belt sander recommendation

[Clarence Miller]

I have a Harbor Freight belt sander but am looking to upgrade, preferably to something with a dust collecting bag that does something other than fall off. :rolleyes:

[Dewayne Reding]

Amazon has the Dewalt $25 off promotion on $100+ purchases for a few days. I just bought the DW 433 Belt sander. Some people have had problems with them over the years, but for $94 delivered it seemed like a good gamble for my very limited usage.

[Bob Vallaster]

retracted.

[Bob Vallaster]

never mind.

[Clarence Miller]

sorry about that, geuss that was rather vague. I am looking for a 3 x 21 hand held belt sander

[Tony Bilello]

Have ever tried the 4 X 24 from Porter Cable?
Very heavy and yet the only belt sander that I would put to a table top. Well balanced and wont dig in on the sides.
It is a beast and well worth the money. I had one that lasted over 20 years with moderate usage until Hurricane katrina took her from me. Bought another one about 3 years ago and It is every bit as good as the old one.

[Rob Sack]

I have several portable belt sanders including a Porter Cable 3 x 21, an Hitachi 4 x 24, and the European style Bosch 3 x 21 Model 3270. I almost always reach for the Bosch. It has great balance, a large platen, relatively light weight yet has plenty of power, and has been extremely reliable. It seems to be the easiest to sand into corners, too.

[mark kosse]

CW,

Being a wood shop teacher I look at tools a little differently. Our need is tools that are balistic for the most part. I have at school 2 PC mod 360's that are at least 20 years old. They have probably been dropped an average of 5x a year from shop table height. They still work and work great. TMK all that has ever been done to them are brushes.

Most of my personal equipment is Porter Cable, so I am slightly bias.

Just fyi, mark

[Jack Pinkham]

I have several portable belt sanders including a Porter Cable 3 x 21, an Hitachi 4 x 24, and the European style Bosch 3 x 21 Model 3270. I almost always reach for the Bosch. It has great balance, a large platen, relatively light weight yet has plenty of power, and has been extremely reliable. It seems to be the easiest to sand into corners, too.

The newest model is the 1274DVS:
http://www.savannahtoolhouse.com/bo123x21vabe.html

I'm very satisfied with mine. BTW, Klingspor has some good prices on belt assortments.