Fein Reviews

I worked in a cabinet shop that did an ongoing production run of solid-surface bank teller counters, and for surfacing and polishing the tops, they used these Fein vacuum sanders. They were very effective, and kept that miserable Corian dust down to a very respectable minimum. However, it seemed as though they spent nearly as much time tinkering with the sanders trying to make them work decently as they did actually using them.

This is an outstanding combination for dustless sanding. I got mine from Coastal tools for $559.95 ($170.00 less than Amazon)

At the risk of being the odd man out. I just came from the WoodWorks2002 show at the Ft Washington PA Center. Top names were there demonstrating, as well as vendors with their wares. Fortunately the Fein sander vac combination, with all of the Fein sanders were there to use. The rep attached each of the sanders to the latest Turbo III vac. As an owner of a Bosch 3727DVS 6" sander, which is twice the money of their regular line, but less than half the cost of the Fein, I noticed that the Fein models, had vibration delivered to your hands. I had so so feelings about the Bosch sander, but after using the Fein, I must admit, I am now a lot fonder of my Bosch. The Fein did remove the material rapidly from the stock. I thought the Bosch removed material quickly also. Without a side by side comparison, it would be tough to tell any differences. The only problem with the Fein is the vibration would give me discomfort after using it for awhile. I know this sounds unbelievable after reading the other reviews that state they did not have a problem with vibration, even after hours of use. The vibration next to the Bosch model was substantial in comparison. It was that way with both of the Fein sanding models. He did not hook up the air driven model, stating it was the same as the electric, and did not have a compressor to feed it.
The odd thing is that I was talking to someone else at the store that had a Fein sanding system, and he mentioned the vibration to me. I did not prompt him for that information. A conversation broke out near a router station, and it drifted into sanders. He said, "I have the Fein sander, and the vibration is a problem." I immediately responded that I noticed the same thing.
I own a Fein RT-1800 router, see my review, "Simply put, this is the very best", and I also have the Fein Multimaster, with their pro cut, and extra individual blades, and loads of sandpaper boxes. I love the Fein quality.
The dust capturing feature is something that the Bosch has also. Holes in the bottom of the sanding pad and paper, allow the vacuum to suck up the dust. Fein advertises that it picks up 99 percent of the dust. A small amount of dust that is generated at the edges of the disc, escape the draw of the vacuum. The Bosch does the same thing.
The Fein Turbo vac is a very nice unit. It doesn't complain when the air flow is limited. It has an independent cooling air flow. I use a Sears 6 1/4 HP model that is designed for a ton of airflow. Hooking it up to the small flow of the sander, is like trying to breathe through a straw. What I did was to hook up the 2 1/2" airline to the outlet, which is smaller. I let it leak. The extra air that is released around the outside of the inlet nozzle, successfully draws that 1% of dust that escapes the edges of the pad. Wahlah, complete dust capture. Noisy in comparison, but complete.
The Fein turbo vac has the advantage of being super quiet, auto run when you start the sander (the sander plugs into an outlet on the vac, so it knows when it turns on) and is designed specifically for the flow levels of sanding.
I know I will receive a lot of flak stating that it vibrates, especially since the other reviewers are obviously professionals, and did not notice a problem with that. I did not use it for a long period of time, but the vibration was very noticeable. The Bosch 6" is substantially smoother.
The other thing worth mentioning is that the 8" Fein had a tendency to dance across the wood, when riding flat, whereas the smaller model gave you a more stable ride. It is capable of hovering without pulling you erratically. Either sander you could ever so lightly tilt to one edge, minutely off of plane, and get a stable ride, but then you are doing more digging. The perfectly flat ride, will not dig, and gives you the maximum work surface at one time. So the smaller model gives you more of the advantage of a flat sheet sander, than the 8" model does. The Bosch 6" gives you that kind of stability at all speeds. Maybe their is something inherent in the 6" disc that makes for a more stable ride.
I must admit the Fein cut a lot of material very quickly. The package is very quiet. I know from my other Fein equipment that it is built to last. For those reasons, I gave it 5 stars.
I'm overly sensitive to vibration, because I was using an inexpensive vibrating sander, that gave me throbbing fingers after 20 minutes of use. The Bosch was a dream in comparison, so when I did a hands on with the Fein, I was surprised. It was a lot better than the vibrating sander, but not as smooth as the Bosch.
If you do a decent amount of sanding, and have a hard time scuffing up the cash for the Fein unit, check out the Bosch 3727DVS. It's twice the money of the standard Bosch line, but is an impressive unit. Hope this helps.

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!!!

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. :-)

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.

This is just as advertised. Great instructions, Sturdy and adaptable to my needs.

although i rated it 5 i had to return for a non drilled benchdog becouse of fit.

