Griz wide belt sander

[Jim Andrew]

The Griz Christmas catalog has this 15" open end widebelt sander for 3195 plus 169 shipping. It weighs 908 pounds and is 5 hp. Says it has a 1 3/4" platen, so is a real wide belt sander. Anybody have experience with Griz wide belts? They have a cheaper one on the last page, but doesn't mention a platen, weighs half as much and the motor sticks out on the right side, won't fit into my small space.

[Rick Fisher]

I remember reading something that said Grizzly sold the most wide belts in North America.. Not an exact quote.. lol

I think they are pretty decent machines. At the show in Vegas a couple years ago Griz had quite a few Wide Belts on display.. they seemed to pretty nice.

The platen is a big deal. I started with a sander that didn't have one, upgraded to one with a platen.

[Ed Hazel]

I have the G9983 works as advertised. It is a great machine for the money.

The first thing I did was add a DRO I do not know how you could operate without one. It would be nice if it had one built in.

Also you need to manually turn on the air for the belt tension and oscillating, it would be nice if that was built in also.

It does have a platen. It does a nice job of sanding.

[dirk martin]

I own two of them.
Great sanders.
I don't really see much of a difference with and without the platen, which tells me I must not be using it right. The platen is removable.

[Matt Meiser]

A friend of mine has a Bridgewood of obviously similar design. I have no idea if his has a platen or not. But what I do know is that I ran all the doors for the kitchen I did last year through it and it was a HUGE time saver (hey, maybe that's where one manufacturer came up with their name? :rolleyes:) as we only needed to do edge sanding, light ROS sanding and a quick hand sanding to break the edges after.

Even where I had doors wider than the machine could handle it did a great job on one side then the other. Same on some massive end panels for the fridge and pantry.

[george wilson]

You need to use the platen before you damage something. The platen is removable because you can groove it running narrow strips through,and will need to change platens. You may damage your belts without the platen.

[Ruhi Arslan]

IThe first thing I did was add a DRO I do not know how you could operate without one. It would be nice if it had one built in.

Please forgive this KNPS but what is "DRO"


P.S. IKN = Knows Nothing Poor Soul :)

[Richard McComas]

I have had the Bridgewood version for 10 years. Works as advertised. I've been very happy with it. When I bought my Bridgewood the dealer routinely changed the Asian motor to a Balder motor. My motor is a 7.5 HP. The dealer also fine tuned the sander before shipping. Since the day I bought it I have not had to make a single adjustment to the machine.

I put a Digital Read out on my sander but hardly ever use it.

I downloaded the Grizzly manual and near as I can tell they are the same machine with different names.

Another popular wide belt of similar or same design is the North-State sold by Leneave Machinery. But it does cost more.


http://www.leneavesupply.com/Machinery/NorthState/P04038.aspx

[Ed Hazel]

Please forgive this KNPS but what is "DRO"


P.S. IKN = Knows Nothing Poor Soul :)
Digital Readout I cam measure with my digital calipers and set the height of the sander and am good to go.

[Steve Kohn]

I have the G9983 works as advertised. It is a great machine for the money.

The first thing I did was add a DRO I do not know how you could operate without one. It would be nice if it had one built in.

Also you need to manually turn on the air for the belt tension and oscillating, it would be nice if that was built in also.

It does have a platen. It does a nice job of sanding.


+1 on the G9983. I've had one for over a year and the machine is used on almost every project. I've sanded 30 inch wide panels by running them through both ways and cannot find a discernable difference in center to edge thickness. And this is as adjusted from the factory.

I've also added a digital height guage and it does make a world of difference in getting a repeatable thickness in the work. I also replaced the handle that adjusts the height with a folding handle from McMaster-Carr. The stock handle used to routinely catch my work cart or my thigh.

I did have a minor problem that I just fixed. The locking nut on the air valve that controls the oscillation of the belt came loose, The belt wouldn't oscillate. Once I figured it out, reset it and tightened it down it works like a champ. I strongly recommend the machine.

One other comment. Make sure you have adequate dust collection with this beast. It generates a ton of sawdust.

[Craig D Peltier]

I have the 5hp Griz. I love it, was upgrade from a 16/32 performax. No comparison.
I have it on a shop fox stand and roll it around. I have a 3hp double bagger hooked up to it with a 10 foot run with only one hose open and it still leaves dust on board an belt.
You have to make sure the air around reccomended PSI so the belt doesnt oscillate too much and trip the saftey bar.
I dont use a digital readout but it would be nice. I simply take one board of the group , put it on table, lower sander to it, uncrank till loose and reset , I have got a good feel to it, you only have to uncrank maybe 1/2 turn.