Oscillating spindle sanders

[ian maybury]

The other thread brought the topic to mind. I need one but have been getting by with sanding drums on the drill.

This Jet floor model is locally available http://www.axminster.co.uk/jet-jet-jovs-10-oscillating-spindle-sander-prod21607/#bottomsection ,but without experience it's not clear to me what the buying issues are.

One issue is that it seem to lock in the need to buy their rather expensive sanding sleeves. It seems fairly solid, and to have a good range of spindle sizes. Are there other considerations. e.g. to do with the nature of the oscillating mechanism?

ian

[Larry Browning]

Are you sure there are no sources other than Jet for the sleeves? I was under the assumption that they were standard sizes and could be purchased from many sources. This is just an assumption, no actual knowledge either way.

I too only have a sanding drum for my drill press. I have to do the "oscillating" manually on the drill press, which is a real pain. I think I would prefer the benchtop models though. They are less more than half the price and my requirements are not that demanding to require such a pricy machine.

[Rick Potter]

Ian,

The floor model Jet has the oscillating mechanism running in a housing with an oil bath. It should be pretty trouble free and hard to damage. I got mine used from a professional intarsia artist who used it extensively, and it runs great.

The only thing I do not like is that it only came with three inserts for around the drum. It could use inserts for around the 4 inch drum. Weird, because I was at Hartville Tools a couple months ago, and their new one had one, which I tried to order. They even called Jet, who said they didn't have one that size. Hope they start selling one for mine.

The sleeves can be bought at Klingspoor, and other places. If you are not sanding very thick wood, you can reverse the sleeve to use the top side. You can even use two shorter sleeves on the drum and just switch them to change grits. Another trick is to build a quick table top out of a couple pieces of melamine to raise the table up above the oscillating range, and use the center part of the drum, that is rarely used. If you are really thrifty, you can cut the sleeve in thirds, to expose the unused part, put it on the bottom and put the worn parts on the top to balance out the pressure when tightening the sleeve on, then use it again. Talk about getting your money's worth!;)

Rick Potter

[ian maybury]

Thanks guys. I'd not looked for alternate sources of sleeves Larry, so thanks for that. The question mind you is whether or not they might be available over here in the Ireland/UK area. It's tough for example to buy anything beyond box store cheapo abrasives for even a belt sander. There's usually an industrial supplier to be found, but they often balk at supplying smaller orders. The size of the US market means that if there's even a small market the chances are somebody is having a go.

Buying from the US can often despite duties etc be the best shot.

It sounds like the Jet sander is pretty solid anyway. A used model would be great, but again the market is fairly limited here. (our total population is only about 4m, and they are not very woodworking oriented....

ian

[Ryan Baker]

I have the Jet benchtop model and I love it. One of the best machines I have. No problems with it at all. A real oscillating sander is a completely different animal to a drum sander in the drill press. I have not found that the Jet sleeves are priced out of line, or more than they would be from other suppliers. They last a really long time too. I would definitely recommend getting one if you can find one.