Bosch PRR 250W Sanding Roller Review

Did you see my vintage French planter last week? What a difference some DIY makes.

As you may know, every now and then, companies send me power tools to review. I even got asked to be in a television commercial (and was to be paid very well) but the brand and the tool was of such poor quality that I had to refuse. I honestly could not recommend it to people. However when Bosch send me tools, I am more than happy to review them and give my honest opinion. I know that, in general, my readers are happy to get a recommendation from me.

I still love my Bosch PTK 3.6 LI Cordless Tacker and use it regularly for upholstery and other tacking jobs.  I know lots of my readers went out and bought one of these after my review and I've had such positive feedback on it. I also have a Bosch paint sprayer that I've been hiding storing under my bed while I gain the courage to use it. I am very keen to try it out but a bit fearful of it at the same time. I know it silly but I'm sure some of you understand what I mean. Possibly how some people feel about painting furniture in the first place - scared to mess things up. I should just take my own advice and try it out.

Recently Bosch sent me their brand new PRR 250 ES Sanding Roller to review. At first I thought I wouldn't use it that often but I've actually found it useful in so many different applications. I initially used it to sand paint off the legs of a pretty bedside table.

There are several different attachments that literally just click on and off the head of the sander. The sandpaper wheel (not the proper name, just my description but it's the one in the video above) makes it very easy to sand tricky places such as legs, chair spindles, the lip of tables, balustrades etc.  It makes such easy work of it and you can also vary the speed/RPM.

In the video above you can see Phil using the Bosch PRR to strip old rust, cement and paint off the vintage planter. He was able to strip the whole planter in about 15 minutes with the wire brush - much quicker and more effective than using a hand held wire brush and more comfortable than a drill attachment.  Make sure you wear safety glasses and also sweep when you have sanded as both of us have since trodden on the little wire filaments that came off the brush and they really stick into your feet.   If you receive my blog via email you will need to click through to the website blog to watch the videos.

After sanding the planter we then used an all-in-one primer and paint metal paint in a spray can and gave the planter two coats of flat black paint.

Things I like about this sander:

• Sanding curves and details is just so easy - the 60 and 15 mm wide sanding wheel make sanding contours very quick and easy.  I know I will be using this tool a lot for  sanding legs of tables and the edges of tables etc. I think this is the best use of this tool.
• The wire brush attachment is fantastic and can even be used to remove rust and smooth old welding joints. You could also use a drill and a steel brush for this, but the PRR is much easier to hold and at a better angle than using a drill.
• When sanding with the roller on flat surfaces you need to practice first as you can really strip the timber - unless you are experienced, I would practice on scraps of timer as this works more like a belt sander than an orbital sander. It is fantastic for quickly removing wood and easier to use than a normal planer. I loved using it to cut down a cabinet door recently - I didn't even have to take the door off its hinges - just opened the door and rolled/sanded the base edge to stop it catching the base of the cabinet to make it swing neatly.  I would still use my orbital sander to sand down a table top though as the Rolling sander can bite into the timber and leave an indentation where you don't want it.
• It is light and easy to use  - it really is like using a wand. I do think you need to use two hands but it's not heavy.
• the dust guard is rotatable so when you sand from different angles you can stop the spray hitting your face. 
• The sander even has a vacuum cleaner connection so you can rig it up to your cleaner for a dust free worksite. I really need to do this as I struggle with dust. Dust is the enemy of a beautiful paint finish
• The tool is really nicely engineered -all the buttons are nicely placed, it's nicely balanced in your hands when you work, it doesn't vibrate too badly and the packaging/storage case is excellent.
• It's intuitive to use and I didn't even have to open the manual. No learning curve at all.

It is rated DIY Expert so I think I wouldn't rush out and buy this tool unless you are really into DIY and do a lot of jobs or furniture repair or renovations. I think I will use it a lot and really love having it in my tool kit and know that now I have it I will get a lot of use from it. Probably one of those tools you could get along without but once you own it, you will love it and it will make things easier and quicker.

Other details are - I've seen it for sale at Bunnings for around $170 but I need to find out how much the replacement sanding rolling disks are, as really, you will need to use a new one for most jobs as while they work extremely effectively (one pass to totally strip paint etc) they wear down quite quickl. I'll update this ones I've investigated pricing.

So I'm off to admire my vintage planter and beautiful flowers, and then to watch my kids in their cross country races this morning. I'll be over on facebook later today with a painted dining table that I'm hopefully finishing today - it was a roadside find and is turning out beautifully.

Bosch sent me the sander for me to review and keep, and blog about if I wanted to. I wasn't paid money for my review and the opinions expressed here are my own and honest. 

Have a great day.

Fiona xx