Time to buy a sander.....Help?

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Darrin

Darrin

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Middletown, Ohio
I have decided to purchase a sander for the shop. Belt or belt with the disc attached on opposite end. Which do you feel is more useful for squaring up blank ends?? How about all around shop use? Recommendations please?? And yeah, I'm gonna try and keep it under $200. :)
 
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I don't know what they cost these days but I've been happy with the Jet 9" disk plus belt machine. I imagine there are a whole reef of disk/belt sanders that work fine. My only recommendation is don't get one with less than a 9" disk. If I had to do it over I would shoot for 12".

Marc
 
I have a Crapsman 6" disk / 4X36 belt combo machine.It is ok for the money,
and has held up for 5 years now.it is really noisy now,but keeps running.:smile:
I use the disk and a jig to square blank ends,I like this much better than a pen mill.
All around shop use has been pretty good,larger projects use the belt.
I would LOVE a larger disk machine,but after comparing 6" abrasive disk prices to larger ones,think I'll stick with my 99.00 machine and lower $ disks.
 
johnnycnc said:
I have a Crapsman 6" disk / 4X36 belt combo machine.It is ok for the money,
and has held up for 5 years now.it is really noisy now,but keeps running.:smile:
I use the disk and a jig to square blank ends,I like this much better than a pen mill.
All around shop use has been pretty good,larger projects use the belt.
I would LOVE a larger disk machine,but after comparing 6" abrasive disk prices to larger ones,think I'll stick with my 99.00 machine and lower $ disks.
Click to expand...
I have the same one and it works fine for me. Reviews online say it's under powered but it has not been the case with me.
 
I have a RIKON (Model 50-120) 6" Belt 10" Disc Sander, I got for around $300 on sale. Its one of the best all around commercial grade shop sanders on the market at the lower end price. Spending a little extra was well worth the investment.
 
I had a 4" belt, 6" disc and hated it.
I have a 6" belt, 9" disc and it's ok. I never use the disc, you can't seem
to keep that table in place no matter how much you tighten it down.
And usually the tables have all sorts of grooves in them that don't allow
you to move freely.

I have a 12" disc, an old iron beast that two people move. That's all I use
for blanks. Takes forever to wind down once you shut it off and the motor
must be 50 years old. Only problem with it is a warped disc, and I can't
seem to find a replacement for less than the cost of a new unit!
 
As somebody else said what all do you want to do with it. The 90 dollar jobber at the local borg would work to square up a pen blank. But if that was all you were wanting to do I would prefer a 9 or 12 inch dedicated disc sander. HF has one that has caught my eye for what seems like 60 dollars. Some wood working magazine had an article on the bench top sanders a while back and the Rigid that Al talks about won all honors and was the top in almost every catagory. I like to use the 4X 24 inch belt standing up but you have to be careful because it eats the wood. And you can use this to smooth down the glue ups if you do that. Which you can do with the rigid. Which is one reason it's rated so high. Versatility!
 
John, check the belt tension on the Crapsman

In response to a reply above, I have a Delta that was terribly noisy until I found that the cog belt need adjusting. It is MUCH quieter now.
 
DocStram said:
Depending on what you want to do ...... I just bought the Ridgid Oscillating Edge Belt/Spindle Sander. For 200 American dollars it's the real deal. :biggrin:
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Ditto. When in belt sanding mode, there is a jig already in place that will hold a blank in place making it very easy to square up the ends. Plus the spindle sander is really handy for scroll saw projects.
 
Darrin if that's still available I'd snag it. That is versitile for several things and the miter slot will work for setting a jig up to square the end.
 
I have the Rigid machine as well. I like it most of the time but would prefer a wider/longer belt for some of the things I do. (band saw boxes). But if you could have everything that you wanted in a shop where would the fun of trying out self-made jigs/tools/techniques come in?
 
JFeagans said:
I have a RIKON (Model 50-120) 6" Belt 10" Disc Sander, I got for around $300 on sale. Its one of the best all around commercial grade shop sanders on the market at the lower end price. Spending a little extra was well worth the investment.
Click to expand...
I have this same sander and I don't regret spending the extra cash one bit. I was using a CRAPPY CRAPPY Craftsman 4" disk/belt combo before and it was like a toy compared to this Rikon. The only problem I had was that the arm holding up the cast iron table broke on me, but I called them and they shipping me a new one right away, no charge. The service was quite good. If you think you'll be using it on ANY sort of a regular basis, get the Rikon. I got mine at Woodcraft on sale for $250.
 
I have a 4" belt and 6" disc made by Rikon and I really like it a lot.
Runs really well, not too loud. I know that it is the smallest, but I don't need anything bigger.
 
I don't know what else you'll be using it for but I've got a 12 inch disc on my Shop Smith and it's hardly used. For all my smaller projects and the few times I use a sander to square up I bought one of the small bench top Deltas. It has an 8" disc and a 1" belt and I find it very useful....small but I have the big one on the Shop Smith to fall back on. Best thing? It's well under $200
 
JFeagans said:
I have a RIKON (Model 50-120) 6" Belt 10" Disc Sander, I got for around $300 on sale. Its one of the best all around commercial grade shop sanders on the market at the lower end price. Spending a little extra was well worth the investment.
Click to expand...

I got the RIKON (Model 50-110) 4" Belt 6" Sander......since discontinued. It's a smaller model and just right for my space.

You might also check out the 12" Bench Top Disc Sander (Model 51-200).

Check out "The Utter Guys" on e-bay....they have one new in the box for $199.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Rikon-51-200-12...emQQ_trksidZp1713.m153.l1262#ebayphotohosting

Hope this link works.
 
I have an old AMT 9" disc 6"x 48" 1 hp heavy cast iron stationary sander,its old but it is great. I would get the largest disc i could afford, you won`t be sorry.
 
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