Sanders Reviews

I just recently purchased the Makita 9920 3"X24" belt sander and have already begun to take a serious liking to it. I bought it to replace an old B&D Industrial 3X24 I'd had for years. It is just the right size and weight for most of the work I do and I prefer the 24's extra belt length to a 21".
For me, a larger 4X24 would just be too heavy and aggressive for use as an all around general-purpose sander. I am glad to see that Makita has taken the 1/2" of motor housing that used to overhang the right side of their old belt sanders, and moved it over to the left side where the drive belt is making it easier to sand up close to objects. I also like the new positioning of the dust bag. An adapter is available for attaching a vacuum to the dust port. The 9920 also makes much less noise than my old belt sander did.
The Makita's weight and power are just right for medium to heavier sanding jobs. A sanding frame is available for more delicate work. The body is compact with good balance and comfortable handles. The large trigger switch is easy on the fingers. The trigger lock and variable speed control dial are easy to get at. The belt release handle is large and easy to lift. Motor brushes are externally accessible for easy replacement. This tool performs very well, seems very well made and since I have experienced very good reliability from all of my other Makita tools, I feel confident that this tool will turn out to be no exception.

I have had this sander for about 3 months now.. I am a 25 year self employed cabinet and furniture maker.. I have had and or used almost every belt sander known to man.. This is the best 3x24 belt sander I have ever had the pleasure of working with, and it is becoming apparent to me that it may be the best belt sander of any brand I have ever used. Hard to know the whole scoop until I see how long it will hold up. But in my experience Makita's generally do a pretty adequate all around job anyway. So it may just be the sander of sanders.

I normally wouldn't choose Makita as my number one choice, but after some serious shopping a few months ago it seemed the only way to go. This little machine has everything that counts and except for my one complaint it is missing nothing. Compare this to any other belt sander to see if the other one you're looking at has got everything is should have... Then buy this one, cause you won't find it.

This is an exceptional belt sander with only one flaw in my opinion.. I think the handle grip should have a little more tilt downward toward the back and not be such a flat a grip. It seems to cause my wrist to bend unnecessarily and I find it a bit tiring, noticed more when sanding on a higher table... My wrists aren't the greatest though, so you may not even notice it.

But besides that one "flaw"?? It is the best balanced belt sander I have ever used, It is compact in design. It has a low center of gravity. It sands flat with no dimples. It never, and I mean never goes off track. Put the belt on, adjust it once maybe, and don't touch it again until you change belts; amazing.

The bag is in the most logical place it can be, on the inside towards you, not hanging up in the air like some models which always irritated me anytime you did anything other than use the sander on materials that you lay flat on a table to sand. If you need to use it side ways, or in awkward positions or even not so awkward positions out on the job or in the shop, that design of bag is really quite stupid to have. There are a few models made by Makita that have that terrible bag location as well as other brands. But not this model 9920.. This is the bag of bags.. This Makita has a sturdy enough bag, that when full, it does not drop below the sanding surface and it never falls off. It doesn't sway in the wind either like the others I just mentioned. It stays firmly in place even when full without ever getting in the way. It is easy to empty as well. What more could you want.??

One of the very most important design details in my opinion for any belt sander is the ability of the belt to sand flush right up next to a wall. This one does it best. The motor housing is wisely and logically designed in far enough from the open belt side to let you put that baby right next to something with great precision... Can you tell I like this sander?

Yep,, lightweight, yet sturdy. Plenty of power, quiet, It is very quiet for any belt sander. It also comes with a 15' cord. What a great idea huh? Don't need to drag around an extension cord. To bad many other manufacturers don't see the simple genius in that longer cord. The variable speed works superiorly. This is a superior belt sander! $200 bucks,, or more, what a steal.... I am seriously considering buying another one because you know how it is, you find something you love and then they stop making it.. Problem is, it feels like this little baby will last this one man shop for 15 years.. I hope to retire by then and I bet this thing just may get me through my tinkering. I will let you know in 15 years....

