A lesson on looking for used equipment; anti-gloat

[Matt Day]

My wife and I are about 9 months into our year in Utah and will be moving to Cleveland August 1. Browsing the classifieds is part of my usual internet routine - email, weather, classifieds, SMC; not always in that order. I've been wanting a drum sander for a long time for veneer and to reduce sanding by hand, as well as to upgrade my lunchbox planer - two rather large machines.

Our current rental has just enough room in the basement for my shop, but unfortunately there is no outside entrance, and the door frame is barely wide enough for a table saw to get through with the top on.

I just found a 1997 Grizzly G1066 24" wide belt sander on the local classifieds for $120 - new it retails for $1600 shipped. The seller is cleaning his boss's storage unit and has no idea what he has, he just wants it gone. And I found the deal a couple minutes after it was posted and verified it's available. I was checking threads on how to load a 450# sander (I've moved jointers and TS's, but not sanders) and was ready to borrow a company pickup truck, when I realized it wouldn't even fit in my basement. I thought about buying it and storing it somewhere, but by the time I figure that out it would be gone.

Moral of the story: Don't look for equipment you can't fit in your shop!

[Ben Hatcher]

Sounds like you missed a golden opportunity to "flip" a belt sander and make a few hundred bucks in the process.

[Ryan Hellmer]

That sounds entirely too reasonable for a proper tool addict. Where there's a will, there's a way. Besides, 450# isn't much, pull the motor and you're below 400.

[mreza Salav]

Well I have bought a 800lb combo machine and have thought a lot how to get it down to my basement shop, worst case i'll disassemble as much as i can to get it down there.
If that's a real legit deal and you want the sander I'd be all over it. If you cannot take it down you can rent a storage (like $25/mth or so) and store it until you want to move.
Still a good deal IMO.

[Alan Schaffter]

I have a 1066. For that price I'd pick it up in a heart beat!!!

You can disassemble those- they are bolted-together angle iron covered with screw-on sheet metal panels. Take the motor off and you reduce the weight significantly. It isn't the the greatest of drum sanders but at that price you can't go wrong- at that age the thin rubberized canvass conveyor is probably shot or at least the edges are chewed up, and you may need new conveyor roller bar sleeve bearings, but pretty much everything else is bullet proof!

Go get that sucker NOW!!!!!!!!!

[Matt Day]

It's already got a SOLD sign on the ad anyway. Another issue is I can't really leave work on Monday morning due to the amount of work I need to do for meetings.

I need to do some more homework on how to move these larger pieces of equipment so when the time comes I know what to do and am ready to go.

[Mike OMelia]

My motto is "buy first, think later"

[Matt Day]

My motto is "buy first, think later"

If only I weren't so rational!

I hope somebody puts the sander to good use.

[Julian Tracy]

I've got a 900lb mill in my basement and a 500lb metal lathe. I took the mill completely apart and brought it down in pieces.

That's a very good process as it forces you to learn every little thing about a tool and figure out every single adjustment that has to be made to get it right.

Never, ever buy a large or medium power tool and assume the previous owner took care of it. Always take it partially apart to clean and lube it.

Even nice looking, newer stuff can be all gunked up inside.

JT

[Ronald Blue]

I have a G1066 that I got from a fellow creeker for free back in November. It was broke down with the base separated from the feed table and then the drums were separate as well. I did say free by the way. I only had the cost of gas in it for a 275 mile one way trip. I just used it on the first project a couple weeks ago and it rocks! Of course I had to learn to go slow, it isn't a planer and won't hog off like a planer. But with patience the result is excellent. You might check to make sure it's gone. Bummer if you let it get away because it was worth every cent of that price and much more.

[Myk Rian]

Get a HF engine lift and wait for your next deal to come up.
Store what you get until the move.

[Aaron Berk]

Man this is a depressing thread.
My whole night is now ruined, and I'm likely to be moping around tomorrow thinking about the great opportunity that was missed.

Next time someone else misses out on the deal of the yr........ don't post about it.