$200 Sander Options -- I need some opinions

[Jack Olsen]

I do a little carpentry, and would like to get a sander. It would be nice if it would also work for deburring aluminum and even occasionally clean an edge on mild steel. I don't do enough where I can justify spending a lot of money -- and I'm painfully frugal, so I'm looking at a few ~$200 options.

The first is a basic 8" disc and 4"x36" belt sander from Porter Cable. It's the Lowe's option.

The Home Depot option is a little different. It's the oscillating belt and spindle sander made by Ridgid. As far as I can tell, it's the only machine of its kind. The belt is 4"x24", but it's really not a fair apples-to-apples comparison with the Porter Cable. I guess the advantage to having the spindles is being able to sand curves.

And then there's Harbor Freight, with a more-powerful motor (12.8 amps as opposed to 5 amps for the other two), and a 9" disc and a 6"x48" belt.

In fairness to the other two, the HF unit is more expensive, at $250, but a 20% off coupon would bring it down to the price of the Ridgid. The Porter Cable is $20 less than that.

I suspect the HF unit is statistically the most likely to come with problems, but I would guess all three are Chinese-built.

Home Depot also sells a Rockwell 6 in. x 36 in. Belt/Disk Sander, with a 4.3 amp motor and a 6" disc, and a 4"x36" belt. It's $150. But that's less powerful than the others.

Opinions?

 

[Cookannapurna]

I have the rigid you speak of in my woodworking shop. All my other shop equipment in old American iron that you would see in most industrial shops.
That rigid sander has stood up to all that I have thrown at it without problems.

I would by another in a heartbeat.

 

[rlitman]

You can do a whole lot more with a 6x48 than a 4x36. That extra power will shine when you're working metal.

They're all Chinese, and I'm not sure which one would be the most reliable. I've got a similar 6x48 from China, and not so bad (but it was one of the earlier knockoff models with no quick release lever). I also have a 4x36 (that I rescued from the trash), from HF that was complete junk (the pulleys it came with were pressed on plastic), although it's kind of ok now that I've replaced them with aluminum ones.

My father has the oscillating spindle sander (before they had a belt option). It's really not that versatile IMHO. Too specialized for my test.

 

[grenade inspector]

I got this > clicky ryobi for Christmas, I use it for some minor wood working, sharpening tools and weld prep on small pieces of mild steel, I like it a lot, the base is quite sturdy and after 5-10 minutes of dialing the belt in when I first got it I haven't had to mess with it at all. Its also only about $120

 

[Jack Olsen]

Thanks, guys. I might take a trip this weekend and look at each one.

I'm trying to decide if there are enough benefits to the oscillation with the Ridgid. Red Leader (of the 1950s Craftsman Garage thread) is a big fan of it, I know.

I'm currently thinking it's that or the Harbor Freight, which might make up for its lack of oscillation with sheer grunt.

 

[Steve_P]

I have the HF one; it's probably 15 yrs old so it may be better or worse than what's selling now. The disc on mine is not very useful as it had too much runout. I bought it for the belt though, and that works fine, although the belt that came on it would not track correctly. I thought it was the machine, but when I finally broke and replaced with some belts from Enco (?) I've had no issues since. The frame bolt holes on mine didn't line up 100%, etc, typical HF item, but not hard to overcome.

 

[dumper]

when I lived in LA, I noticed that the Craftsman floor model belt/disc sanders would pop up on CL occasionally- the older models with the belt drive. They sold for between $75-100, used. I used to have one, and would say it would be worth waiting for one to pop up.

 

[Outlawmws]

Be very careful of fully enclosed tools like that. Pay attention to amperage ratings not HP.

Anymore I see an enclosure like that and I'm thinking underpowered and in use, the motor can be dragged to a stop. I'm not saying that's the case with these, I don't know, but that is a huge concern now that everyone lies about actual HP ratings...

 

[trboxman]

Jack, have you thought about stepping up to a 12" disc sander and calling it good? I have one and use the heck out of it...and I do everything from building furniture to interior trim carpentry etc. and just haven't found that style of belt sander to be nearly as useful as hand planes and card scrapers. A 12" disc gives you a legit 5 1/2+" of engagement if your piece isn't too thick. If I'm deburring a piece of metal that's larger/longer than that I either break out the files or RA die grinder.

I do have a separate oscillating spindle sander that gets a lot of use with inside curves.

Anyhow, just food for thought.

 

[thooks]

Stay away from that retail ****.

Go with the Ridgid or HF for the $$$.

I am a fairly serious hobby woodworker. I have the Ridgid. I like it. It is not heavy duty but fairly decent for sanding curves cut with a jigsaw or bandsaw.


If you need a decent stationary belt sander, go with the HF or used. Look on the WWing forums also for used.

 

[thooks]

Box,

You are going to make me keep that 12" Delta disc, huh??

 

[trboxman]

Naw, if you can't find a reason for it dump it off on someone who can...me, I can't live without my 12" disc. And when did you get serious about woodworking again? I thought BBQ was taking all of your free time.

 

[BWS]

Sanding....or what we call it,belt grinding.


We have some proprietary grinders doing bow limb cores.....holding unbelievable(therefore won't post)tolerances.

We have several verts for wood and metal.Some homeboys(inhouse eng),and some factory's.The latest is a homeboy.....it started as a 1982 10" Rockwell bandsaw.Heavy cast frame with just a hint of sq'ish industrial design.Being a 10",all the woodpecker boys scoffed and called it names,haha.Like somehow you just weren't "cool" if all you were sportin was a 10 inch?

