OSS spindles ?

[dan sherman]

I've got some projects coming up in the near future, that an OSS would make a lot more pleasant. I'd like the jet, but i just can't justify the cost, so I have been looking into the Grizzly G9922, and it's only negative is that it only has one spindle size.

I have a metal lathe, so I could potentially make my own spindles, but I know next to nothing about OSSs.

how does a spindle connect to the sander? does anyone have some close up photos of a spindle?

-Dan

[Mike Heidrick]

Hi Dan,

For the money of the Grizzly G9922, why not buy the ridgid OSS/belt sander combo for $199 a Home Depot and build a table for it? It gets a lot of votes as a great machine, has the belt sanding option, and a lot of spindle sizes. I had a Craftsman benchtop OSS before recently buying a used G1071 Grizzly floor model.

That being said, if you still want up close pics of a Grizzly spindle I can get some pictures tonight of one from my G1071 if you want?. Let me know.

[Eduard Nemirovsky]

Hi Dan,

why not buy the ridgid OSS/belt sander combo for $199 a Home Depot and build a table for it?.
Are talking about table to put OSS on?

[Jeffrey Makiel]

I was ready to buy a spindle sander when another expense suddenly came up. However, I was leaning towards the benchtop Jet model for the following reasons:
1. Has a tilting table instead of having to make jigs;
2. Has the ability for a 3" dia optional spindle which I use a lot on my drill press for subtle curves;
3. Consistently gets good reviews by fellow forum members.

The downside is that it cost a little more and its weight makes its portability questionable considering my crummy back. A little storage cart may be required.

-Jeff :)

[dan sherman]

Hi Dan,
For the money of the Grizzly G9922, why not buy the ridgid OSS/belt sander combo for $199 a Home Depot and build a table for it?

This is the first machine I considered, and after looking it over at the store for a good 15 minutes, I found two things i didn't like. The spindle didn't seem very rigid, and the tilting mechanism was a little finicky.



That being said, if you still want up close pics of a Grizzly spindle I can get some pictures tonight of one from my G1071 if you want?. Let me know.

Yes please :D

[Steven Wilson]

The Grizzly 1071 is a great unit at a fair although not cheap price. It has a wide variety of spindle sizes, is massive enough to be smooth, and has been a valuable addition to my shop. The Ridgid OSS was one of my most disapointing tool purchases ever - I was overjoyed on the day that fine piece of machinery (not) left my shop.

One setup you may want to consider is the Porter Cable handheld OSS. Rockler IIRC makes a plate so that you can mount the PC OSS and use it in a router table setup. That way you would have a fairly reasonable table mounted OSS that you could remove and use handheld for larger projects.

[glenn bradley]

The Grizzly 1071 is a great unit at a fair although not cheap price. It has a wide variety of spindle sizes, is massive enough to be smooth, and has been a valuable addition to my shop. The Ridgid OSS was one of my most disapointing tool purchases ever - I was overjoyed on the day that fine piece of machinery (not) left my shop.

I don't own the Ridgid but in fairness if what you needed was a G1071, I would expect the Ridgid to fall way short ;-)

[Cary Swoveland]

...One setup you may want to consider is the Porter Cable handheld OSS. Rockler IIRC makes a plate so that you can mount the PC OSS and use it in a router table setup. That way you would have a fairly reasonable table mounted OSS that you could remove and use handheld for larger projects.
I have the PC OSS. It is a great tool, but cost-effective, IMO, only if you have applications for using it hand-held. It comes with a edge guide that makes it very handy for cleaning up countertop edges. In fact, I think that accounts for most of its sales. For table use, you need an aluminum plate like the one sold by Rockler ($45) or Woodpecker (about $100), which brings the cost close to the excellent Jet (or similar General International) benchtop machine. The Jet has more hp, longer spindles, a tilting table and, as has been mentioned, accomodates an optional 3" drum (about $70, I think).

I bought the Rockler plate because (at the time) I was using Rockler's aluminum router plate in my router table. (The two are obviously the same size, a little smaller than most router plates.) The problem with Rocker's OSS plate is that it does not take inserts for use with the smaller spindles . So when you are sanding with the 1/2" spindle, it is sticking up through a 2-1/4" hole--an obvious problem when sanding small pieces. The Woodpecker plate is much nicer, as it includes inserts for smaller spindles. Woodpecker makes them in batches, periodically, if demand is sufficient.