Sincerely,,
Barry

Thank you Lord for the blessings.. Praise Yahaveh through in our Lord Jesus Christ

Makita tools are built to last, and the three tools in this combo pack are no exception. These three tools are the ones I reach more most often, and will do the bulk of home improvement work. The carrying case is a nice bonus, and you will save money over buying these essential tools individually.

I became a Makita drill fan after working on a volunteer construction project. There were several brands of drill at the site, but the lone Makita seemed to always be the right one for the job -- no matter what the job was. However, I owned a power drill and only needed a jigsaw and small sander when I went tool shopping. But when I saw this kit, I knew it was a good value and that you could never have too many power drills....
I was even more impressed with this kit after it arrived. The tools did what I need them to do. Furthermore, the case is nicely designed: the instructions and sandpaper have their own slot in the carry case and its easy to put the tools back and get them out (important to me, because i don't have much space in my studio and need to store all the tools in the case when not in use.)
As for the tools, I have been very satisfied with all of them. In particular, I was impressed with the jigsaw. I was expecting to have to sacrifice "perfectly" straight cuts (like you get on a mitre or table saw.) But I easily cut a shelve down to size, with only the straight line I scored in the wood to go by.
All you need is safety goggles, some drill bits and clamps and you could tackle an endless number of weekend projects with this kit. (BTW, if you are new to buying tools, don't be turned off by this being a corded set; unless you won't have easy access to an outlet, you will get more power for your money and not have to stop in the middle of a project because you forgot to recharge the batteries :))

RECEIVED AS ADVERTISED

This is a superior sandpaper to other sandpaper rolls I have tried. It seems to clog less fequently than other types of sandpapers I have used. I would recommend it to anyone.

Overall, I'm pretty satisfied with the machine, the strength of construction, and the range of adjustments, which should allow for years of service. One reservation is the rubber sanding drums. When the sandpaper tears (which will happen, I learned, by trying to take more than 1/32 off even a small piece of wood), it can damage the drum in seconds.

Another issue to be aware of is that there doesn't seem to be any "ready-to-cut" replacement sandpaper available for this machine. The manual tells you to order 3"-wide Jet ready-to-cut abrasive strips, which has markings on the back for different size drums. But if you follow the markings for a 25" drum, you will find that the resulting piece has the tapers running the wrong direction and winds up several feet too short for the Powermatic machine. No one I've spoken to at Powermatic seems aware of this problem or of where the 4"-inch wide sandpaper that comes installed on the machine (also made by Klingspor) comes from. Even Klingspor doesn't have any of this sandpaper available for sale.

I've had the Powermatic 25" drum sander for about a month now. It replaced a Grizzley 24" drum sander. It is a step up in quality and performance but also in price. I understand that Powermatic simply put their name on what was a Performax sander model. Both companies are owned by the same group along with Jet. The machine was accurate right out of the box. It performs nicely. I have to say though that the finish results using equivalent sandpaper grits is about the same as the Grizzly. The difference is the Powermatic is very heavy duty with nice fit and finish. It weighs in at about twice that of the Grizzly and doesn't complain when you inadvertantly try and sand a little too much in one pass, though that isn't recommended. I do recommend this machine highly but if you are a little more wealthy and have 3 phase electrical, go to a large belt sander. I don't have 3 phase or the other part right now so I am getting along quite well with the drum sander.

After using Powermatic's new drum sander for about 6 months now, I have to say this is one quality machine. I upgraded from a performax 16/32 and it was a choice between the Woodmaster, performax 22", or the powermatic. Although I was concerned about quality since the buyout by WHT ( Jet ), I went with powermatic anyway. I am happy to report that the quality is top notch. Everything is built like an industrial u.s. made machine but at an import price. It's 5 h.p. motor is plenty, and the dual drums mean a lot less paper changes and passes through the sander. If your like me and don't have $8000 plus for a decent belt sander this machine is definatly worth the price. My only peave is with the sandpaper. The drums come wrapped with a 4" wide roll of Klingspor paper but you can only buy 3" paper rolls which are more difficult to wrap. And getting the first wraps requires quite a bit of trial and error since you have no template to guide you. Notice... the premarked rolls for other sanders won't work with this machine since the paper wraps the opposite direction.
That mentioned I still give powermatic 5 stars for this one.

