Customer Reviews
This is Amazing! 
2003-06-10
If you do woodworking, you know that sanding is the most dreadful part of any project. Sanding is usually a dirty, dusty, and unhealthy job. When my last random-orbit sander got worn out, I replaced it with the 6" Fein MSF636-1. I also bought the Fein Turbo II dust collector to go with it. I am so impressed, I just had to sing its praises...
I have been through several random-orbit sanders -- DeWalt, two from Bosch, Makita, Porter+Cable, and others. Always, when I'm done sanding, my hair and face, and all surfaces in the shop, are covered in dust. For days afterwards, I have to vacuum up the dust. The dust flies around, the dust is all over my work clothes, the dust makes its way from my shop into the house. It is dirty and it is unhealthy -- it is very dangerous to breathe fine dust particles.
When I bought this sander, I figured that "dust free" meant less dust. I thought it would just be an improvement over my other sanders. Not so! With this sander, dust free really means dust free. With the Fein sander, attached to the Fein Turbo II dust collector, there is absolutely no dust in the air at all! I have a bright shop light right over my sanding table, and after I am done sanding I cannot see anything floating around in there. Definitely close to 100% dust collection.
The Fein sander is an aggressive machine, and at first you might be surprised at how much material it removes in a short time. There is an adjustment period when switching to this machine from other ROS, but it is a nice thing to adjust to. Also, I should say that this is a heavy machine, definitely heavier than other ROS I've used. But it does a beautiful job. I've used it on grits from 40 up to 400, and it is easy to control and very well balanced.
One definite minus is that Fein includes no instructions. I know that a sander is a pretty simple machine, but there are a couple of items in the box that didn't make sense to me right away, and it's nice to have instructions to make you feel confident you're doing things correctly.
The bottom line is, I no longer dread sanding. I actually look forward to the sanding phase of my wood projects now.
Awsome sander, but... 
2002-03-09
I just got this sander, and have been able to use it on some red oak. By far this is the best ROS I have ever used - and I have many hours logged with ROS. This sander can be very aggressive, but it is very easy to control, and gives very precise action. I put most of my 220 lbs. on it and it didn't chock for a second. There was almost no vibration, and my hands did not tingle after a few hours of use. Also, I have never seen better dust extraction. PERIOD!
Now to why it did not get 5 stars from me.
1) No case. At this price you think you would get a case.
2) Poor doccumentation. Mine came with two manuals. Both were safety oriented, and not use or operation oriented.
3) The dust collection outlet is propietary. It is an odd shaped rectange, forcing you to use a hard to find Fein adapter, or make one yourself.
4) Cost.
However, because of the preformance of this unit, I mostly have been able to overlook these problems. I am thinking of buying their 8" model next.
Best addition to my shop this year 2000-11-12
This sander, combined with its vac , collects every spec of dust. The vac hose takes a little getting used to. I finish sanded 200 entry doors in half the amount of time that it took with my PorterCable random sander. Flat sanding only with this tool.
Excellent product 2007-11-05
This product works very very well. I hooked it up to a non Fein dust collection system and there's hardly any airborne dust that I notice. Very aggressive sander, usually requiring two hand operation. But, boy does it chew up wood. Not good for small work, but for the furniture I build, it's great. Highly recommended.
Fein compared to the Festool 6" Rotex RO 150 
2007-07-07
If you have been using cheap orbital sanders, the Fein will be a big improvement. For about four years, I have been using the Festool 6" Rotex 150 but it goes through motor brushes about every year. So, I thought a change was in order. I bought the Fein sander hoping not only to solve the motor brush problem but maybe improve over the Festool. There is absolutely no comparison. The Festool is a far better sander.
Controling the Fein is difficult at best. When sanding narrow pieces like a cabinet face frame, the Fein jumps around. When sanding larger areas, the Fein sucks down onto the work piece making it more difficult to move. Long periods of sanding with the Fein are a struggle. The Fein is aggresive but, when you want less agressive sanding, you don't have a choice since it is only one speed not variable. I am especially disappointed in the amount of vibration the Fein has. The worse thing of all is the poor quality when sanding with high grit paper for the final pass. One other downer is the high cost and lack of availability of sand paper for the Fein. And if all that isn't enough, I emailed Fein regarding problems trying to register my sander online for the extra 2 year warranty. I never heard from them. By the way, I spoke with a Fein representative prior to buying the sander and told him I already have a Festool. He said Fein is the best. So much for honest salesmanship.
If you don't want the above problems, go with Festool. The motor brush problem is the only down side and that might just be a problem with the one I have. Other people have told me they have never changed motor brushes in their Festool sander. The price is about the same on both sanders.
Negatives definitely outweigh positives 2007-03-28
I bought this sander packaged with Fein's vacuum a couple years ago. The vacuum I have to say is great. Quiet and dust free. Indeed, the raves from others here about the dustless aspects probably have more to do with the vacuum itself rather than the sander. For instance, I also own a 5" Bosch random orbit sander, and when I use it with the Fein vacuum, it also results in nearly dust-free operation. That's not to say there aren't sanders out there that even when hooked up to a good vacuum, let dust escape from the sides, I'm sure there are.
The sander has a long cord, so you don't need an extension cord when using it with the vacuum. It's extremely powerful (an advantage when you need it, a drawback when you don't).
