Sanders Reviews

After reading all the reviews, and talking to fellow woodworkers, I thought the 1276 was the right tool to do the heavy duty panel leveling I needed. I got exactly one day of use out of it, when it quit dead! There I was in the middle of a job, on a weekend, had to go to home depot and buy the Porter Cable after all.

Disappointed: Mike

I bought this sander about 5-6 years ago, and have used it several times a year without any problems. It's a pretty burly tool, and I don't have a bench with holddowns, and that limits its usefulness for me. Because of its power, this tool must be used two-handed to have any semblance of control over it, and that means the work must be clamped. The sander is aggressive enough that you must keep it in constant motion to keep from digging a rut in the wood. This, however, is as should be expected for such a big tool. I have used it to successfully flatten joined-up panels too wide for my planer, and have obtained a good result using a diagonal sanding technique and winding sticks.

The tracking is generally very good unless you are applying a lot of uneven pressure or drag across the belt. The dust collection is pretty good compared to other "tools with a bag" that I own. If you buy it you might consider buying some very fine (220 grit, if possible) belts to increase its versatility.

If you're into refinishing your deck, floor or other home remodeling projects, I think you will be pleased with this tool.

I use this sander mostly to flatten panels and to
dress surfaced lumber, and it is *excellent*.
It removes material very quickly, and will
pull 50 grit on the fastest speed with no bogging down. I
use the optional sanding frame, and a vacuum hose, so the
bag placement is not an issue for me. Using the sanding frame,
you can get to 120 grit finish very quickly. Just a touch with
the finish sander using 180 or 220 and you're good to go.

This beast is heavy. Unless you're Arnold Schwarzenegger
I wouldn't consider using this on vertical surfaces. On
horizontal surfaces, gravity is your friend, and the weight
of the machine does the work.

I have a lot of tools. Most are good, a few are crappy,
a few are excellent. With this sander, every time I use it,
I congratulate myself again for coughing up the $$$ and buying it.
It has saved me enough time compared to my other belt
sander to have paid for itself.

This random orbit sander stacks up against the best of them. It definitely provides more power than most. Typically I wear ear protection while working with power tools, so the slightly louder performance does not bother me. I also use a wet/dry vac attached to the sander, so do not use the dust canister. I've had this sander for well over two years - and with moderate use, it's held up just great. A great addition to any busy woodworker's shop.

This sander does everything it is supposed to do. I use it primarily on hardwoods (cherry, oak) with 80-220 grit sandpaper. It has handled everything I've asked it to do without complaint. Contrary to others, the dust collection seems to work. Of course it is not as clean as using a vacuum. But there is always a substantial amount of dust in the canister.

UPDATE: This sander crapped out after only about nine months of use. The bearing seized. I was highly disappointed because I was careful to clear this sander regularly.

After having problems with other PC and DeWalt equipment, I decided that I'd try Festool. If you can afford Festool, use Festool. With the Festool vacuum, dust extraction is almost complete. Stated differently, the amount of dust left behind by this sander is huge compared to Festool. And the small, tiny airborne dust is the most dangerous.

I do finish work for a living. 99.999% of everything I do is new. So it doesn't stip layers of paint, or stain and lacquer. But when it comes to sanding woods or fillers it is a hawg. When you're working in a house and dust is floating in the air, any dust collection is better than nothing. With cannister off, a dust cloud is very evident. It is made in the USA, cheaper than competitors, and so far held up to the jobsite. It is quiter than both 1/3, and 1/4 sheet sanders I have. When I first used one, I was impressed on how effortless it was to sand with it.

The Boss Bench Oscillating Sander is a smooth, quiet operation, with hardly, if any, vibration. The cast iron table provides an adequate work surface and great support and stability of the workpiece. I did not have any trouble with the spindle being square to the table. This sander works wonders on the curved and scrollsawed pieces, with no burning of the edges, and a smooth finish.

The dust collection system works okay. The dust port is an odd size, 1.5", but the dust collection fan blades built into the base of the spindle draws the dust down from the table into the bag. The bag is a little tricky to install, but once it is installed, it works great.

