Average Customer Review: ( 14 customer reviews )
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55 of 56 found the following review helpful:
Good but not perfect Mar 16, 2000
By Toolpig
"toolpig"
This tool performs very well. It sands very quickly. Faster than my Dewalt and Porter Cable palm grip R/O sanders. The variable speed is very useful for sanding face frames on cabinets or other tricky spots. The dust collection works O.K. A shop vac helps a lot though. The only problem is that some times the pad comes unthreaded from the mechanism and flies off. Maybe some thread lock would help. I'm not alone with this problem. I saw others' comments posted on Bosch's chat room about this. Don't let that stop you from getting an otherwise good tool. Just periodically check the screw on the pad.
37 of 37 found the following review helpful:
The best sander with a glitch that can be fixed Oct 01, 2003
By Bob Feeser
"MillCrafters.com"
The Bosch 3107DVS 5" won top honors in a major woodworking magazine, and well deserved. It is aggressive enough to remove a lot of material fast, yet gentle enough with a reduced speed for fine work as well, thanks to the variable speed. The dust collection is perfect if hook it up to a shop vac. I use a vac with a 2 1/2" diameter hose. It is larger than the intake port on the sander, and what that does is allow the vac to pick up that one percent of the dust that escapes around the edge of the sander. Even the expensive Fein setup does not get every drop of dust. The 8 holes in the base suck up most of it, but the dust generated at the edges escapes. The 2 1/2" diameter hose, attached to a regular size roll around shop vac, leaks real bad around the fitting, so it sucks way more air than the sander allows, and that even picks up that last little bit escaping into the air.
The vibration of this sander is next to nothing. I used a cheap vibrating sander for a while, and my hands started to throb. The Bosch 3107DVS you can use for an hour with no discomfort.
All in all, it is the best sander out there. I had bought the 6" version and absolutely loved it so much, that when one of these 5" models became available to me in a deal, I grabbed it. The advantage of the 5-inch is that the paper is available locally. If you are ever in a pinch, the 6-inch paper is tough to find. By the way, buy the Mirka paper for these here at Amazon. It is a deal. The local home center sells the Norton paper, which does not hold up like the Mirka. With the Mirka here you get twice as much paper, at half again as much price. So not only does it last longer, and give you a more even job, but the upfront price is better as well.
Now onto the glitch. The 3107DVS has a single screw holding the pad onto the base. That base is an oscillating cast piece with 4 indentations that accept the 4 prongs. The whole inside of the unit is well greased. Even the edge-rim that it rides on has grease on it. The problem is that the cast piece and the sanding pad are often (not always) covered with grease as well. So you have a wildly gyrating cast piece, well greased sometimes, a single screw is holding that on. They do install that screw with MEDIUM duty loctite from the factory. What I did was clean the grease off of the mating surface only with some alcohol, replaced the loctite on the screw, and added an INTERNAL tooth multi serrated lock washer to the holding nut. They sell them at Home Depot. Bring the nut with you and match it up. Bosch uses metric size bolts.
Home Depot has been making room for their newly acquired Rigid line of tools. They bought the factory. Consequently they put some of the existing line up for clearance, and this Bosch sander is one of those items.
The woodworking magazine that rated this sander the best, also gave the Porter Cable best value award. It is less money, not the same level as this Bosch, but does a nice job. If you go into spending more money, you can get the Bosch 6" which doesn't have any glitches, or the more expensive Porter Cable. Both of them are highly recommended.
So there you have it. A great sander with a glitch that can be fixed. After looking at it, you might even have something further that will prevent the pad from ever working its way loose. Once it does, then the ridges holding it in line, move beyond the indentations, and can create damage. So it is important to deal with the problem. By the way these Bosch sanders have less vibration than the expensive Fein sanders. I love Fein equipment, I have the RT-1800 Fein router, which is best in class, and the Fein Multi-Master kit, and love it as well. But after using both sanders, I prefer these Bosch's for their lower vibration, and equally aggressive material removing capabilities.
So if you want the best for less, get the Bosch. The glitch is why I gave it 4 stars. Hope this helps.
27 of 28 found the following review helpful:
 Works great but not for long... Dec 30, 2000
By Mark J Crawford
I have owned four of these sanders over the last two years. As they come out of the box, they work great except that the dust collection system is not very effective. But they do a great job- the quality of the finish, and the lack of swirl marks, and the extreme power when you want to remove stock in a hurry, make this my weapon of choice for sanding face frames. But the joy is short. The hook pads wear out quickly, the motor armatures break, the bearings seize up or get squeaky, and the clip for the dust bag needs to be taped to the handle to keep it from retracting. The included allen wrench will vibrate out of its holder and get lost. This doesn't bother me because Home Depot takes them back with no hassle. I just go get a new one about every six months.I am going to try the more expensive Bosch sander,though. It has more bearings and seems a little better made. I would recommend to a buyer that if they can settle for a little less power they should get a Porter Cable palm grip variable speed for about $85, and if they want more power, they should avoid this model, bite the bullet, and pay more for the more expensive Bosch model or the Porter Cable right angle random orbital sander.
15 of 15 found the following review helpful:
 Loved it at first . . . but Mar 07, 2002
By Craig_C
"crcranda"
When I first bought this sander I simply loved it. For the price it was a great piece of equipment. But then came the issue of service. The screws that hold the sanding base onto the unit have a tendency to come loose. If you do not keep these screws tight at all times, it tears up the base of the sander. In normal use, you don't realize the screws are loose until after you turn off the sander. I took the tool in for repairs and learned the design of the tool required complete replacement of the motor, an $... repair. I took the $... and bought the Porter Cable random orbit sander. It is more money but all in all a much better piece of equipment.
11 of 11 found the following review helpful:
 I'll Never Go Back to a Belt Jan 16, 2004
By Timothy Ritter
If I'd had this tool when I finished my first oak floor I could have saved about $150 in rental fees and a number of scars on the floor itself. The sander I rented, a drum sander nearly as big as a lawn mower, was not very maneuverable. It had to move parallel to the grain of the wood. So when I found myself in a kitchen going back and forth a short distance between cabinets, it was almost impossible to reverse course without leaving a scar shaped like the mark a paint roller leaves if you just touch it to a surface. In all the time I've used this random orbit sander it's never left a scar of any kind. The big drum couldn't come closer than a foot from the cabinets. This little unit even gets a couple inches under the toe kick. With a 60 grit paper it will take down an eighth inch difference between planks in a few seconds. Sure, you have to crouch down on one knee, but you avoid the risk of hernia and pulled muscles that you run when load the massive drum sander into your car. The random orbit technology is an advance comparable to the ball point over the fountain pen, or the laser level over the line level. There may be other brands or models that are even better than this one, but I have no complaints. The motor is smooth and powerful, but comfortable to use for extended periods with one or two handles. And your hand doesn't vibrate for half an hour after you've stopped as it does with some palm or belt sanders. Another advantage over a belt sander is that it won't devour shirttails or shoelaces or, in the worst case scenario, long hair.
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