The Black & Decker mouse sander is a complete waste of money. A lot of "Flash & Thunder" but very little in the way of actual usefulness. It makes all the appropriate sounds and certainly feels like it's vibrating, but didn't perform very well at actually sanding someting.

If you want a sander to get in corners, give the Fein Multi-Master a shot. No, I have no connection to the Fein company in any way.

I just bought the B&D Mouse sander for some detail work I am doing on walnut cases. I found after I started using it that it is blowing a fine mist of oil off of the bottom of the motor area - and staining the workpieces. I tried setting it in a small box and running it for about 45 minutes, only to find it still spraying out oil. Back to the store with this product. I'll buy higher quality instead.

I've had my mouse for about a year. For the most part, it's had very light use. Recently, I started using it more and it's had moderate use this summer.

It fits my hand nicely, is friendly in terms of ease of use but the hooks on the pad have worn down to nothing. The sandpaper simply won't stick. I'm pretty disappointed since I'm in the middle of two projects I'd like to finish up before the rainy season begins. And it's had light use.

I've tried to find a new "interchangeable pad" for the regular tear drop sandpaper but there don't seem to be any. So I'm faced with purchasing another mouse or trying something else. The motor seems fine so I'm reluctant to buy a whole tool when it just needs a $5 part.

Also, the Black and Decker sandpaper wears very quickly. Fortunately, there are other makes of hook and loop sandpaper and these have been much more satisfactory.

I must start by saying that I know people who purchased Porter Cable random orbit sanders years ago that got good service out of them. However, in the past year every one I have seen has worn out within a month. I run a cabinet shop. four of my employees (skilled cabinet makers) bought new Porter Cable r.o. sanders last year. Every one of them either had a motor or bearing burn out within a month. Two of them were replaced by the dealer with new sanders, which also lasted about a month. The other two were not replaced because the bearings are not covered by the warranty. When I politely contacted Porter Cable about this, they said too bad, so sad. We have had great luck with Dewalt, Ridgid, and Bosch.

After prematurely retiring a DeWalt, based on the positive reviews for the 333VS I purchased one. I'm a woodworker who realistically spends about 2-4 hours/week in the shop during the winter/spring/fall (Texas summers are too hot).

This sander worked great out of the box - I was happy with the dust collection and the performance (swirl pattern invisible after final 220 grit pass on Cherry).

After about 5-8 hours of continuous use (mind you, it took me > 1 year to use it for 5 hours) the variable speed went. The sander would not operate if the speed was set less than the max. I contacted Porter Cable, they referred me to their list of service centers since the warranty had expired. I procrastinated since it was still operational and after another hour of use, it was dead.

I was quoted ~ 2/3 of the purchase price to repair, so this one isn't getting repaired.

I'm very dissappointed with the reliability of this sander, which normally isn't a concern with Porter Cable. Most of all, I'm dissappointed that Porter Cable would not stand behind their products in the event of an obvious manufacturing defect, which I believe this was.

The drive belt and the sanding pad wear out way too soon. I'm constantly changing these items and I only use the sander two or three times a week. The sander does a good job. No swirl marks etc. I like the variable speed option. It's too bad the parts don't hold up. Porter Cable could make the pad better with very little excess cost. It's the same old story-planned obsolesence.

A drum sander is a pretty basic machine; a sandpaper conveyer belt moves the wood under a spinning cylinder/drum that is covered in replaceable sand paper. Tensioned rollers keep the wood pressed down on the conveyer so it doesn't slip. The drum can be moved up and down to apply the proper sanding depth.

The problems some reviewers have had with this machine are:

1. There is a problem adjusting the tracking of the conveyer belt, which is like a giant portable belt sander. The belt can drift to one side or the other. The front roller is adjustable so the belt stays centered.

