Vintage Craftsman Belt/Disc Sander

Posted by 141drew Aug 13, 2015 at 1:54 PM and filed under Reviews & Features

Updated on May 28, 2021 at 11:37 AM

Last year, I bought a gorgeously restored Craftsman bandsaw off of Craigslist. If you’ve been around long, you might remember the DC conversion that I did on the machine. If not, you can check it out here.

Anyway, during that Craigslist purchase I made myself a new buddy. His name is Curtis and he is deeply passionate about restoring old power tools to like new (and often times better) condition. And so when I began looking for a disc/belt sander for our hot rod shop, I called Curtis first. As luck would have it, he had one that he had already started a restoration on.

I took delivery this week… and like the bandsaw I bought from him, the machine is simply gorgeous and setup to be abused to no end. Originally, these Craftsman machines were designed and built to be hobbyist wood working machines, but I’ve found them to be built so robustly that they work great in a modern/professional metal working environment as well.

You just can’t buy tools of this quality anymore without opening a credit account. Plus, they are just so damned gorgeous…

Check it out:

See Comments on the forum.

View thread (25 replies)

Twitchr

Well-known member

Aug 13, 2015

I have a slightly older one in my Garage that has been handed down a couple Generations, that i still use on a weekly basis.

Ryan

Administrator

Staff member

Aug 13, 2015

Twitchr said:
I have a slightly older one in my Garage that has been handed down a couple Generations, that i still use on a weekly basis.

I believe this one was manufactured in 1952.

Leoruiz

Banned

Aug 13, 2015

Man that there is some nice stuff.
Damn shame what happened to the country. We were, without any question, Numero Uno with zero competition.Even the Germans were envious.
OH. Great job on the conversion. Excellent

coljar

Well-known member

Aug 13, 2015

I have one similar to yours, but it's on a single post with a cast iron base. Is that garage always that clean?

Ryan

Administrator

Staff member

Aug 13, 2015

coljar said:
I have one similar to yours, but it's on a single post with a cast iron base. Is that garage always that clean?

Yeah, at all times really... We build pretty nice cars in the space and when customers come to see progress or view build threads, we want the environment to be as professional in appearance as the actual work.

Speaking of, you can see our first build here:

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/the-randy-cannarozzi-29.973427/

bluebolt

Well-known member

Aug 13, 2015

Nice job on the sander! I need to bring my stuff to that guy LOL.

pauls_workshop

Well-known member

Aug 14, 2015

Hi Ryan, I have almost the same old Craftsman sander, just different base to it. A really well made power tool. I use mine often, not just for wood but metal deburring or sanding too. Everyone should have some kind of fixed wheel/belt sander! - Paul

91FE

Well-known member

Aug 14, 2015

been looking for one of those for quite some time myself.

bagged89s10

Well-known member

Aug 14, 2015

Very nice!

mtm_motors

Well-known member

Aug 14, 2015

Beautiful restoration of a beautiful machine. Spiffy shop and rods as others have said as well!

Falcon67

Well-known member

Aug 14, 2015

Nice, love to have one of those - restored or not.

You trashed my AM work schedule with that dang rod build. Thanks a lot.

Really. Next time we're in Austin...

coljar

Well-known member

Aug 14, 2015

Ryan said:
Yeah, at all times really... We build pretty nice cars in the space and when customers come to see progress or view build threads, we want the environment to be as professional in appearance as the actual work.

Speaking of, you can see our first build here:

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/the-randy-cannarozzi-29.973427/

I'm sorry I don't keep up. I didn't realize that you use your garage for a business. I thought it was just a hobby garage. Nice place.

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LegacyIndustrial

ALLIANCE MEMBER

Aug 16, 2015

Ryan said:
Yeah, at all times really... We build pretty nice cars in the space and when customers come to see progress or view build threads, we want the environment to be as professional in appearance as the actual work.

Speaking of, you can see our first build here:

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/the-randy-cannarozzi-29.973427/

Ryan, do you build cars for customers too?
You are a busy and talented man! :3gears:

Ryan

Administrator

Staff member

Aug 17, 2015

LegacyIndustrial said:
Ryan, do you build cars for customers too?
You are a busy and talented man!

Not exactly... Rex Rod & Chassis moved into my personal shop space a few months ago. Tardel is basically my brother and... well, it just worked out. He builds cars, I build websites and take pictures.

I do use the shop space for my personal projects obviously...

workhurts

Well-known member

Aug 18, 2015

Slightly off topic but what kind of floor is that?

Youngfd

Well-known member

Aug 19, 2015

Great sander!! Been looking for one myself. Just missed out on a nice one on a pedestal on CL yesterday. J

rmalkow2

Well-known member

Aug 22, 2015

Awesome sander and restoration. Thanks for sharing.

maddawg1952

Well-known member

Aug 23, 2015

My Craftsman sanding station, got this one in a trade with my brother 20+ years ago. Love this machine, it gets lots of use.

Last edited: Aug 23, 2015

softailgarage

Well-known member

Aug 23, 2015

Yep, the bug bit ya hard. Old vintage Craftsman stuff is a work of art, industrial art. The curves, the lines, it's almost like an old car or hot rod.

LeonardY

Well-known member

Aug 23, 2015

I had one from 1936. I found it on my God father's farm where the old chicken coop used to be. I would never go near that shed when I was a kid. Grand mom had beehives at the front. Once they told her she couldn't take any more stings, the hives went away. So I finally looked in the shed and found the sander and a 6" Craftsman planer. My God father said I could have them. I got them home and cleaned out the motors and they ran. Cleaned up the tools as best as 14 year old could and used them for years. I recently gave the sander away because it was sitting unused for 20 years. I am unfortunately sensitive to dust after all the years of woodworking and that baby would spit dust in every direction.
Side note. I was given the 14" Delta bandsaw when the farm was sold. It was also from 1936. How do I know the year? I have the original receipts.
Here are a couple of pictures of before and after.
I brought pictures of all the tools I restored to show my God father. He was so happy I had restored them and I was using them. He was suffering from cancer and this was the last time I saw him.

Last edited: Aug 23, 2015

1950mercury

Well-known member

Aug 31, 2015

There is one like that for sale on cl in metro Detroit

bagged89s10

Well-known member

Sep 2, 2015

Ryan, What color is that sander and stand painted? I need to start painting some of my craftsman tools and I have a lead on a similar sander minus the stand.

crazytrain

Well-known member

Oct 7, 2015

Nice sander, I bought an older Craftsman sander like that on the same base for $20.00 bucks at a yardsale this summer. When the guy told me the price I couldn't believe it. It's not quite as nice as yours but its not in bad shape at all. I'm slowly building my vintage Craftsman collection now. I also have an old Sears table saw that belonged to my grand father, still works great.

This was my year for cheap Craftsman deals. After the sander score. I bought an older Craftsman 8hp snowblower with tracks for 5 bucks because the guy didn't want to put it back in his garage. It runs great, only needed gas and a fuel line. Probably won't snow here for 5 years now, but that's fine with me too.

MPOWERD

Well-known member

Oct 9, 2015

Not to say your solution wasn't perfect, just wondering if you thought about using a 3 Phase Induction Motor with a Variable Frequency Device to control it instead? You can cycle the frequencies of the motor to get any speed with no loss of torque any where along the power band...

I watched a collection of drill presses run with these motors from a buddy of mine in his shop a couple of weeks ago and it was amazing... Using the frequencies to instantly alter speed.