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.
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
Buy Now(via Home Depot)
Compare(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.
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.
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:
