Northstate wide belt sander opinions sought

[Bob Cooper]

i'm looking to purchase a wide belt sander. This is for a home shop and I can spend up to 4K. I do have 3 phase power if needed. Does anyone have experience with Northstate products? They have a large 17" open end sander with a platen..http://charlotte.craigslist.org/tls/3688910372.html. They also have a double drum sander http://charlotte.craigslist.org/tls/3689158556.html

[Jim Andrew]

That sander looks very similar to the G9983 Grizzly open end wide belt I have. Would not trade my sander for a drum or dual drum machine.

[David Kumm]

I've not used one but people I know have been happy with the open end model. I prefer a closed end 25" if you have the room. There are no small sanders made outside of Asia to my knowledge. If you find a several year old Sandya Win, they were made in italy and a very nice machine. Most small sanders have pneumatic tracking vs the electronic eye used in the bigger models. With any sander you need lots of CFM for dust collection and a good air supply for the tracking. I think all the open end sanders are basically made in the same factory so i would ask any sales guy what they spec to make their machine better than the competitors similar product. Dave

[Jim Andrew]

I saw a post about this tiny widebelt a while back, it is a Steel City 15 x30, sells on Amazon.com for 1859.99, with free shipping. Don't know anyone who has one, but for the price, looks interesting. No reviews yet.

[Bernhard Lampert]

I bought the 3-ph version of this sander about 4 years ago from Leneave in Charlotte. The sander works extremely well. I can even sand veneered panels. When sanding panels wider than 16", there will be some swirl marks left at the edge that require some light hand sanding. This sander is pretty much equivalent to the Powermatic but at cheaper price.
PS I wouldn't touch a drum sander; once you use a wide belt there is no turning back!

Cheers,
Bernhard