Edge sander

[Mike Reinholtz]

I have been looking at grabbing one of these off CL (noticed quite a few posted lately), anyone have an edge sander or experience with one? I have been using a Rikon 6x48 belt/disk combo machine and really like it, just want something a little bigger. One I found was a jet that uses 6" x 89" belts.

As always, thanks for the help!

[glenn bradley]

I dearly want one but, it would have to oscillate. The importance of that feature will vary with what you are using it for.

[Mike Hollingsworth]

You will wonder how you ever did without it.
Oscillation is cool, but not absolutely necessary with this sander.

[Mike Reinholtz]

Any models you all recommend or specs to look for?

Also, is it worth keeping the Rikon machine for anything?

[Rick Fisher]

I am actually looking at upgrading mine now.. Edge Sanders are amazing.. once you have one, you will wonder why you didn't have one sooner.

I have the Steel City 2hp and am going to sell it .. The things that are important to me about an edge sander is;

(1) How does the table-belt stay at 90 degrees.. How easy is it to set, and does it stay there.
(2) How wide is the platen.. Mine is just over 30" .. which is great for tapered legs, but not great for table tops..
(3) Dust collection.. Mine is terrible.. Almost just cosmetic.. lol.

Oddly, Hp is not a big issue.. Mine is 2hp and its more than adequate.. Oscillation is a real bonus, but not a deal breaker.. Having a choice, I would take it every time..

Edge Sanders are loud and messy.. I wear a respirator when using it .. Very hand machine, gets used on every project.

[Cary Falk]

After looking on CL for a very long time with no luck, I just purchased the Jet 6x89" oscillating edge sander. My Ridgid edge/spindle sander just wasn't cutting it anymore. I havne't had too much time to play with it, but I like it a lot. My only complaint is that the table is pretty roughly ground and it doesn't sound like I got a bad one. Oscillation was a must have for me. I was shocked that the Jet wasn't as big as I though it would be. The Jet is 1.5hp and I feel that is plenty. I have a feeling I will use this more than I orginally thought.

[Jeffrey Makiel]

I've had my 6x89 edge sander for over 20 years and it continues to be a very nice tool to have. It really helps fix those boo-boos and assists in doing some precision fit-up work like touching up miters that are slightly off

I recommend that your finest grit be 120. Anything finer may risk burning or burnishing. Have some rough grit too like 40. It's handy for doing some heavy stock removal for things like making radii or working with construction grade wood as in outdoor furniture.

-Jeff :)

[Nathan Palenski]

I am actually looking at upgrading mine now.. Edge Sanders are amazing.. once you have one, you will wonder why you didn't have one sooner.

I have the Steel City 2hp and am going to sell it .. The things that are important to me about an edge sander is;

(1) How does the table-belt stay at 90 degrees.. How easy is it to set, and does it stay there.
(2) How wide is the platen.. Mine is just over 30" .. which is great for tapered legs, but not great for table tops..
(3) Dust collection.. Mine is terrible.. Almost just cosmetic.. lol.

Oddly, Hp is not a big issue.. Mine is 2hp and its more than adequate.. Oscillation is a real bonus, but not a deal breaker.. Having a choice, I would take it every time..

Edge Sanders are loud and messy.. I wear a respirator when using it .. Very hand machine, gets used on every project.

I've got an older powermatic model 13. The dust collection doesn't. I accidentally broke one of the brackets for the shroud moving it one time and haven't put it back on. There's no difference between it on or off. Mine doesnt oscillate but it would have been nice.

The only thing I'd have really liked is for the table to go lower than the bottom edge of the belt. If I want to build a jig for a specific sanding job I lose a portion of sanding surface.

[Terry Hatfield]

I have the Griz G0512. Love, love, love it. I do a lot of inset doors and drawers. It is wonderful to be able to tweek the fit on them with the sander. Also really nice that the Griz has a big wrap round table so using the end roller for contours is a snap. Very valuable tool indeed. Would not want to be without one for sure!!!