The only negative I have, and thus only 4 stars, is the fact there is not a spindle lock. This makes changing the spindles not as easy as it should be. I have created my own "spindle lock" by placing the allen wrench in between the dust collection fan blades and the dust port, this "locks" the spindle in place while I change out the spindle sleeves. I'm sure this is not good for the fan blades, but it works, so far.

A great running machine, has met all my expectations and then some for edge sanding curved pieces. It has a permanent place on my work bench !!

I bought the BOSS after the price dropped and I have been extremely happy with it's versatility. You get a [...] Spindle kit free to get started and the different sizes of spindles are readily available almost everywhere (unlike my Jet power tools). The vibration is a lot less than I expected making it very easy to shape wood rough cut shapes from my scroll saw and my table saw.

One of Delta's better efforts!

Sander works great but, dust bag is hard to get on and off. The extra spindle set you get is all the sizes they make for sander that is not included with standard sander. Extra set comes with drums and one sanding drum per rubber drum. Great value because, at a national hardware store they will charge you [alot] for just the sander plus ... extra spindle set which is encluded at amazon for nothing.

I like makita products but was disappointed when it just stopped working after about 5 hours total of use. I didn't force iteither. The switch was on high nearly all the time so I don't see why the variable switch might have become defective.

steve

I used this sander for less than 2 hours and the belt stopped revolving. The drive belt broke. The other thing that happened with this sander is the first belt of sand paper started to cut a groove in the plastic housing of the machine itself.

It has been almost a year since I purchased this sander and I must say that it impresses me more every time I use it. It's light, powerful, relatively quiet, with good belt tracking. And as other reviewers have pointed out, the dust collection is outstanding, even when using the supplied dust bag. Most recently, I used this sander to edge new hardwood floors and even went so far as to use it for the initial sanding of almost 200 s.f. of oak flooring, using 50 grit belts. Although I did break down and purchase a 4"x24" Porter Cable (a Makita 4"x24" was not available locally) to complete the remainder of the floor, the Makita performed flawlessly, even under heavy pressure. It simply would not stall, regardless of the pressure applied. Another good feature of this sander is its compact design which allows you to get into tight quarters. I was able to sand completely flush to the right side of the sander and to within approximately two inches of the front. The 4"x24" Porter Cable would get to about 1/4" on the side and 6" in front. I highly recommend this sander! It's one of those rare tools that leaves you wanting nothing more, because it would be almost impossible to improve. Real quality at a fair price. I just wish I could say the same for the 4"x24" Porter Cable.

I had this thing for awhile before I really started to use it. I bought it based on the reviews I read here. I used it to sand spackling off plaster walls, about 5 rooms worth. Then the motor ground to a buzzing halt.

The variable speed dial became nearly impossible to move toward the end of its short life.

I'll buy another sander, but it sure won't be a Porter Cable.

This machine does a fantastic job of making my cars look their best. My only complaint doesn't even involve the machine it'self. But, the fact that I had to search all over for the accessories to use the machine. Once I got everything together I am trilled with the results.

Curt DoBraska

Since I wrote my original review for this sander in 2001 (take a look), I have upgraded my table saw, bought 3 vibratory sanders and 3 circular saws. No, 4. I have killed and buried 3 cordless drills. (I have TWO Milwaukees now; highly recommended.) Bought a power mortiser, a portable planer and a drill-press.

This is STILL my best power tool. I STILL don't lend it out.

Biggest project I did in that period was a new kitchen with custom cherry cabinets. This sander did EVERY cabinet, door, and drawer in the kitchen. I went through 4 big boxes of sanding disks in several grits down to 220. I was a sanding fool.

Besides the kitchen, I've built several sets of speakers, a couple of tables, a big garden shed, three workbenches, an "heirloom" cherry sewing kit, a dollhouse, and innumerable cabinets for tube amplifiers. This weekend, I am stripping paint from our old wooden garage doors with 60 grit disks. I guess I've used it quite a bit, since every piece of wood I've bought in the last 9+ years has met my Porter Cable sander.

