|
I bought this to replace an old craftsman. Now I have to find a box to store it in. I needed to sand down an old door and started with #50 belts thinking I would go over it again with #`120 later.I went thru the first belt (a #80 I think) that came with the sander in about 20 minutes (It broke at the splice).The first #50 lasted thru the rest of the job. It did start to unravel a bit (strings of belt coming off the edge) but to be fair I was sanding the heads off tiny nails I found out later.I put on a new #50 belt and finished the job with a quick going over and quit while I was ahead.The sander itself stayed cool at the handles and the auto track seems to work flawlessly.It paid for itself with this job so I can't quibble about anything.
It keeps coming off. After it lost the roughness I bought 3x18 belts from Walmart. The belt that came with the sander worked good for a long time. The belt didn's last long at all. I would NOT buy this item again. Worse than that every 10 secs or so I had to put the belt back.
This sander does not have the same power like the older one. Over all it does get the job done for the price. 3 mins. This Skill sander replaced a 15 year old Skill sander with the same spec.s. The filter box gets clocked to frequent. I think I paid the same price for the older sander 15 years ago so this is a good value. I had to unclog the filter after sanding approx.
I cleaned up the mess & replaced the belt. of sanding. I didn't want another Skill, & they didn't have another brand in stock, so my prodject is on hold while I shop Amazon for a replacment. I bought this sander @ Lowe's since I needed it imediatly to replase a 40 year Wen sander whos motor finally burned up in the middle of a prodject. I then gave up & returned it to Lowe's for a refund.
The first belt shreded 3/4" off the inside edge & bound up inside. I then rered the manual & verified that it was being ooperated properly & was tracking corectly. I made sure I was keeping it level on the work piece, & only the weight of the sander doing the work. The second belt shreded in about 2 min.
It was powerful enough to the job on PT wood. I looked at the Makita and Dewalt but didn't want to spend that much money. I purchased this sander for a few projects I needed to do around the house. I took a chance on the Skill despite the other reviewers bad experience and I'm glad I did. I couldn't be happier, I spent less than $40 here at Amazon. I haven't had any belt shredding problems and this sander really gives a good bang for the buck.
|