been using this Bosch GEX 125 sander for a year and have been happy with it, since everybody is raving about Festool i decided to buy their 125mm version, the RO 125.
i put both to the test in my daily type of work, and it turns out the Bosch IN MY CASE is more productive.
all that matters to me is doing rapid and comfortable work.

usully with these kind of tool tests or comparisons you will see someone showing you how fast their Rotex can sand smooth a piece of rough milled hardwood (planer anyone?) or testing it for speed against a 20 year old cheap orbital sander.

i hope this test where 2 professional brands are competing will help you make the best decision.

thank you for watching!

here you can see the current state:

the top is finished with a beech edge, and 12mm mdf on top, applied 2 coats of BLO, and then 2 coats of BLO/poly mixture. it feels smooth, but still woodlike. i could have gone for melamine, but i prefer something softer that isn’t going to damage my workpieces.
you can see the switch that will turn on the turbine.

here you can see my homemade vise mechanism:

it took less than 30 minutes to make, it’s verry basic and costs less than $5 in materials.
i had to mix blue with green to obtain a similar color to the one of my favorite tool brand ;)

the drawers are mounted on casters, it’s the first time i used them, and all the handles are homemade out of beech because i thought 9 euros a piece was way to expensive for similar ones!

this is the “turbine” for the downdraft action, it blows the air out from the back of the table. above it (not in pic) is an opening in wich i will insert the filter.

this is what i have made so far, the base carcass is pretty much done. all pine i had in stock. there are 6 drawers and a door on 1 side and 3 doors on the other side, although the cabinets won’t be verry deep as the drawers take up most space.
you can see i routed openings in the torsion box for the downdraft action.
on top there will be another layer of 12mm mdf that can be replaced when damaged, and beechwood all around with a row of benchdog holes and a vice up front.

here you can see the torsion box being made, i got most inspiration from the woodwhispers.
i gave up trying to nail the parts together. what a joke!
i ended up using rapid glue and clamps to just clamp it all together, went fine and fast.
scewing on the 2 exterior sheets was backbreaking.

here you can see a jig i came up with to route the benchdog holes in some beech that will go around the torsion box. made the whole thing go fast and accurately.

next is to figure out the whole downdraft thing, i have a turbine already but i don’t know yet how im gonne do it. and building a mechanism to lift the thing on wheels to roll it around when needed.

in the center of my workshop there currently is a large welding table, wich is handy for laying wood on it, but not at all to do any manipulations on it. i am going to move all the non-woodworking stuff to another corner of the “barn” in wich i have my shop.
so i will need an assembly table, i currently use my workbench for that by placing a particle board on top wich is far from ideal.
I want the assembly table to be not just a big flat surface that wastes enormous space when not in use, i want it to be worth the space it will take. so i plan on adding a second low-assembly table that slides inside the main one, to solve the “finding a flat floor to do the final assembly of larger furniture” problem, since a 90cm high assembly table is too high to assembly anything large on top of it.
the design is based on the one from the wood whisperer with a torsion box, but i want the front and sides to be 100% real pine, filling the rear panels with mdf.
i am thinking of other functions it could have, besides router table and sanding/airfilter table wich i plan to make a separate table for.
any suggestions?
the dimensions of the top will by 2by1 meter.
stay tuned!