Bosch has come out with a new 1/4 sheet finish sander, GSS20-40. The sander looks new, but a look at our archives shows that it strongly resembles the Bosch cordless 1/4 sheet finish sander that was released in Europe.
This new Bosch sander looks to have a new microfilter dust collection canister, with screw-off cap.
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Bosch says that their new orbital finishing sander delivers even sanding and long tool life. It features a precision-machined aluminum sanding plate, low-vibration engineering, and a traditional clamping design. A punch plate is included, for creating dust collection holes.
The sanding pad is designed such that you can sand flush along 3 sides of the sander – the front, left, and right. With the dust canister at the rear, it’s easy to accept that the sanding pad is only flush along 3 of its 4 sides.
- 2.0A motor
- 12,000 oscillations per minute (OPM)
- Ergonomic grip
- Dust-sealed switch
- Through-the-pad dust collection
- Dust collection port
- Sandpaper clamp
- Sanding pad is also compatible with PSA sandpaper
I own a previous generation Bosch 1/4 sheet finish sander, and it has served me fairly well. I haven’t used it in a while, because the dust collection of my Festool sander is just so much better. Bosch sanders are far more affordable, and from Bosch imagery, you can also connect this new sander to a dust collector.
Price: $99 $55
Buy Now(via Amazon)
Buy Now(via Home Depot)
Compare(Older style sander via Amazon)
First Thoughts
$99? That’s more than double the price of the other Bosch 1/4 sheet sander currently on the market. The Bosch 1297D is not even $45 via Amazon. Right now it’s just $43.
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So what do you get for the extra $56? From the looks of it, you get better construction and a fancy new dust canister design. You get a 2.0A motor, capable of 12,000 OPM, with both sanders. The Bosch 1297D has decent vibration dampening, but I’d guess and expect for the new GSS20-40 to be even better in that respect.
The new Bosch GSS20-40 finishing sander looks the part of a $100 sander, it’s just unexpected.
Update: As of October 2017, the street price for the new sander is $55.
There’s no word as to when it’s hitting the market. Despite that there’s a Bosch promo video for the sander, it hasn’t been officially announced in the USA yet.
Hmm. I’ll have to dig out my sander to be able to tell you what the base is made out of, but plastic or metal, it’s not going to size up to the precision-ground sanding plate.
Bosch also says that the microfilter dust canister can capture particles as fine as 0.5 microns. That’s fine and sounds impressive, but I’ve never found a standalone power sander that collects a high enough ratio of sanding-generated dust or debris. But it’s nice to have a good dust canister for the times when a dust extractor or shop vacuum aren’t available.
Despite the pricing, I want to know more about what you get with this sander. Hopefully we’ll learn more as its release nears.
Here’s a promo video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjka4iwB-f8
Toolfreak
Since you have an older Bosch and a Festool, seems like it’d be a good test comparison to pit this new model against those.
The price being more than double what you can get the previous model for is pretty bizarre though. I’d really hope the vibration damping is noticably better for that kind of money.
fred
Maybe they also have improved the blade clamps – since I see that is a major source of bad reviews on Amazon.
Anyway based on the price of the older one – while it is not quite in the disposable one-and-done class – it is something you might expect to wear out.
Meanwhile my old (1970’s vintage) Rockwell Porter Cable 505 (1/2 sheet sander) and PC 303 (1/4 sheet) sanders still continue to work – but dust collection with them is a very spotty affair – even with the add-on dust collection frame on the 505. Just for comparison – my database says I paid $136 for the 505 and $81 for the 330. Translating the costs to today’s dollars – probably would put them in the Festool price range.
Georgios Petasis
Actually, this looks more than the new sander they have in Europe, GSS 160 Multi Professional. The GSS 160 multi has 3 sanding plates, that you can change:
https://shop.bosch-professional.com/gb/en/product/orbital-sander-gss-160-multi–36649
The exact configuration shown is GSS 140-1 A Professional:
https://shop.bosch-professional.com/gb/en/product/orbital-sander-gss-140-1-a–36082
I actually own one GSS 160 Multi Professional…
Jamez
This sander has been at my local Menards for a few months with a price of $54.99. Unless I am missing something this is the same unit. Model # GSS20-40
James
The $99.00 is a suggested retail price. I just bought one from Menards for $55.00 during the 11% rebate week so $49.00 + tax.
Greg
This is now showing as 54.99 at Home Depot online.
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Bosch-1-4-in-Sheet-Orbital-Finishing-Sander-GSS20-40/300656197?AID=11210757&PID=4150373&cm_mmc=CJ-_-4150373-_-11210757&cj=true