Smooth Finish: A pad dampening system that makes it easier to remove swirl marks from both flat and curved surfaces.
Easy Disc Attachment: Bosch’s Hook and Loop disc attachment system makes it easy for sanding pads to stick to the hand sander, like Velcro.
Speed can be changed.
Control: A powerful 2.5 AMP motor lets you match the speed of the work piece and the task with ease.
When it comes to collecting dust, it has a micro filter system for fine dust and can pick up particles as small as a half micron in diameter.
For tasks that don’t make a mess, the canister shows how much dust is in it, and it can be easily removed so there is no mess.
The kit comes with a sanding pad, a sanding disc, a dampening ring, a dust canister, a vacuum adapter, and a carrying case.
The Bosch ROS20VSC 5″ Random Orbit Sander/Polisher has an ideal combination of pad orbit and rotation that makes for quick removal and a smooth, well-balanced finish.
This tool is meant to help finish carpenters and cabinetmakers do their jobs quickly and to very high standards, without leaving swirl marks.
This sander lets people choose the right speed for any job they need to do, and it has a great system for collecting fine dust on board.
In the last few weeks, I’ve had problems with this sander that have made me think very differently about it.
A review is below. At the bottom I’ll add the most up-to-date info.
It turns out that when I asked for advice on a forum about what to buy to replace my old Porter Cable Random Orbit Sander, many suggested a Bosch machine.
Belt sanders are made by them and work well. I thought I’d try this one out.
To start with, a lot of people said that their next one up from this one was in the $100-200 range. Because I’m a hobbyist and like to save money, I tried this one out even though there were some bad reviews (more on this below).
In the beginning, I had some trouble using my new sanding pad. I had to wait a few weeks for it to be fixed, so I’ll talk about that first.
During the first few reviews on this site, people were complaining about the sanding pad not being flat. I checked this when it came, because it seemed to be a common complaint.
I was disappointed to see that when I put a straightedge to it, it looked a little crooked (see pics).
Cupping on the interface pad made a big difference when I used the sander without the interface pad and used Micro Mesh disks to polish up the finish.
It left a ring. Even though moving it around helped even out the sanding, sometimes you have to work on a small area and can’t move it as much.
In this case, the sander started digging into the surface more than I’d like for this type of sander. This was even on the sander’s best setting, 6! The sander was cupped and the edges were flared.
I called Bosch, of course.
Because I got it around the holidays of 2017, the person was very quick and helpful.
It was free, so they sent me a new pad. When I got it, I used a straightedge to check it out like before.
This one was also cupped (see pics).
It was this time that I didn’t hesitate to send a picture with it and ask if this was something that happened with these pads.
The same person answered and sent it to people in a different part of the company.
They checked some of the pads, and the representative told me that they found some more of the same pads that were cupped. They sent me a different but still good pad for this sander, and I was able to confirm with them that it was flat.
When I got the new pad, I checked it out and it was a lot thinner than the first two, but it still had a little cup in places.
Unlike the pad that was already on the sander when I first got it, this new pad was perfectly flat when I screwed it onto the sander. That solved the problem (once again, see pics).
When I took the pad that came with the sander off of the sander, I looked for the opposite effect. When I took the pad off, it was more cupped at that point.
It doesn’t matter, though. Bosch customer service gets a big thumbs up from me!
Swirl and scratch marks don’t seem to be left by the sander now.
This is the first time I’ve tried it with 220 and 320 grit paper, as well as the fine Micro Mesh disks (1500 to 12000 grit). I’m sure it will work well with pre-finishing grits as well.
Until now, I’ve only tried it for a long time on the two best settings (5 and 6). If I do try the lower settings, I might have to change the review.
Some of the negative reviews also said that this sander was hard to control. These are just a few of the things that bothered me.
if I apply even a small amount of pressure, it starts to move all over the place.
In this case, I just let the weight and sanding action of my sander do the work. At the very least, this reduces to a more than manageable amount at worst.
Also, it’s a little hard to get the dust collection chamber out of.
It does stay in place, but getting it off is a pain.
You have to move it back and forth a little while you’re pulling to get it off.
A good sander for someone who isn’t very busy is this one.
This isn’t to say that the product isn’t good. Bosch’s customer service (at least for me) was top notch, but the quality control on the pads seems to be spotty at best. If you’re a professional and need the product to be perfect right away, this could be an issue.
You should get one of Bosch’s more expensive ones if you need to buy one.
Bosch: If you read this, please make the standard sanding pads on this sander more rigid.
I noticed that the sander was running way too fast at no-load speed and when I put it on a surface, it spins way too slowly and leaves tiny swirl marks on the surface like you’d get with a sheet sander. This information has been changed.
I read in the owner’s manual that if this happens, the dampener ring is going to break. That’s one thing to keep in mind, though.
Another thing I noticed when I put on the sanding pad again after I tried to clean off the underside of the dampening ring and it didn’t work was that the pad was now cupped like the previous ones I had talked about in this review (see newest picture).
Here’s the thing: My old Porter Cable sander didn’t have these problems for years, and that one came with my router for free!
I’ve only had this one for a little over two months, but I used it well for one month of that. Then I ran into these problems.
In an email, I told Bosch that I was willing to send them the sander so that they could inspect and learn from the problems it had. I said that I was no longer interested in the sander.
If mine is broken, I don’t know. I’m shocked at how quickly this thing worked for me.
This sander might cost me $70 or so because the quality control is so bad. When I asked about getting some credit for a better one, Bosch said that it would depend on where I bought my next sander from.
People should be frugal, but sometimes they try too hard and they end up worse off than if they’d just spent money up front.
I don’t think this sander is worth it at all.
In the same way, maybe mine was just bad. It’s not a good first impression of this sander, and I’m not going to use it again.
Keep an eye out for cheap goods, even if they’re from a well-known brand like Bosch!