Purchasing this 1/4" collet will increase the usability of your Fein RT-1800 router. Seems like they should include it with the purchase of the router. Buying the 1/4" collet, is almost a neccessity because of the popularity of the 1/4" bits. In addition to that, you may consider the 8mm collet as well, which is not so common.
An interesting note is that the international standard for the 1/4" equivalent is 8mm, which is a 56% larger shaft, but still is small enough to fit into the smaller template sizes. So you get a lot more strength, which means less vibration. Is it possible that the disdain for the 1/4" standard, drove this W. German manufacturer into offering the 1/4" collet as an option? The 8mm collet is available from Fein Power Tools in Pittsburgh PA> Part number 0000433085, or you can check with Amazon.com in the Tool Crib at 1-800-635-5140.
I first learned of the 8mm standard when I bought the Leigh Dovetail Jig. Leigh manufacturing offers a 15 piece bit set with 1/2" and 8mm bits, in addition to the other set with 1/2" and 1/4" bits. They find superior results with the 8mm's, so they make special mention of offering them. I bought the 8s, and they are substantially larger. I plan on acquiring more 8mm bit sets in the future, in addition to the 1/4"s that I now have.
This 1/4" collet is substantially made, just like the rest of the Fein line. The RT-1800 is unique in that it has linear bearings instead of ball bearings. Consquently, Fine Woodworking magazine, in a follow up article to their router run off, stated that the new Fein Rt-1800, had such a little bit of run out, that it was off the chart next to every other router they tested. The long shaft-surface area of a linear bearing, holds the shaft in line a lot greater than the microscopic surface of the edge of a ball bearing. Some resort to dual ball bearings to improve on that. Back to the collet.
It doesn't come with the locking nut. Switching the nut into the collet is easy. It snaps in and out of the nut rather easily. The Fein collets really hold onto the bits very well. It is like the rest of the Fein line, it costs more, but you get more. The engineering is second to none.

If you own Fein router, you've seen its 1/2" collet. Fein's 1/4" collet is its twin sister with a little bit smaller hole. It's very deep (30 mm, approx. 1-1/4"), 8-prong, precise machined self-ejecting collet. All my small 1/4" shank bits fit the collet perfectly and get out easily. Collet is perfectly centered (I couldn't measure the runout with 0.02mm=0.001" calipers, it's less than that), it holds the bit very tight, so there is no vibration, slippage, or anything else that can go wrong.

Without hesitation I can say that Fein collets are way better than dozens of other collets I've seen. No question about it.

The only complain that I have is the absence of additional collet nut -- I wish it supplied as an collet/nut assembly: despite it's relatively easy to remove collet from the nut (thin 1/2" goes out easily, thick 1/4" with some effort, both go in easily), I don't like the the process -- the nut has a groove with a sharp edge used to keep the collet in, and moving collets in and out on regular basis will ruin the nut (or collet) sooner or later. Besides that, the need to bend collet prongs slightly in order to release it from the nut does not increase collet life as well. Finally, it takes time. When I get bored, I will buy additional nut for 1/4" collet.

This is the perfect tool for anyone that needs to cut fiberglass. It is indespensable and much more managable than a dremmel or other hand grinder. I use this tool almost daily. The only down side is that this blade is a bit fragile and will break if bent even slightly.

I was told about this tool by a freind when I needed to do some work on the inside of my sailboat. The tool works on the same principle as an orbital sander, only with this cutting blade attached, it will cut just about anything very safely. I have used this blade to cut fiberglass tabs away from the hull without danger of cutting throught the hull and with very little dust. I have also cut the 3/8 plywood that was fiberglassed to the bulkhead. I just took my time and the adjustable depth stop and did not cut through any deeper than necessary. I also trimmed the ends of Stainless steel screws off that are through bolted through the cabin top. I now carry this tool with me anywhere I have a job to do for cutting or sanding. Well worth the money.

I know they tell you in the description that it is 3/8" and 3/4" blades but they come in this little tiny pouch. Save these for your super small jobs. Combining the small blades with the Fein Multimasters variable speed, and you have the capability of doing some pretty "fine" work. Great for the boat in a jar project, or anything else in wood or metal, that requires a small cut.

What more do I need to say? This is a fine FEIN accessory. No more needs to be said!

First of all, none of the guide fences offered by the companies are worth what they charge for them, but when you wonder why this is $57 and everything else is around $40, there is a reason. Everything else, including the Milwaukee I just bought, is stamped steel made in CHINA. When you compare the Fein, which is cast metal and made in Germany, the value shines through. I expect to be using this guide fence for the rest of my life, and I know the stamped ones from China will not last that long. I'm glad I bought the Fein, and kind of sorry I got the Milwaukee. It is just not in the same league,

As a building contractor, I have used this blade in my Fein sander for everything from flush-cutting door jambs & casing when installing t&g flooring to cutting back drywall-wrapped window sills when replacing windows. Its thin kerf allows it to do a clean job where other tools can't go. The single blade that came with the sander kit has seen a lot of use but is still sharp.

Let's face it, this paper isn't cheap. But it is very well made. The advantage to the Fein paper is that the backing is made so well, that you do not wind up with buggered edges, which wastes the backing pad. Result: Clean sanding, that maintains a crisp edge for getting into tight places. Isn't that what the sander is for? All grits work well. Highly recommended.

Let's face it, this paper isn't cheap. But it is very well made. The advantage to the Fein paper is that the backing is made so well, that you do not wind up with buggered edges, which wastes the backing pad. Result: Clean sanding, that maintains a crisp edge for getting into tight places. Isn't that what the sander is for. All grits work well. Highly recommended.