Hi All,

I'm wanting to upgrade my 5" ridgid ROS sander. It works but seems to take forever and I think something is wrong with it, it doesn't slow down down as quickly anymore. I make endgrain boards and furniture as a hobby.

I'm close to ordering the AirVantage 5" gen 2 ROS with vacuum. It's $365. Anyone have experience with these?

I'm going to make a maloof style chair with Hal Taylor plans and that will entail lots of sanding and sculpting.

I thought about a rotex or a dual mode bosch in 5" as I have 100s of quality 5" paper BUT a dual mode will be a two hand machine and hard to get into corners.

Mirka, SurfPrep and AirVantage I believe all can accept aftermarket pads that have different contours.

Pic of Airvantage here. It looks identical to the SurfPrep and Sumake (which I've never heard of until recently).

I've read many like the Mirka Ceros with the external power supply. That's been discontinued. The Deros looks just like these as well. I bet they are all made in same place.

I don't think any of those you mentioned other than the Bosch would work well at shaping. Especially if you are thinking of shaping the seat contour.

I have the Mirka Ceros and Deos. One is a RO and the other is a orbital finish sander. The Ceros (Deros) will shape with a low grit. But major shaping isn't going to be something you'll want to do with it.

Your best bet is to either get the AirVantage and the Bosch and use the Bosch for hogging and coarse finish and use the AirVantage for your detail work. Thinking the Bosch being two handed isnt going to work well may be true for fine detail work but it will sand in fine mode as good as most RO's.

Your other option is to use a cheap disc sander for your hogging with 36/50/60 grit discs and then do all your detail sanding with the AirVantage.

If your wanting one hand operation your best bet is the Surfprep or AirVantage.

Just pull the pin. Youve done enough research. I would almost guarantee you when you get an electric dynabrade in your hands with vac you will wonder why you didnt order two.

The sucky dust collection, speed, and saving yourself hospital time for wrist wear and tear later will make the cost of the AirVantage, or the AirVantage/Bosch/Disc Sander combo a gift.

Just be done with it.

What about a "flap disc"--not a "flap wheel"?

Ryan,
You might not have thought about it but a cabinet rasp (good quality) will shape a leg very quickly. Having built 18th century furniture I find it is easier to shape with the file than it is with a sander. I have done it both ways. If you are trying to remove copious amounts of wood try the Lancelot tool for a grinder. It is a circular chainsaw blade and very fast and could be dangerous but really removes wood fast.
As far as sanders go...I like our Dynabrades but would love to have a Deros.

If you are looking to sand and I mean Sand but not use it to shape a surface then the deros is the way to go or a dynabrade air. We have 2 ceros 6" with 3/8 orbit and we run them all day everyday and they are fantastic. We also use dynabrade with the same orbit but they need a lot of air and we can't stand the compressor banging away all day. We eventually will go to a kaeser compressor. Don't waste your time with anything less.

I run 2 Denver Gardner screws. 1 10hp and one 15hp with VFD.

We went that route when Kaeser gave me a bid of 3k to repair our dryer.

The 10hp keeps up with the DA’s and the 15hp keeps up with the polishers in stone shop.

Very reliable and good value. I have 25k in both. The 15hp requires 480volts for the vfd