spindle sander suggestion

[Christopher Kanda]

Can you recomend a entry level spindal sander that is decent. I saw the grizzly bench top G0538 on sale for $129, but wasn't sure it was worth it.

[Cary Falk]

My Ridgid spindle/belt sander works great as a spindle sander. As a belt sander, not so much. The belt won't track very well. It gets great reviews from a lot of people. I am in the process of replacing both functions with separate stationary machines.

[Bill Rogers]

You might want to read this month's edition of the Woodworker's Journal magazine as it has a review of 5 Oscillating Spindle Sanders that range in price from $149 to $468.
They state in the article that "I asked Grizzly to send their model G0538 to be included in the test, but they chose not to participate in the review."
I am not familiar at all with the Grizzly G0538 and it might be a fine machine. I just wanted to point out that for some reason they passed on the chance to have their machine included in the review.

Bill

[Prashun Patel]

Search these threads. There was a guy selling his Ridgid OSS for under $150. That's a great buy.

[Nathan Palenski]

I looked at a lot of spindle sanders before settling on the one I got. I initially wanted a very large work surface and was going to plunk down the cash for the grizzly floor stander. It was the cheapest unit with a full size table. Its a really nice package. The more I looked into it I found the variety of spindles, their length and the oscillation height/mechanics more important. Seems the best ones have sealed oil bath internals. I ended up with a smaller table top unit and dont feel undergunned.

Check out the price of the replacement sleeves before you buy too. The really long ones get pretty pricey.

[Lee Ludden]

The Rigid one has received several 'best buy' ratings for different reviews in several WW mags. I don't own one yet, but it is very high on the 'to get' list.

[Cody Colston]

Can you recomend a entry level spindal sander that is decent. I saw the grizzly bench top G0538 on sale for $129, but wasn't sure it was worth it.

I could if they hadn't discontinued it.

I got an "entry level" Ryobi benchtop spindle sander new for $89 about five years ago. What looks like the same sander sells at Harbor Freight for $130 now. It's not a quality tool but it does the job and the $89 price can't be beat. Unfortunately, they discontinued that model.

You may be able to find one or a similar one on Craig's List.

[Kevin Hartnett]

I have the Rigid spindle/belt sander and it works great! I haven't had any of the problems with the belt sander that have been written about here and elsewhere. I did, however, buy it for the spindle action primarily and am very happy with it. The cost for me at Home Depot: $199 a few months ago.

Kevin H.

[Paul Wunder]

+ 1 on the Ridgid oscillating spindle sander. I bought it based upon recommendations from folks here and magazine reviews. Very satisfied with both the spindle and belt functions (no tracking issues). Although it has a dust collection port, it is not great, Creekers have posted good solutions and that is on my list to to do.

[glenn bradley]

+1 on the Ridgid. I find I leave the belt on it 90% of the time. My move to a larger machine will also be a belt/spindle combo.

[Alan Schaffter]

I don't have a big demand for an OSS so didn't want to spend much money on one. I was torn- buy a used bench-top model or see what I could find in the "Old Arn" category. In addition to a large tilting table not available on many newer OSS, I reasoned that old iron would be better constructed than the current crop of plastic enclosed units. Boy was I right!!!

But again, I didn't want to spend a lot of money, so I spent a few years waiting and watching. I finally found one at auction, within driving distance, in decent shape (under a mask of rust), with nearly a full set of spindles (9 of 10), extra sleeves, and a table insert, AND for the right price- much less than a new benchtop unit! My beauty will appear in the "Tool Nut" section of the Aug/Sep issue of American Woodworker Magazine.

After arriving home:

http://www.ncwoodworker.net/pp/data/1774/medium/IMG_3039.jpg

After a little TLC and fresh paint. Though nearly 30 years old, she purrs like a kitten and will easily outlast her owner :)

http://www.ncwoodworker.net/pp/data/1774/medium/IMG_3067.jpg

[Will Overton]

I bought the Craftsman awhile back. It is an excellent machine with great dust collection. However, it doesn't have a tilting table. I sold it to my neighbor, and he loves it.

I replaced it with the benchtop Jet for the tilting table. It works well, but has poor dust collection. I bought parts from Grizzly to improve the DC. I also had to shim the table inserts as they sat below the level of the table.

[Gary Herrmann]

Nice resto, Alan. I've been watching out for one of them or a State for a year or so now. Have a couple projects that will be made easier by it, so I may wind up just getting a chiwanese tool. Shoot.

[Joe Chritz]

The only problem with the Ridgid is that the belt is so handy you will really really want a large edge sander within a few days of using one regularly. The short platen is tough on the belt function but it does OK for now.

I too haven't had any of the tracking problems with the Ridgid,.

Joe

[Van Huskey]

The Rigid is just THE low-end OSS. No it doesn't fight outside its weight class but it is the king of its class. The tilting table is nice and some people get decent use out of the belt as well.

Alan, GREAT find!!!

[glenn bradley]

The only problem with the Ridgid is that the belt is so handy you will really really want a large edge sander within a few days of using one regularly.

Amen. I was so close to buying a floor standing spindle machine . . . I am so glad I bought the Ridgid as an interim solution. I would have found out several hundred dollars late that I really wanted an oscillating belt, not just a spindle.

P.s. No tracking issues here either(?).

[Steve Kohn]

I also started out with the Ryobi OSS. I liked it's light weight (made it easy to put away) and the dust collection. I hated the non-tilting table, and the 4 (or maybe 3 inch) inch spindle height. After years of use I sold it to a friend who was starting his own shop for $40.

Later I found Grizzly 1071 OSS on CL for $400. A couple of months later I found a used PM 13 edge sander on CL and got it for $350. Neither machine was gloatable, but both were complete and came with all the extra's.

Problem solved. I find myself using both standalone machines on almost every project.

[Kevin Gregoire]

Harbor Freight has a nice unit
http://www.harborfreight.com/oscillating-spindle-sander-38160.html

sells for $149 but plenty of 20% off coupons around that drops it down
to $120 which is a damn good price.

http://www.harborfreight.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/370x/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/i/m/image_560.jpg

[Lance Norris]

Christopher... I just bought a spindle sander and looked at all the choices before buying the General International benchtop. Its more than you want to spend, so I wont talk much about it. I really liked the Craftsman, but decided to buy the General. When looking around, I found Ebay and Amazon have the Craftsman in a different color and namebrand for considerably less money. The Ridgid gets good comments but I liked the fact the Craftsman comes with a larger cast iron top and a 3" spindle set. The Delta BOSS seams like a good one(buy an older, used one, Deltas quality lately has gone downhill, in my opinion). I have several large Grizzly tools, and would recommend any of those, but the MDF top on the least expensive Grizzly worries me. The Rockwell/Triton has good comments. Look at the TADD on Ebay. Dont know anything about it, but it looks like the Triton and is cheap...HTH

[Walt Nicholson]

Just a suggestion, buy the Harbor freight benchtop for $79 on sale. It gets ok reviews (appears to be a Ryobi clone) and should last quite a while. Using it will give you an idea of how often you use a spindle sander and what features you need most. If you find you use one a lot and need a bigger, better one you can probably get at least half your money back on CL for the HF so it cost you 40 bucks to learn. If you find you don't use it as much as you thought, you did not spend a lot of money to find out. I don't use mine as much as I thought I would but it works good when I need it. I did the same sort of thing with hand sanders and worked my way up to some Festool units that I use a lot and really like.