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I almost bought the 1 1/2 hp model but am glad I didnt. This has all the power I need. One box had slight damage. Set up was simple except for the weight of the thing. The graphite plate behind the belt was dead flat. I got this sander a couple of weeks ago.
It arrived in two boxes. The sander itself was well protected and completely undamaged. It made a mess for the first minute or two but is fine now. No sander is clean but this one isnt bad. I used it fot a while before writing this. Weight is good.
If you get one like this one you cant go wrong. The dust collection compared to my old Craftsman is wonderful.
But I had to return it and replace it with the Shop Fox G4790(see separate review). The last item was the casters.they should be heavier duty. This piece is an intregal part of the tracking system and must remain on the machine when sanding. Second.I need a machine that I can quickly change belts, as I will go thru 4-5 differant grits in a 10 minute period. Don't get me wrong here, this is a real good machine.
The dust collection is great, it has plenty of power and tracks well. There were a couple of reasons for this. Changing the belt on this machine involves removing parts.too slow. If I had kept the machine I would have changed them out for Gizzly 3" locking casters.If none of these are important to your use, I would recommend this sander. Very heavily built, excellant finish, and very quiet.
First you cannot remove the end piece from the belt sander and sand on the radius. It's a nice machine and I wish I could have kept it. I need a machine that I can sand/shape large radius on.
I was impressed with the quality of the machine. Worked fine if one used a hand to set the lock. Only negative was in the foot lever to lock the wheels which bent if I engaged the lock with a foot. Purchased in February 2004 to replace a smaller sander that wore out after 15 years. Tracking was easily set up and has stayed true. This flimsey locking mechanism should be improved. Plenty of power, smooth operation and the vaccuum system is helpful in dust removal.
I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS UNIT. MOTOR , BUT SOON FOUND OUT THIS IS NOT A PROBLEM. IT IS MY FIRST JET PRODUCT AND I AM VERY SATISFIED WITH THE QUALITY AND OPERATION. WAS A LITTLE SKEPTICLE AT FIRST BECAUSE OF THE SMALLER H.P.
It seems to have quieted a bit with more use. I thought this was good idea. I have a 1-1/2 HP Delta dust collector located about 15 feet from the sander and the combination seems to do a good job at keeping the sanding dust down.Other than the preceeding minor issues, I think this is a great sander. Not sure if that's an option thru Amazon.com.The sander was easy to set up. It gives me extra storage with a shop-made plywood shelf and saved me a few bucks. I have yet to get it to bog down on pine, maple or white oak. The belt table seems to be pressed from heavy sheet metal but has worked fine for me. It's not flimsy at all.
This is my first belt sander so that might just be due my lack of familiararity with the machine.The sander has ample power. There are sliding panels in the rear of the sander to direct the collection from either the disk or belt sander area. I find that the sander is very stable on the open stand. It wasn't on the Amazon.com site at the time.I went with the open stand because I wanted some storage below.
Though on the belt table, I had to leave a little extra gap between the belt and the table because when you tighten the table locks, it seems to pull the table toward the belt. It runs smooth, though the graphite platen behind the belt sander it somewhat noisy. I bought this sander from Tool Crib a few months ago. Bits of the graphite material get all over the place for about the first 15 mins of use but that seems to have taken care of itself.I found the belt a little tough to adjust as to maintain a given lateral position on the rollers. The tables are very good. The value is hard to beat, if not impossible to beat.
Not a big deal though.Dust collection is better than I expected. The fit and finish was excellent. The disk table is machined cast iron and well built. Though the closed stand does look nice I though function was more important.I recommend this sander highly. It was fairly easy to square everything up and set the stops.
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