HF belt/disk sander

[jason lambert]

I normally don't look at HF power tools but need a disk / belt sander and the Jet is like $550 or something. Anyhow this month they have the belt/disk sander on sale for $229. That is one heck of a price difference.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?function=Search

Anyone have any feedback on this these theings are not that complacated how bad could it be?

[Bruce Pennell]

Jason I bought both the small belt/disc sander and the oscolating spindle sander from HF. They where good addition to my hobby shop. I use them on almost all my projects. The small belt/ disc sander tracks well, can really create a lot of dust. I am thinking of upgrading to the large one that you are looking at. Just my 2 cents hope your as happy as I am. Bruce
PS the oscolating spindle sander has a dust port that fits my Festool CT22, really cut's the dust down.

[Brian Kent]

Try the link again. That one didn't work.

When I was looking for a 6" x 48" belt sander with 9" disk, I looked at this one:

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=6852

It is $180.

I ended up with the Grizzly G1014Z. Same specs and maybe same machine. I had just had a great experience with Griz quality and very mixed experiences with Harbor Freight. I don't remember the configuration of the tension release and belt remover on the Harbor Freight, but I think the belts could be removed without taking of any parts.

It may be a super deal. I highly recommend against buying Harbor Freight sanding belts. I bought a half-dozen because they were so cheap. Biy were they cheap:mad:. The glue joint was so thick that it would hit the workpiece each time around.

[Harold Eubank]

I have a Dewalt disk/belt sander that I bought over ten years ago and haven't used very much and am interested in selling. As I write this I can't recall the specs but if you are interested I will reply with them.

Harold Eubank
member

[Scott D Johnson]

I own 3 HF sanders:
- the 1" x 30" HF sander (was like $25). Owned it for about 3 yrs and the switch is going bad.
- the 4" x 36". Again for $70 not bad
- the most recent purchase the oscillating spindle sander ($90).
================================
Total investment $180

All 3 are "good enough" for hobbyist woodworking. They are great for creating pinewood derby cars for our annual race at our church. I take all 3 to my church once a year and "crank out" about 30-50 cars in 2 hours (with the help of a bandsaw). Try to let the kids do some of the sanding. And of course they do the design and painting.

[Travis Gauger]

I bought the HF unit your looking at. Mine died after about 3 miserable months of use in my shop. Thank god it finally died. The thing shaked and vibrated so bad that I ended up making a pad it sat on out of non-slip drawer lining. That was to keep it from walking all over my shop. The motor ended up letting all that magic smoke out of it and then didn't work anymore. When friends would be over and I'd turn it on, we would all remark on "fine china quality" and stuff like that. I frankly, have not had a single thing that I have bought from harbor freight be worth the savings in the long run. I quit going there at all. Everytime I walk into that store, I get some piece of cr*p to bring home. Everytime I end up throwing it away. I have a friend who is setting up shop on the cheap. He completely outfitted his shop from HF. Tablesaw, BS, Jointer, Planer, Hand Tools, drill press, etc. Everything came from HF. He told me that he had outfitted his entire shop for what I spent on my tablesaw. I said that's great, then why do you still bring all your stuff over here to machine it? His reply was that his equipement just didn't give him the results he was after. So basically, he's got a whole garage full of tools that he is afraid to use because it will screw up his projects. Sounds to me like it's time for a garage sale. I would be weary of any purchase from HF. my$.02

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

Belt sanders are finicky.

I'd be very sure I could take it back if I got it up and running and found I didn't like it.

If they make the rollers right and the belt adjustment mechanism wrong (like Craftsman did) you'll never get the belts to track correctly if at all.

[jason lambert]

ok I will get the jet or anything else someone recomeds I an not in the mood for headakes I get enought of that ar work I want things to work right at home.

[Lance Norris]

Jason... here is what I have and its excellent.

http://www.amazon.com/708596K-JSG-96OS-6-Inch-Horsepower-115-Volt/dp/B000063INV/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=hi&qid=1205350293&sr=8-1

[Jim Podsedly]

Jason,

I have the Rikon sander (Model 50-120. Rikon's 6" x 48" belt, 10" disc sander) and have been very satisfied with it. I think i bought mine about a year ago for $249. I have used it on just about every project i have made and it has performed flawlessly.
I too was looking at the Jet but decided to put the money i saved toward another tool. It is only a sander and how much better can the Jet really be? That was my thinking and saved a couple hundred.

Here is the link:

http://woodcraft.com/family.aspx?familyid=5385

[Curt Harms]

You might try a search on Grizzly's site for "belt sanders". Once You get past the wide belt sanders:cool: there are several belt/disc machines for varying budgets. I have a mid 90's G1014 and it works okay. The complaint with this model is you can't raise the wide table up so stock on it will clear the disc assembly when working left to right. There's a small rest half way up the belt that does clear the disc assembly but it's only about 1 1/2" wide. The other thing with mine is that it's noisy. Grizzly has upgraded their offerings in the past 10 years so I don't know about the newer models.

HTH

Curt