Now on to the disadvantages... No variable speed, so no way to turn the power down. I don't know about the other users here, but when I'm sanding something with 220 grit and higher, I almost never want the sander operating at full speed. When sanding drywall I only use this sander for the first phases, because on finishing coats, it gouges too easily. Variable speed circuitry is almost ubiquitous throughout the industry, used by all major manufacturers on many different types of tools. Why Fein would leave this basic feature off this expensive tool puzzles me.
This sander vibrates excessively. If you use it all day you will get numbness. There's a reason Amazon includes vibration dampening gloves under accessories. In fact, I think it may be this vibrating that caused the sanding pad to dislodge from the rotating head after about a year and a half. I called Fein, but it wasn't under warranty anymore. They said I would have to buy a new head, so I just epoxied the pad back on. I haven't had a problem with it since, but this is something that shouldn't have happened. It's not like I use this tool every day.
The sander does seem a bit loud for a random orbit. I almost always wear hearing protection, but it may be a concern if others are in the area. Sometimes I do jobs in an office space during business hours, or in someone's home where a child might be taking a nap. For these reasons I try to support manufacturers that take db levels into account when engineering tools. As I said, the vacuum is relatively quiet, in fact it's the quietest industrial shop type vacuum I've ever heard, and even quieter than a lot of indoor house vacuums. With regards to the sander however, it seems like Fein didn't even try to quiet it down.
Not enough tools come with cases these days, and at this price a case would be nice. Which brings me to price. I bought mine in a package deal with a Fein TurboII vacuum for about $580 in 2005, and I feel I was ripped off. I don't mind paying a premium price for a premium product. Maybe I should have gone the Festool route. I see now that this Fein 6" sander is selling for over $400? Unbelievable.
It's not that this sander can't perform certain tasks well. If I have to strip some rust or peeling paint off of something fast, I bust out the Fein. It will get the rough jobs done. In fact, I did a job where I needed to strip some old glue and stains off of a concrete floor. I rented a floor edger with 20 grit paper. It worked pretty well, but made a huge mess. It would have been great to keep the dust down, but I don't know if I can get 8-hole 20 grit 6" discs for the Fein. The lowest Amazon lists under Accessories for this sander is 80 grit. In my estimation, 80 grit is about the highest you'd want to go with this sander. I'd call it a demo sander (as in "demolition", for those of you not involved in the trades).
Positives:
-Dust free
-Powerful, fast
Negatives:
-No variable speed
-Poor vibration dampening
-Poor quality head attachment (see above)
-Loud
-No case
-Extremely expensive
Intergalactically Superior Super Cool Sander 2006-03-14
Oh my, what a piece of equipment. Opening the box was just like Christmas! High quality components, hefty feel ( but not too heavy ) ultra long power cord, . . . and then I turned it on. WOW, does this do a great job. super smooth sanding with ZERO dust (I also purchased the FEIN Turbo III vacuum / dustless system) the sand paper does NOT clog, ZERO airborne particles, and no residue on my safety glasses! (highly recommend it with a FEIN vacuum with AUTO start, when you turn on the sander, the vacuum also automatically starts! This unit is spendy, but WELL worth it!!!
So Fein. 2005-02-09
The German engineers say this sander, combined with a good
vacuum, takes away up to 98% of the dust of sanding. They
have to worry about Lawyers. I do not. It gets rids of
*all* the dust.
I hooked it up to a Fein vacuum (model 9-55-13) which I got a
year ago for its own sake. I was able to connect the circular
vacuum hose to the rectangular port on the sander because of
a flexible rubber sleeve which was included in the bottom
of the sander box, like an apology.
I didn't even have the right kind of sanding disks. Mine have
six holes. The Fein uses 8-holed paper. So I punched new
holes in it. I cannot imagine that this is ideal.
Yet -- there is no dust. I sanded a large oak double door
on both sides, an operation I have been fearing for months,
and not only was the result dustless, it was done in half the
time I expected. This sander is mighty fast. To me it felt
like both passes (220 grit and 320) were done just about as
fast as I could move the sander over the surface.
It has two speeds: "on" and "off". It does vibrate a noticable
amount, but not at all objectionably. It's loud enough that
I think I should wear hearing protection, but not so loud
that I will actually walk downstairs to *get* my hearing
protection.
There is no more hyperfine dust on the inside of my eyeglasses
after sanding, which means I'm not breathing it in. I like oak
everywhere except in my lungs.
Buy this and the Fein vacuum, preferably with the HEPA filter,
and throw your other sanders away before they make you sick.
Lungs are more expensive than sanders.
This has got to be the best sander/vacuum combination in the
world. (Because Festool doesn't have a HEPA vacuum yet. :-)
-----------------------------------------------
A FEW YEARS LATER
Well ... OK. I liked it at the time. And it was
good for a long time. Until it started to shake
my hands off.
Maybe I didn't lubricate it, like it said to on the little sticker that I didn't notice until I was
throwing it into the trash.
Note to German engineers: I do not lubricate power
tools. I use them. If they bother me (and shaking
my hands off bothers me) then I Throw Them Away.
Bitte entschuldigen Sie mir.
And then I buy a similar tool from some even
smarter Germans. Festool. :-)