To facilitate this adjustment, Performax has included clever little captive wrenches built into the frame of the conveyer assembly. This should make the adjustment easy. However, mine drifted to the left and adjusting it had no effect. I ended up completely loosening all the adjusters, and starting over again. This time the belt centered and it was easy to adjust exactly to where it was supposed to be.

I suspect that the belt, which after all is 16" wide, might have been just a hair out of square and all the adjusting served to stretch it out to a perfect rectangle. I believe the problem is that some belts may be more out of square than others. The actual mechanism is unlikely to be defective.

2. Adjusting the sanding drum so it is parallel to the conveyer belt is obviously important, but it is not easy to do. There is a knob that you turn to move the outer end of the drum up and down until it is set correctly. However, one must loosen 4 (!) bolts to free the assembly so it will move and then tighten them to hold it in place. The act of tightening them moves the adjustment out of place. If you are a zillionith of an inch off on the inside, then you are way off 16" away on the outboard end. One can spend a lot of time messing with this.

Amazon recommends setting the outer end a teeny bit up when sanding panels wider than the drum. This will result in a high spot in the middle of the panel which is better than low spots or grooves caused by the outer end of the drum digging into the wood. However, adjusting the drum is such a pain that most people will be content to set it once and leave it.

I set mine to be just a tiny bit up, an unmeasureable amount. I send my boards destined for glue-up twice through on the final sanding , turned around the second time, so that each board side is equally thick on all edges.

3. Replacing the sandpaper just takes a little practice. Clearly, it must be installed properly to work well. The paper rolls onto the drum and each end is secured by little levered clips in the ends of the drum. A little tool is supplied to loosen the inbord clip, but I find that just just reaching and pulling it up with a finger is easier.

4. Some users have problems with the drum motor overload breaker popping. Pushing the reset button starts it up again. This is all by design so that you do not try to sand off more than you should in one pass or set the conveyer belt speed too high.

You must sand at a shallow depth and at low feed rate. If you think the sanding process is too slow and get impatient, just think of hand sanding. Even set at a crawl, the machine is way faster than you. All this depends on the grit, the kind wood, the width of the wood as well as the conveyer speed and the depth of cut.

I am careful to set a shallow sanding depth and a pretty slow feed rate and so I rarely have to reset it. If it does pop I just slow down the conveyer belt some more. This is a small machine with limited horsepower for small shops. There is a reason they make those 30 hp one-ton units. Like Norm's.

4. Some have complained about slop in the drum adjuster. The crank that moves the drum up and down has a lot of play in it so it is hard to feel how much actual adjustment is going on when the crank is turned. Tactile feel is very important when you are trying to adjust things just a hair. These sorts of measurements are too small to show up on the depth guage.

The adjuster should be equiped with an adjustable friction device. Several of my small tools have that feature and clearly a $1000 machine should. And I really miss an adjustable positive depth stop like my Makita planer. This would allow for a repeatable final sanding depth.

5. Snipe has been reported as a problem and it is. It is very difficult to hold the wood perfectly level as it enters and exits the drum. Setting up multiple roller stands is not easy and others have mentioned that the optional in and out-feed tables are difficult to level as well.

Some sort of built-in support is necessary for this machine to work properly. The tables, or other devices, should have been built in to the design and included in the price. This should not have been an option. It is like making the tires optional on a car. Speaking of options, I have a new Grizzly 6" jointer that came with built-in wheels. Very nice. Really quite necessary for the small shop. Aftermart wheels are available elsewhere.

So, what is my advice? This machine can be adjusted to function perfectly. When it is set up properly it is indeed a very useful and important tool. The problem is that the adjustments are too difficult and so many machines are out of adjustment and simply do not work as they should. In addition, not including the tables introduces an unnecessary cheap and greedy factor.

Performax is clearly not losing any money selling these units for $1000. Add on the the price of sandpaper and options and it is an even more costly option for the small shop. A tweak to the drum depth adjuster, a redesign of the drum levelling mechanism, a positive stop for the sanding depth, incorporating feed tables and making the stand mobile are really simple and inexpensive upgrades that lucky owners in the future hopefully will enjoy. I note that Grizzly now has a comparable consumer model and I suspect other manufactorers will enter the market. That competition will hopefully lower the price and increase the utility.

The whole idea of smoothing wood with rocks glued to fabric seems sort of strange, really. Perhaps the future will bring lasers or microwaves or something modern. In the meantime, be aware that sanders create a lot of dust, the fine and dangerous kind, much worse than shavings and such. I looked into shop dust control, hoping to get a simple vacuum, and found a whole confusing and expensive anti-dust world out there. A portable vac is not the best thing to use for high volumns of fine dust. Big dust collectors, cyclones and those sorts of things are more appropriate for this machine, but are very speciallized and expensive. I use the screaming Sears vac now (are all Sears product planners deaf?), but for many reasons that will have to change.

I can't go below 3 stars if, in the end, the machine actually performs as it should, but the inconvenience and cheapness factors noted above and in other reviews cost it a couple of stars.

I bought this machine for a job last year that involved getting about 4500 board feet of red and white oak back from the kiln, planed down to 1 inch thick. All this lumber had to be sanded with at least 100 if not 120 or 180 grit paper depending on the application. The 16-32 is a little under-sized for a job like that but it eventually got all the lumber sanded. It saved enough in labor to pay almost half the tool off immediatly. The performax really shines sanding short boards up to say 6 ft. The 1" thick, 12 to 14 foot long, 8 inch wide baseboards we were making required a much more precise infeed and outfeed than could be acheived by having a person standing at each end. If the end of the board is allowed to drop below the level of the table and put even the slightest pressure on the drum it will trip the overload breaker on the motor and the resulting divit in the wood can be very difficult to sand out. When my new shop is complete I will build an infeed/oufeed table 10 feet on either side of the tool to facilitate sanding longer, heavier stock. I will never go back to sanding boards with my orbital sander. The Performax has made sure of that and is easily capable of better results than you would expect from a modestly priced, mobile drum sander.

I have read thru all the reviews here and I have come to 2 conclusions people either love this machine or they hate it.The second one is,this machine can be a little troublesome to set up and use.
I came across a good deal on a used machine thru my local Wood supplier. I was leary but decided to check it out. The seller said that he liked it but his shop was too small and he needed the room. He claimed that he did not have any of the problems I read here. It looked good so I bought it.
Now this guy is an Engineer so maybe that helps because this machine runs like a Champ. Everything was setup precisely. One thing he did for setting up the drum alignment was he used two 2" square Mahogony blocks as a setup gauge instead of the rule and feeler gauges. Works great.
I had some minor problems with belts loading and burn marks but I figured that into the learning curve of a new machine I have never used before. So far no problems with the ceramic guides.
I have used it everyday now for the past 3 weeks and it is a time saver. I like it and I am pleased with it.I am one of those who love this machine. You just need to take your time setting it up. I only wished that I had the money to get a bigger one.
P.S. Think this is tough to setup? Try setting up a Radial Arm saw, this is nothing.

I have had to replace the hook and loop base on this sander three times. I can only manage to go through about 50 sand paper discs before, yes another hook and loop base for another 20 bucks. If I had known I would have gotton a psa sander instead. otherwise the sander works good.

When buying a new tool I always give Dewalt my first look. I had tried the comparable Makita orbital palm sander and was fairly impressed with its durability and power. Considering the fact my friend already owned the Makita I went for the Dewalt to have something different. The first thing I noticed was the lack of power. The Makita was definately stronger. However, I have used the Dewalt under very harsh conditions for long periods of time and it is still operating very well. The tool is comfortable and easy to use. I am not a huge Makita fan, but it seemed to out perform the Dewalt in respects of power. I'd like to say the Dewalt can outlast the Makita, however they are both running strong.

