Harbor Freight Belt/ disc sander

[dennis thompson]

I am a hobbiest & am interested in hearing any comments from anyone who has the Harbor Freight 4" x 36" belt/ 5" disc sander
Thanks
Dennis

[Ben Cadotte]

I am a hobbiest & am interested in hearing any comments from anyone who has the Harbor Freight 4" x 36" belt/ 5" disc sander
Thanks
Dennis
I don't have the HF one. Hmmm, I was going to reply I had one very similar (identical) but they have changed theirs some. It may have a slightly better motor. The one I have is a bit under powered. Taking lite cuts works ok. Definately not good for taking off lots of material. Push a little too much and can stop the belt.

The one they sell now looks different than the older ones. May have made a couple improvements. The disc table is really small, and cheesy. A hand belt sander upside down in a holder would have more cutting power.

[Stephen Edwards]

I have HF type el cheapo 6 x 48 combo belt/disk that I've used for over 20 years and still going strong. I never use the disk part of it. I made my own fence for the belt sander portion to keep stock 90 degrees to the belt. It still works perfectly.

Agree with Ben about the cheesy table for the disk sander. Total junk on the one I have.

[Ben Cadotte]

I have HF type el cheapo 6 x 48 combo belt/disk that I've used for over 20 years and still going strong. I never use the disk part of it. I made my own fence for the belt sander portion to keep stock 90 degrees to the belt. It still works perfectly.

Agree with Ben about the cheesy table for the disk sander. Total junk on the one I have.

Hows the power on the bigger one you have? I have thought about getting it a couple times when it was on sale in the ITC section. But lots of people said it was underpowered? So I have stayed away from it.

[Dave Sweeney]

I know you didn't ask about other brands but I bought this Hitachi (http://www.amazon.com/Hitachi-Belt-and-Disc-Sander/dp/B000SMJCZO/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=hi&qid=1212531719&sr=8-1)sander back in November and have been very pleased with it. It has plenty of power also.

[Stephen Edwards]

Hows the power on the bigger one you have? I have thought about getting it a couple times when it was on sale in the ITC section. But lots of people said it was underpowered? So I have stayed away from it.

Ben, I just checked my sander. It's a 3/4 HP, 4 pole induction motor. It runs at 1720 RPMs. The name on it is IMS. I've never used any other one so I don't have anything to compare it to. It has suited my needs for sander in it's size. It has all the power I've ever needed and done whatever I've needed it do.

You can see the sander and the fence that I made for it at this page:

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?p=842392#poststop

The only thing I don't like about it is the switch. One of these days I'll get around to putting a paddle switch on it in a more convenient location.

Hope this helps.

[Tom Henderson2]

Hi Dennis-

I have an HF 4x36 belt/6" disk sander that I bought a couple years ago on sale. It looks a bit different than the model I see on their web site so I don't know if my comments will apply to the current models or not.

With that said, I've been very happy with the unit. I'm a hobbiest and so only use it a few times a month, but when I do use it I think it does a very fine job.

Mine is still running smooth, and I have not had to adjust the belt tracking except when changing belts. The disk platen seems to run true without any noticeable wobble.

I find I use the disk portion more than the belt; often I'm just rounding off corners etc. so I don't tax the motor very much. But for my usage it has been fine.

Mine has a dust collection bag that is about useless. I've never tried hooking a shop vac to the port, but doubt it is very effective.

The one shortcoming to the unit I have is the small and somewhat flimsy table for the disk sander. That might be significant if you are trying to sand to a line on a large workpiece.

It is well worth the $50ish that it cost. Your mileage may vary.

-TH

[John Strait]

Dennis,
I have both the HF 4 x 36 and the 6 x 48 and have no regrets with either one. The 4x36 is setup for sharpening the initial grind on plane blades and chisels. In my opinion it is slightly underpowered but does the job I need it for. The 6 x 48 has all the power for my projects and I use it all the time. I would not be without it. These are the only two models I have and can not compare them to any others on the market.

john

[Tom Esh]

I know you didn't ask about other brands but I bought this Hitachi (http://www.amazon.com/Hitachi-Belt-and-Disc-Sander/dp/B000SMJCZO/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=hi&qid=1212531719&sr=8-1)sander back in November and have been very pleased with it. It has plenty of power also.

Ditto. Built in dust collection is nice too. I've used it far more often than I originally ancticipated - even used the disk to square off t-track hacksaw cuts.

[Dave Sweeney]

Ditto. Built in dust collection is nice too. I've used it far more often than I originally ancticipated - even used the disk to square off t-track hacksaw cuts.

And,......... the price has dropped down to $83.82.

[dennis thompson]

Thanks for all the input. I decided to go with the Hitachi, with no freight from Amazon it costs about the same as the Harbor Freight. I called Harbor Freight & asked them if their sander had a dust collection port & they didn't know, since I knew the Hitachi did have the dust collection I ordered it.
Thanks again
Dennis