Now that I think about it, I am on my FOURTH foam sanding disk for this sander, or about one every 2-1/2 years.

Today, I only use TWO power sanders: This one and the FEIN triangle sander. If the work is small, or there are interior corners, I use the FEIN, otherwise I use the Porter Cable. I haven't used a belt sander since I've owned this tool, as I find them tempermental, expensive to keep in paper, and difficult to control compared to the P-C.

I have not had any problems with the switches as described by other reviewers, but ironically I HAVE had those exact problems with the FEIN. I strongly suspect that sanders in general are subject to "fouling" of the electrical switches from all the fine dust. Perhaps I've been lucky with the Porter Cable, or maybe my work position (hand over the switch most of the time) shields it, or maybe very frequent use keeps it healthy. Dunno.

As in 2001 I STRONGLY recommend the 6 inch version of this tool, particularly for sanding large panels; it's much easier to avoid rocking off the edge, and it wobbles much less than the 5 inch version.

At the same time, you have to be careful with veneered pieces to use fine grits and low speeds, because the 6" version makes VERY fast work of most jobs, even with fine grit papers, and you don't want to sand through your nice veneers. Easy does it.
OTOH, put some 60 or 80 grit on there and you can chew-through most anything, fast and flat.

Best illustration of this sander is glued-up solid-wood panels (like table tops); do your rough sanding (150 grit or rougher) ACROSS the grain rapidly, both sides, to true the surface. Use a nice long straight edge (like a machinist's 36" straight edge) to find the high spots. Then finish with the grain using fine papers. Works fast, works great.

Five Stars in 2001 + Five Stars in 2005 = 10 Stars.
I fully expect we'll get to 15 stars in 2009. See you then.
Right now, gotta go sand some more.

i had been waiting over 6 months for this drill press, my order in etc...never once did anyone from fisch website ever answer an email...customer service to me was totally non-existent.

then amazon finally cancelled the order saying the machine was not going to ever come.

when will i learn to only buy things that have good service and a company responsible enough to deal with customers.

I've had this DP for almost 2 years and have used it very lightly. The DP itself is ok, especially at the price. The chuck is junk though. It's very tempremental and sometimes won't open fully or lock down tightly on the drill bit.

I would not have bought this DP when I did if I had known how irritating it would be to work with.

After reading reviews on Amazon I purchased this drill press and found it to be a nice smooth running machine. Nothing was broken in shipment as several other reviewers had stated. Very easy put-together instructions, only took me about 15 minutes. Like everyone else I was trying to stay away from all the plastic, the switch box and also the top cover that swings open to get to the belt is also plastic on this machine, which I can live with. All the adjustments on the table works nicely and the depth stop adjuster with it fine thread adjustment and scale is better than others I'v used. The chuck also works smoothly and seems to tighten up on the bits well. The only reason for 4 stars instead of 5 is the spindle travel is 2-3/8 instead of the 3-1/4 travel on a lot of other benchtop models. All in all I'm happy with my purchase and it will make a good addition to my shop.

I've been making a lot of knives lately and have found this sander invaluable for that application. The narrow belt has more utility than wider ones for doing handle work and the disk is great for shaping. It's got plenty of power for both wood and metal, is relatively quiet, and has performed flawlessly for almost two years of pretty heavy use.

So, why am I not rating this 5 stars then you might ask? Well, there are a few drawbacks. First off, the dust extraction isn't all that great. Every second or third time I change the belt I need to vacuum out the dust channel underneath the cover. The disks don't last all that long and are a pain in the neck to scrape loose and replace. I finally decided to leave off the inner guard below the disk sander which, best as I can tell, is only there to help channel dust. Since it doesn't work all that well anyway and takes three screws to remove and replace each time I've just left it off. The sander still works fine and it's one less step to replace the disk. I've also had a really hard time finding 8" disks in anything other than 80 grit, though the belts are available in a variety of grits.

Good value; solid product. If it ever gives up the ghost I'd replace it with another one in a heartbeat. Not perfect but very useful and certainly recommended.