This is a comfortable sander to use and easy to handle. I was concerned about how strong my hands were, whether they would be able to hold the sander for long periods of time. I needn't worry. It was easy to manipulate and hold. The looped sander discs were easy to put on the sander and I was up and running quickly.

I purchased this sander because or old sander, a Black & Decker, died while we were sanding our cabinets. So far this sander has performed well - we are doing minor remodeling on our kitchen. Therefore, I believe the old saying "lo barato sale caro" (i.e. just shell out the extra bucks & get a Dewalt rather than a Black & Decker).

This sander has been a pleasure to work with. For small and medium size jobs, it has saved me time and raw fingers while providing a superiorly smooth surface. I recommend it to any hobbyist or professional alike.

I've had this sander for years and put it through more abuse than I'd like to admit and it is still going strong. It has been dropped, used for several hours non stop, and worked nearly to death. It seems to take abuse and ask for more. The brushes probably need to be replaced and the bearings might be on their last legs but the machine still works without a problem. The dust bag now falls off and the cord is showing signs of cracking, but this is hardly a complaint as years of hard use will cause this in any tool. DeWalt is an excellent brand and this sander is no exception. I can only say good things about this tool and recommend it highly.

I have to say that it took me some time before I used my new Delta drum sander. I DID NOT get the "limited edition" model. I read on several woodworkers chat forums about how the learning curve on drum sanders is really steep, and that the sanders are very hard to adjust, etc. I wondered numerous times if I should have bought a Performax instead.
Well I finally wired up 220 volt for my new Jet canister DC (I read that you can't use a drum sander without a DC hook up). I found some scrap pieces of oak, maple and cherry and started playing around with it. The drum sander worked like a charm. I got no snipe (one of the many complaints I read about), no burn marks, and the sander never stalled. I then changed the pre wrapped paper, and started swearing until I figured out I was starting from the wrong end of the drum (no jokes about guys never reading the directions please). The sander seems to be built like a tank, does what it is suppose to do (it is not a planer) and was easy to put together. I recommend it.

I've had this machine for about 24 hours, and I've already gotten great results. Since it is still brand new, I'll restrict my review to shipping, setup and initial results.

SHIPPING

I actually received the machine about 4 days before I expected it, and the box was in premo condition, so I give shipping 5 stars.

SETUP

I expected to spend about 4 hours setting the machine up and getting it fine tuned. It actually took about an hour and a half, including installing the pneumatic drum sander. The instructions were clear and very easy to follow. After assembling the sander, I ran the tests recommended by Delta to make sure the drum was parallel with the table and the in-feed belt tracked ok. The folks at the factory did an excellent job because no - and I mean no - adjustments were necessary. The drum is perfectly parallel with the table and the in-feed belt tracks true. I give assembly and factory settings 5 stars.

FIRST RESULTS

I build hammered dulcimers, which require a trapazoidal soundboard that is about 20" deep, 1/4" thick and about 40" at its widest. The soundboards are made of Western Red Cedar, which is soft and shows every imperfection. Since the soundboard is deeper than the drum sander, I need to make two passes to sand the entire surface. I was concerned that the soft wood would show a ridge at the overlap. No problem. The soundboard (which is going on my latest dulcimer) is flat as a table top and looks great. I couldn't be happier.

My only gripe is with one of the retaining clips that holds the sanding belt on the drum. One of the clips is almost impossible to open with my fingers, and I have to use a pair of pliers to squeeze the clip and insert the belt. The other clip is just fine. I'm going to contact Delta about it. Because of the clip problem, I rate first results at 4 stars.

Would I recommend this machine for the small shop? You bet!

I got the sander and while assembling it noticed that the support for the power feed assy was bent and the screws holding it in alignment were overtightened causing the lock washers to spread.This would not let the feeder set down flat. The lockwashers had to be removed. The shaft for the free accessory drum sander was badly bent and caused the machine to vibrate very badly. I have emailed Delta and await their reply. I did get the main sander working and it seems to be smooth and does a fine job. Seems like Delta can still design a good tool. They just have trouble building them.