Cary

[Steven Wilson]

I don't own the Ridgid but in fairness if what you needed was a G1071, I would expect the Ridgid to fall way short ;-)

Glen, I didn't need the G1071, the Ridgid's design would have worked but the execution of the machine was extreemly poor. Spindles that don't go up and down in a straight line, belt platen with a twist, machine not square, etc. And it wasn't just one machine, I went through ten of them at a couple of Home Depot's and they were all poor. An OSS is kind of useless if you can't set it up to be square. After applying Bondo to the top, and leveling it flat I was able to make it square over a small area. All in all a very poor machine. The basic design is interesting and the overall size would be good but the execution by Ridgid was useless. The Grizzly 1071 of course is more expensive and took up more shop space than I wanted to donate to an OSS but at least it has a fairly flat top and spindles that go up and down in a line. A tweek with a file here and a shim there and it's spot on. I can use it with confidence to do the job it's designed for, couldn't say that about the Ridgid.

[Stephen Edwards]

I've got some projects coming up in the near future, that an OSS would make a lot more pleasant. I'd like the jet, but i just can't justify the cost, so I have been looking into the Grizzly G9922, and it's only negative is that it only has one spindle size.

I have a metal lathe, so I could potentially make my own spindles, but I know next to nothing about OSSs.

how does a spindle connect to the sander? does anyone have some close up photos of a spindle?



-Dan



For the money, HF offers a really nice benchtop oss that comes with 6 spindles:

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=95088

Ocassionally, it goes on sale for around $90.00. I've had mine for about 6 months now and it is worked perfectly for my needs. I've used a lot already.

Granted, many people trash HF tools as junk. Some are, some aren't. This one is a good tool that does exactly as it's advertised to do. The cast iron table is square with the spindles. It takes about one minute to change spindles. DC is perfect.

The table does not have a tilting mechanism so if that's important to you, you might want to pass on this recommendation. If had it to do over again, I'd buy the HF oss again. It's the best $90 tool that I've ever purchased. I would feel the same had I paid the current advertised price of $120.

If there's a HF store near you it's certainly worth going to take a look at it yourself. I was very pleasantly surprised with the quality of this oss, especially when comparing its quality to other HF tools in the same area of the store.

Hope this helps.

[Cary Swoveland]

I'd bet the HF OSS is made by Triton. Triton has a model that looks identical, except for color. It lacks a tilting table, but otherwise seems like a great value. The Triton: http://busybeetools.ca/cgi-bin/picture10?NTITEM=TC450SPS

Cary

[Stephen Edwards]

You're right. It looks identical to the HF OSS that I have. I bet they come off the same line. Again, I couldn't be more pleased with the one that I bought from HF. It's a few bucks less, too.

[Dave Lehnert]

I have the Delta BOSS and like it a lot. I noticed Sears now has a Craftsman model that looks to be a Delta BOSS made for them. Priced at $199. A sale would make it a good option.

http://s7.sears.com/is/image/Sears/00921500000?qlt=90,0&resMode=sharp&op_usm=0.9,0.5,0,0

[Mike Heidrick]

Will and try and get the pics and measurements of the spindle tonight, Started a new position this week and it has me kinda busy. I will get to this though.

[Steve Sawyer]

the Ridgid's design would have worked but the execution of the machine was extreemly poor.

Just to balance your observation, I too bought the Ridgid a couple of weeks ago. I read a review that described how to make the necessary adjustments to ensure that everything was square, and read much the same in the assembly instructions.

However, everything I checked was right on the money out-of-the box, and it works great. I'd used one of these twice before as two friends both have one, and I was impressed enough to buy one for myself. In addition to the quiet and accurate operation, the dust collection while not perfect (what is?) it is extremely good.

My only complaint is that the effective height of the small-diameter (1/2" and 3/4") sleeves is limited by the fact that the nut and washer that secure the sleeve are larger than the sleeve. This is an issue when sanding a tall piece of stock as in a bandsaw box.

Other than this one issue, I'm very happy with this sander.

[Steve knight]

I have not checked the accuracy of the ridgid yet but I will. but the jet benchtop has it's own problems. the zero clearance plates don't sit flush with the top. so it is hard to get it all flat. one of the spindles was out of round.