Pros: Great sander, easy to use, small footprint. Picked up a stainless steel cart to move it around.
Cons: Unit is Heavy (Not really a Con but care for your back)
A couple of the screws can be difficult to reach when assembling
No Dust bag with unit gets a minus 1 star

This sander is a solid tool that has been designed and factory assembled with thought and care for its intended purpose. It is very heavy compared to other home shop tools, but that weight allows the user to work with large dimension wood without any movement of the tool.
The power is more than adequate for sanding through two inch oak stock and the results will please most users.
The only two items that I would design differently would be the placement and orientation of the on/off switch. [Tools should switch up for on and down for off.]
The second change would be a larger working surface for the 8" sander. [I have addressed that issue with a laminated 12" x 20" extension surface that mates up with the existing metal table.]
The product was delivered with a defective miter gauge. One quick call to Delta and the part was in my shop within a week. That is consistant with my experience with Delta support. Over the years, they have performed better than most and even when a tool has been past the warranty date, the required part was shipped without charge.
Whenever possible, if the choice is available, I choose a Delta tool over the competition.

Haven't had it for long but am very pleased with it so far. I have sanded the finish off of kitchen cabinets prior to refacing them though and no complaints. It vibrates very little, is comfortable in my small/medium sized hands, and is relatively quiet. The dust control is excellent when hooked up to my anemic shop vac. I haven't tried it with the dust canister. At this point, I would recommend it.

I purchased this sander a few years ago and use it several times a month. I like the great hook and loop (velcro style) method of fastening the paper to the sander. It is a real time saver. The dust collector works good, but I often hook this up to my small shop vac to get even more dust collection. I have had no problems with this tool, can easily find all the sandpaper for it a many stores or online. I buy the Mirka brand in bull to save money. If you need a basic random orbital sander, I really reccomend this one!

Keep It Simple Stupid. Get one. It beats anything the Germans, Japanese, Chinese or others have to offer. And have lots of children so you can pass it down from generation to generation as an heirloom.

The Fein Multimaster really is a great tool... We have 3 in our business... But, Man o Man, The blades prices recently increased and we have discontinued them.... Somebody is making money or are they...Doesn't appear to be a long term success for Fein....

The tool needs a better way to hold the saws etc. to keep them from moving from there set position. I understand that an improvement is comming. I hope they have a fix for existing tools in use.

A great tool for anyone who likes to do most any job that comes along. Yes it is pricy but like other reviews I've read here ,it does cut down on the labor time a whole lot. I have only had it for 1 month but in that time I have been able to refinish 3 large old mahogany windows down to their original beauty and was able to make a few almost impossible cuts to repair a staircase. The tile man left me a mess before I could put in the trim and this tool not only was able to make quick work of removing the excess grout and setting cement and it even allowed me to sand down a few bad edges on the marble tile. So far I gotta say I love it, and look forward to getting a lot more done in a lot less time! Also it is a lot quieter than the porter and cable tool and is quick with tool changes, also being able to put the cutting blades at almost any given angle is indispensable in tight spots.

The disk on this sander had a total runout of .025 and after Delta sent me 2 more disks I got one down to about .005. One of the tricks is to remove the disk and clean the paint off of the disk were it butts up onto bearing. This should have been done during assembly. The table slot also had a machined tapered from .770 on the left to .790 on the right. I received new one from Delta with a .760 striaght slot. All replacement parts from Delta were delivered within 5 days after I called in my problems. You can expect these problems on their Chinese made machines, but I ask, why can't they have better quality conrol?

I am pleased with this sander. While I would like it to be a bit more powerful (will do whatever I want as long as I take my time and don't push it) it gets the job done for a very low price.

Also, the "positive" stops at 90 and 45 degrees could be better designed and more accurate, but again, if I take my time and set it up carefully each time they work well.

The castings are not perfect, but the table is very flat and I have little runnout...so the casting defects are cosmetic. Again, for the price a nice machine.

While it's not going to win any awards for fit and finish, Delta put the money where it counts. Disk is smooth, table is nice, and dust collection is decent. I think the Delta is a best buy, as the Harbor Freight units have poor build quality, and the Jet unit is $100 more.