Anyone here having carpenter experience? Need advice on sanders.

[The Driver]

In the next week or so I`m going to be sanding down and redoing all the molding/trim and some tables in the house. I`m looking at strictly block, finishing and dust collecting sanders only. 90% of the job will be finish sanding/scuffing and 10% will be actually sanding down to the wood.

I`ve narrowed it down to these, Festool RS2E or Bosch OS50VC-RT. The Festool a is a little more but not by much, both have punches for paper and all the same features with a few differences. My question is which would you choose and why, I want some input because maybe I`m missing something. I`m also stuck on the fence between the two.

Festool
http://www.festoolusa.com%2Fproducts..._r6YT_zk6jivDJ

Bosch
https://www.protoolreviews.com/tools...l-sander/8061/

Note: I`m not a carpenter but I do alot of DIY work on everything from cars to cabinets so I`m no stranger to sanding, just more wet than dry

[TroyScherer]

By trade I am in the cabinet making business. I run our commercial division now but I have a little over 7 years of hands on in shops making cabinets and custom furniture.

I our shop we use almost exclusively air tools with most being Dynabrade orbitals. If you sand down fine enough sheet sanders are not really needed.

In my experience the dust collector systems on these electric sanders never work all that well long term.

Both of these look nice but I prefer 1/4 sheet sanders not 1/2 sheet.

[John U]

I have a $60.00 Makita what works fine with my shop vac hooked to it

[Billy Jack]

I`m just a DIY`er, but after 30 years of remodeling, I agree with Troy. I`ve tried the included dust bags on 3 of my sanders, Dewalt orbital, Makita belt and Makita 1/4 sheet finish sander. None of them worked worth beans. I then bought a dry vacuum at Sears that was advertised as a power tool vac. You plug in the tool to the vac and the vac turns on when you power up the sander, also running for a few seconds after you shut the sander off. It`s a bit of a pain dealing with the vacuum hose in addition to the power cord, but it keeps dust to a minimum. It took a bit of creativity fitting the dust ports of the tools to the 1 1/4" vac hose, including using pieces of a bicycle inner tube as adapters, but saves a lot of grief from the better half.
Nothing, however, beats doing all the dirty work outside or in the garage, then installing a finished product with adhesives and a minimum of fasteners. Years ago I installed a dozen Andersen Casement windows. After fitting the extension jambs, casing and sills, I disassembled them completely and laid out all the pieces in the garage. After sanding and staining, I shot them with shellac and then two coats of satin furniture lacquer, all shot from an automotive touch-up gun. 16 pieces per window X 12 windows was a lot of pieces, but damn, they were beautiful.

Bill