Terry

http://terryhatfield.com/album/30/26384615.jpg

[Mike Reinholtz]

I have the Steel City 2hp and am going to sell it .. The things that are important to me about an edge sander is;



I wish I lived closer, would buy yours right away!

[Karl Brogger]

I've got a double sided Ritter that uses a 6"x108" belt. Platen is about 48". I bought used in 2006 for $1100. I've seen the same unit lately selling for ~$650 at auctions. I run solely 3M, 100g belts, through my supplier they cost $9.98 if you buy a case of 20. Changing belts on it is a serious pain in the rear, (requires tools). Dust collection isn't to bad, but I'm long on DC anyway. Table adjustment sucks, but I only don't use it for anything other than 90* work, and don't have to move it that often.

Oscillating isn't a must, but it does greatly lengthen the life of the belt. One thing that I do that seems to help a little bit is I tip the leading edge of the table down about an inch and a half. I use more belt at once, but it spreads out the heat build up, and I don't have to move it as often. I couldn't function with out an edge sander. I use it for final sizing on all doors and drawer fronts. If I had the money to replace it I'd be looking at a used Whirlwind model, there's one that uses a 8"x132" belt that oscillates and its the best edge sander I've ever used. I haven't even looked to see what they sell for used, new when the company was still in business they were in the $10k range.

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs228.snc1/7519_1183049107621_1570037517_30482195_5179580_n.j pg

[Nathan Palenski]

I have the Griz G0512. Love, love, love it. I do a lot of inset doors and drawers. It is wonderful to be able to tweek the fit on them with the sander. Also really nice that the Griz has a big wrap round table so using the end roller for contours is a snap. Very valuable tool indeed. Would not want to be without one for sure!!!

Terry

http://terryhatfield.com/album/30/26384615.jpg


Nice looking unit. How well does the dust collection work?

[Rick Fisher]

There is a company called Vega who makes what looks like a great machine.
They will supply it with a 6" Dust port if ordered..

http://www.vegawoodworking.com/

Its $2000 with oscillation, but its a 6" x 132" Machine, with a Leeson motor and a 48" Platen. I have been real close to ordering one but am trying to find a used Felder or Griggio..

Having a 6" Dust port would be a huge plus.. I have all 6" Pipe and hose.. The 48" Platen is also a huge improvement ..

The Felder/Griggio style sander is IMO the absolute best, but used ones are rare and new ones are $10K ..

Weaver also makes a sander for about $3K ..

[Mike Hollingsworth]

There is a company called Vega who makes what looks like a great machine.
They will supply it with a 6" Dust port if ordered..

http://www.vegawoodworking.com/

Its $2000 with oscillation, but its a 6" x 132" Machine, with a Leeson motor and a 48" Platen.

That looks like an awesome sander.
Has an option for adjustable Curve Platen. Oooh

[Mitchell Andrus]

You will wonder how you ever did without it.
Oscillation is cool, but not absolutely necessary with this sander.

+1

I've got the Jet 6x89, non-oscillating. be nice to have it, but I don't miss it.
.

[glenn bradley]

Any models you all recommend or specs to look for?

Also, is it worth keeping the Rikon machine for anything?

I kept my 6" disc, 4x36" belt unit for the longest time and wondered why. I finally gave it some attention and added some table modifications and am now glad to have it. It sits on one side of a flip top stand along with my planer so it is out of the way most of the time and easy to access when I need it.

[J.R. Rutter]

The Felder/Griggio style sander is IMO the absolute best, but used ones are rare and new ones are $10K ..

Rick - you might want to keep an eye out for a Unilev as well. They have the older style pneumatic oscillation control, but once dialed in, it works well.

