I really didn’t like the Mirka, even though I’d used many of their air sanders before on cars. That was more personal preference but I certainly had more tingling in the palm after using.

 

[Sideways]

@Inspector
I have to live with tinnitus so I have every sympathy with people needing to find the least obnoxious tools.
I was surprised that the Festool information wasn't readily available so I've pulled the following together from one of our bigger retailer's websites.
I've focussed on Festool because you asked about them but thrown in a few other brands for balance.
Interesting that the big Festool gear driven sander has relatively low vibration and the Makita equivalent not so far behind perhaps because of their weight providing some damping.
The classic Metabo has relatively poor vibration in this company.
The Bosch 150mm surprised me as it appears to have the lowest vibration figure of all of these yet according to its noise numbers it must be really loud !

From a quick look at some manuals, it does look like the lowest vibration numbers (down in the 2's) are found on air driven sanders. The Mirka 650 ROS has a better performance with dust extraction fitted, maybe the weight of the extraction hose adds some damping.

Hope this helps.

Festool ETS150/3 EQ 3mm orbit

Sound Power Level LwA [Uncertainty K]	83 dB(A) [3.0 dB]
Sound Pressure Level LpA [Uncertainty K]	72 dB(A) [3.0 dB]
Vibration Sanding [Uncertainty K]	5.0 m/s² [2.0 m/s²]

The 5mm orbit version of the same

Sound Power Level LwA [Uncertainty K]	83 dB(A) [3.0 dB]
Sound Pressure Level LpA [Uncertainty K]	72 dB(A) [3.0 dB]
Vibration Sanding [Uncertainty K]	5.0 m/s² [2.0 m/s²]

Bosch's equivalent GEX 40-150 looks to be much louder but specs show significantly lower vibration

Sound Power Level LwA [Uncertainty K]	92 dB(A) [3.0 dB]
Sound Pressure Level LpA [Uncertainty K]	81 dB(A) [3.0 dB]
Vibration Sanding [Uncertainty K]	2.5 m/s² [1.5 m/s²]

Festool's smaller ETS125 REQ Plus

Sound Power Level LwA [Uncertainty K]	84 dB(A) [3.0 dB]
Sound Pressure Level LpA [Uncertainty K]	73 dB(A) [3.0 dB]
Vibration Sanding [Uncertainty K]	3.5 m/s² [1.5 m/s²]

The ETS EC 150 / 3 EQ Plus

Sound Power Level LwA [Uncertainty K]	84 dB(A) [3.0 dB]
Sound Pressure Level LpA [Uncertainty K]	73 dB(A) [3.0 dB]
Vibration Sanding [Uncertainty K]	4.8 m/s² [1.5 m/s²]

The bigger Rotex 150

Sound Power Level LwA [Uncertainty K]	93 dB(A) [3.0 dB]
Sound Pressure Level LpA [Uncertainty K]	82 dB(A) [3.0 dB]
Vibration Sanding [Uncertainty K]	4.0 m/s² [1.5 m/s²]

Makita's 150mm gear driven equivalent to the Rotex

Sound Power Level LwA [Uncertainty K]	93 dB(A) [3.0 dB]
Sound Pressure Level LpA [Uncertainty K]	82 dB(A) [3.0 dB]
Vibration Sanding [Uncertainty K]	5.0 m/s² [1.5 m/s²]

Mirka Deros 5650

Sound Power Level LwA [Uncertainty K]	86 dB(A) [3.0 dB]
Sound Pressure Level LpA [Uncertainty K]	71 dB(A) [3.0 dB]
Vibration Sanding [Uncertainty K]	3.4 m/s² [1.5 m/s²]

Metabo SXE 450 Turbo - the latest version of their long running dual orbit ROS - specs taken from the mfr website

Vibration
Surface grinding
7 m/s²
Uncertainty of measurement K
1.5 m/s²
Noise emission
Sound pressure level
82 dB(A)
Sound power level (LwA)
93 dB(A)
Uncertainty of measurement K
3 dB(A)

 

[Reffc]

The lowest vibration one is now meant to be the new 3M Xtract sander but it's one I haven't tried. Festool are pretty good as are Metabo and Mirka. If in the market now, I'd plump for the 3M purely on the rave reviews I've so far read about both performance, low noise and low vibration.

 

[Inspector]

Thanks for the input gents.

I went to LV and bought the Mirka electric Deros 6" pad with 2.5mm orbit. I also picked up the 14' vacuum hose. Happily the large end fits into the ClearVue CV6 cyclone and the shop vac. Maybe someday I will spring for their vacuum too. I picked it because it has the lowest published vibration levels and the low profile and paddle switch is like the Dynabrade air sander I have. 3M is a little harder to find locally and I needed it more or less now. It looks remarkably like the Deros. My hands unfortunately tingle within minutes (my damaged hands) so it is Impacto Air Glove time like all power tools I have. It means I will be able to use it longer with the gloves before the tingling comes on.

The dust collection is amazing to say the least with no visible dust and no dust sitting in the oak pores. I didn't get the air powered version even though it is a lot less money because it requires 17CFM @90PSI which is pretty close to maxing out my 5hp air compressor. Now that I have seen how good the dust pick up is I'll look into getting the parts for the Dynabrade to convert it. In conclusion I like the Mirka and will keep it.

Pete