Mirka Ceros 5"

[smartlikestick]

Hey all.

I have been looking at some high end sanders for a long time. I have a ton of sanding to do this year, plus I am fed up with coupled with sanding dust from my current Makita ROS. I've spent time looking at both the Festool Rotex and now the Mirka Ceros. I think that I am going to drop the money on the Ceros. Just wondering if any of you have any experience with it and what your thoughts are? I want to move into some more organic flowing furniture (aka Maloof-ian) and I think it would be a great fit. Let me know what your thoughts are.

Mike

[PaulMarcel]

Only a second-hand opinion. Of the three pros I know who bought them (all three used Festool sanders prior), all three love it. One had it shipped from the UK to Japan. I think it also helps to use their Abranet discs. If I didn't have such a stock of papers already, I would have moved a lot of my paper supply to Abranet.

About the Maloof flow... are you planning on shaping with this sander or just sanding? If you are looking for shaping, the usual culprit hand tools or a Festool RAS115 would do you better.

[flairwoodworks]

Hey all.

I have been looking at some high end sanders for a long time. I have a ton of sanding to do this year, plus I am fed up with coupled with sanding dust from my current Makita ROS. I've spent time looking at both the Festool Rotex and now the Mirka Ceros. I think that I am going to drop the money on the Ceros. Just wondering if any of you have any experience with it and what your thoughts are? I want to move into some more organic flowing furniture (aka Maloof-ian) and I think it would be a great fit. Let me know what your thoughts are.

Mike

Hi Mike,

I've been living with a 5" Makita ROS for the past couple years and mostly avoiding it. By switching to the Abranet sanding discs, the dust collection actually improved a lot. I was shocked. Then I drilled the stock Makita pad with a bunch of holes to improve dust extraction.

However, I bought myself the 6" Ceros last week. I've used it for less than an hour so far but like it so far. Aside from cost of abrasives, I don't see much reason to go with a 5" over a 6". Neither is a detail sander. Besides, my next sander will likely be Festool's new RO90. I think the pair will compliment each other nicely.

But then on the other hand, if you're going to be doing sculptural stuff with it, perhaps an angle grinder or Festool's RAS115 would be better suited to your needs.

[joestyles]

In 2005 I spent $20.00 on a ros last year a friend bought me a makita ROS for around $80.00 the $20 one is in fine shape and works well it looks beat up but it is in the same shape as the makita????? The cheap one is from Canadian tire came with a 2 yr warranty and was on sale. New they run around $40-50 now. I will buy one of them again. I am not saying that a better model might work better I am saying that they see a lot of abuse in my shop. I could not believe the MC one still works and every time I reach for one I reach for that one wondering when it will finally just stop working. From my experience this is one tool I will continue to cheap out on. Maybe I got lucky with mine if it does quit I will try another. I still use sanding blocks and sheet paper lots also have a 6x80 belt sander too. My oscillating spindle sander has died after a couple years (I cheaped out on that one but won't again) Dust collection was a problem with the ROS so I made a sanding table hooked to the DC and that solved most of the trouble.