In this pic of the "back" side, there is the open platen for use like a typical edge sander. The table is fixed at 90 deg. The DC shroud on the left is 6" port and can be placed on either end of the machine. I redid the shroud location, so right now, my exposed platen is about 27" with the right angle (or miter) stop at the right end.
http://www.nas.com/~harmonic/NewShop/Unilev/P1000609.jpg

For parts that are longer than the solid platen, there is a split fence and platen on the "front" of the machine. This is like a jointer turned sideways. I run a 4-wheel feeder on it. Once dialed in, it is the bomb for doing long edges and wide drawer faces, etc.
http://www.nas.com/~harmonic/NewShop/Unilev/P1000626.jpg

As a bonus, there is a cast table that lets you use spindles on the fixed, motor driven wheel.
http://www.nas.com/~harmonic/NewShop/Unilev/P1000618.jpg

[Jeff Monson]

JR, thats a really sweet sander, you really need to do a shop tour.

[Van Huskey]

I am looking at this sander, how do you feel about the belt not tilting?



I have the Griz G0512. Love, love, love it. I do a lot of inset doors and drawers. It is wonderful to be able to tweek the fit on them with the sander. Also really nice that the Griz has a big wrap round table so using the end roller for contours is a snap. Very valuable tool indeed. Would not want to be without one for sure!!!

Terry

http://terryhatfield.com/album/30/26384615.jpg

[John Carlo]

DELTA 31-396 6-Inch 3 Horsepower Oscillating Edge Sander, 220-Volt 1 Phase (Tools & Hardware) I've revised this review as of 1/8/04
My sander arrived with the motor fan cover pushed in and rubbing against the fan. This was easy to remedy with a screwdriver. I'm glad I rotated the motor by hand before plugging it in. The outer cover to the grarbox was also dented. My local dealer immediately offered to repair or replace the sander with a new one. There were also several bolts and even a piece of bearing race found at the bottom of the shipping crate. I opted to keep the one I had because because the tables and fences were ground flat and true and "initial" alignment (see comments further on)was very good. The quailty and consistancy of the grind and polish was excellent.This is a big and bulky machine and it takes four people to lift it onto its mobile base. I used a Jet adjustable base rated for 1200 pounds. I had to cut a few inches off two of the adjusting bars to compensate for the width of the sander.
Assembly was easy and so was belt adjustment. I walked the belt through several rotations by hand to check tracking. All seemed OK. When I turned the sander on it quiclky destroyed the belt. Visual inspection showed the the three bolts I had found at the bottom of the crate were missing from the underside of the sander where they mount the idler drum to the machine. I should have looked it over more carefully. Once installed and readjusted with a new belt installed, the tracking worked perfectly. My dealer sent out his service technician with the replacement parts and a new belt. He assured me that the bearing race and a couple of other metal scraps are not from my sander. My dealer also assures me that as long as they are in business, I will never have to worry about the warranty expiring.
I was initially impressed with the way things line up. As long as the belt is not under tension, the auxilliary table is 90 degrees to the idler drum even when raised all the way up to the auxilliary sanding drums. Under belt tension, the table is off by a few degrees. There is no provision to compensate for this. I'll have to rough sand curved surfaces on this machine and do the final sanding on my Grizzly oscillating drum sander. Why would I not want to start out on the Grizzly? There is a certain economy to using the belt as opposed to an expensive sanding sleeve.

There is no oscillating action with these drums. All oscillation is done with the sanding belt only. The auxiliary sanding table which is made from heavy formed steel is at a true 90 degrees to the main table.
The only other alignment problems that I see come from two areas. First of all, when you release the table locks to slide it in and out to the sanding belt, it is possible to push to table out of alignment. This would not be a problem for normal edge sanding operations but would pose a hassle when using the miter guage. A remedy is to take two small thin right angle metal brackets and loosly wedge them in place between the table and the belt as you move the table forward. Then set your table locks and you have repeatable accuracy. Don't forget to slide the metal brackets out befor turning on the sander!
The other problem comes with the built in detent locking mechanism for 0, 45, and 90 degrees. Dissassembly revealed a burr on the end of the pin itself which prevented it from smoothly disengaging. It also revealed that the tip of the spring which thrusts the pin forward was lying in the cutaway wherein the pin retracts. I unscrewed the retaining cap on the pin mechanism and rotated the spring so that a flat edge now rested against the pin. This keeps the tip of the spring from jamming in the pin's raceway. It took some carefuI adjustment to get to detent mechanism to deliver a repeatable 90 degrees. It was worth the effort as it now quickly comes into square.
You can forget about trying to view the indexing scale with the supplied pointer. For my pointer to be anywhere near where it is supposed to be it has to go all the way back against the indexing pin mechanism. Even then, It is impossible to view the scale head on as the motor lies directly in your line of sight. I'm going to epoxy a small mirror to a block of wood with a triangular cross section then epoxy that to the motor mounting plate. That will allow me to view the scale head on even though I'm viewing it at right angles from the front of the sander. It would have been very easy for Delta to do this or for them to have used a prism mounted in a similar way.
This machine delivers excellent results when sanding straight edges and that is what it is all about. I like the way the drum covers latch back out of the way so you can sand boards longer than the table. If I didn't have the Grizzly oscillating spindle sander and if the Powermatic had a longer belt and allowed you to latch back its guards, I'd have bought the Powermatic.
Update: This is an incredible tool and has served me well for many years now. I use it on almost every project.