Anyhoo,I got it fo free.....yup,FREEBY.Completely detailed it,yadayada.Then put a custom made sanding belt on it(after losing blade guides).And holy chit...does that little sander work.Wouldn't take 500 for it.So....moral of the story?Sanding/grinding is where you find it.


Sanding/grinding needs one critical thing.....bearings.Size and quality matter.Your 200$ ain't gonna get you anywhere buying new......sorry.You could,build one from scrap for that.Even though their platens **** dogs balls....look for a used Powermatic 6x48.They're pretty much the gold std in homeboy chit.If you're wanting to play with the big boys.....find an ancient Porter Cable.These are about the size/girth as a BP milling machine.And can be run wet or dry.No parts resources whatsoever....gonna be about slap wore out.But oh my,with a cpl weeks work you'd have a grinder you could throw a 4x24 up on and grind it in half.BW

 

[shoot summ]

Patience and Craigslist, I bought this one for $50. It has a Wilton cover but is actually a Delta.

 

[brianh]

I have a grizzly 6x48 basically the same as the HF one, its around 20 years old and gets regular use.

I just got a flier from HF that has that sander for 200.

6x48 is more versatile than the smaller ones.

Or like shoot summ says craigslist if you got time.

 

[toolchaser]

I picked up a lightly used Rockford which seems to be identical to the Wilton from MSC for $250 off CL. It even came with $60 worth of spare belts & disc!
As with most of CL timing is a big factor

 

[wakeboarder311]

i also have the ryobi that grenade inspector has. i have had it for 2 years and i have used it mostly for metal with no problems.

 

[805gregg]

Go look at the HF, its really rough junk, I'm in the market for the same thing so far I like craftsman $253.

 

[Jack Olsen]

I picked up the HF unit today. They'd taken the price down to $199, and a 20% coupon brought it down to $159. That puts it all by itself in this price range, at least in terms of heft. I'll let everybody knows how it works out. I picked up the 2 year warranty for $35, since I've heard the motor can be a problem for this unit. Aside from that, all the reports have been pretty good.

But like I say, I'll post here with my thoughts on it once I get it put together.

Thanks to everyone for the input.

 

[Jack Olsen]

Well, the new sander's belt tracks pretty well. And with the stock sandpaper that came with it, it bites into wood reasonably well. Still, I'll order some better media from Enco. But the good news for me is that the machine fits in the space I had worked out for it.

I've got a tight cluster of equipment on a tiny little bench, but I think it will work for most of what I use it for.

The green even blends in reasonably well.

The only part of the arrangement I'm not thrilled with is the possible interference with wider stuff when I'm using the band saw. But the belt part of the sander does rotate up to vertical. And I can also slide the band saw further out when I'm using it with wider stuff.

I could also build a talle base for the band saw. But we'll see how much it bugs me before I do that.

The HF sander went together pretty easily, and it seems like a pretty stout machine. The castings are crude, which it typical of HF. And one downside is that there doesn't appear to be any attempt made at dust control. And it generates a lot of sawdust.

But for $159, I'm happy -- so far.

 

[Keep]

Yeah if you can get away with it, when its time to use that, take it out in the driveway, they are messy.

Looks right at home, almost matches the cabinets.

 

[Outlawmws]

Jack, you should consider getting a B&D workmate and mounting the grinders and the belt sander on wood mounting plates, Then racking them on a "book case" when not in use.

I do that for quite a number of "self contained" bench tools, and its a huge space saver overall.

On the underside of the mounting plate, I glue and screw a block that can be gripped in the workmate Vise jaws, and I add a slightly wider plate to the block (sort of a very fat upside down "T") as a safety in case the block vibrates loose in the vise jaws.

Here is one of my grinders on its plate, racked; you can see the mounting block of the tool above it in the pic.

 

[trboxman]

Jack, check out these folks for abrasives for your new sander.

http://www.onlineindustrialsupply.com/
http://www.woodworkingshop.com/

I've done a fair amount of business with both and they have good products and are a pleasure to deal with.

 

[B.A.R.K.]

I picked up the HF unit today. They'd taken the price down to $199, and a 20% coupon brought it down to $159. That puts it all by itself in this price range, at least in terms of heft. I'll let everybody knows how it works out. I picked up the 2 year warranty for $35, since I've heard the motor can be a problem for this unit. Aside from that, all the reports have been pretty good.

But like I say, I'll post here with my thoughts on it once I get it put together.

Jack,

Now that you've had a chance to use this sander for a year, what are your thoughts? This one is at the top of my list right now. What do you think they limits are for gridning/sanding mild steel?

 

[Jack Olsen]

A year later, I've been very happy with it. I've used it on mild steel and recently on some really hard hardwood for my deck (one of those Brazilian ironwoods -- 3540 on the Janka Hardness test), and it hasn't batted an eye. I suspect the only limitation is going to be the durability of your sanding media.

 

[BellyUpFish]

A year later, I've been very happy with it. I've used it on mild steel and recently on some really hard hardwood for my deck (one of those Brazilian ironwoods -- 3540 on the Janka Hardness test), and it hasn't batted an eye. I suspect the only limitation is going to be the durability of your sanding media.

Good to hear.. I'm looking at the same 6x48..