[Mike Reinholtz]

I have found a couple models locally on CL, a powermatic 13 and a Jet both at $450. I think I'm going to email both to see if either one is available. Both machines are non-oscillating, have 1 1/2HP motors, and take 6x 89" belts. Complaints seem consistent in that dust collection is minimal. I think no matter which machine I end up with I will look into making a new hood from sheet metal with a 6" port.

Unfortunately I broke my right hand on Friday and am limited in getting one in the back of my truck. I grabbed an older 8" Delta jointer over the weekend that was a fantastic deal, but I had a friend in town go with that helped the seller load it. Hopefully I can find some help to grab one of these, most are listed at over 200 lbs.

If I don't get one of these I might just order the Grizzly, looks like a pretty nice machine!

[Rick Fisher]

JR.. That is the same basic machine I am looking at .. lol

I think its actually made by ACM..

Anyway.. it looks pretty much the same, but your is in SCM colors.. Power feeder .. everything..

Maybe ACM makes it now.. I dunno..

http://i335.photobucket.com/albums/m455/jokerbird_photo/ZZZZSANDER.jpg

I was not aware of the Unilev / SCM model.. I bet I could find a good used one of those.. The Felder/ Griggio version is nutty expensive.

[Van Huskey]

If I don't get one of these I might just order the Grizzly, looks like a pretty nice machine!


If you drop back to looking at new machines you may want to look at the Jet OES-80CS it is a oscillating 6x89 for under $900. I am still considering the Grizzly that Terry has but am leaning hard toward the Jet in the under 1k range.

[Mike Reinholtz]

Van- I just found that machine on Amazon and was checking it out on the Jet website. At first I thought there was a mistake because it's cheaper than the regular Jet machine, couldn't understand how the oscillating version costs less.:confused:

[Van Huskey]

Van- I just found that machine on Amazon and was checking it out on the Jet website. At first I thought there was a mistake because it's cheaper than the regular Jet machine, couldn't understand how the oscillating version costs less.:confused:


I was taken off guard as well. It does have minamal oscillation, I have seen 1/2" quoted but some is better than none and more parts may mean more issues in a less expensive machine but the Jet does have a 5 year warranty. The used wood machine market around here isn't very good and unless you want construction equipment or an over priced 9" bandsaw you tend to be out of luck.


I like the large wrap around table like the Grix G0512 has but from reviews they seem to have warping issues, the quirk with the Jet seems to be raising or lowering the table since it doesn't have a wheel/acme screw like the Griz. With shipping the Jet is about $80 more but if you buy during one of the WMH sales it would be about the same price or a little cheaper.

[Cary Falk]

I just got the Jet OES-80CS about a month ago for $809 with the Jet/Woodcraft sale. I wondered also why the oscillating version was less expensive. The machine seems to be of good quality. Fit and finish is very good. Belt changes are tool free and easy. The only complain't is the rough grind on the table. I think I have a working solution for raising and lowering of the table easily. It will take me a couple of weeks to implement it. I am glad I chose the oscillating version

http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q297/caryincamas/DSC_0096-1.jpg