Sanders Reviews

I've owned this sander for four months now and it has been down waiting for parts for two of those months. The driven pulley is made of cheap plastic with plastic splines on a metal shaft. The plastic pulley wore out after only light use, it began to get off center and destroyed the drive belt. Both parts have been on order for over a month. The motor on this unit is under-powered, you can easily stop the belt with almost any sanding operation. The overall guality of this sander is poor, but I must say, I should have known based on the price. You get what you pay for with tools. Poor quality, underpowered, parts???

I am a Kartina victim and finally getting the house in order and able to concentrate on the shop and replacing some tools. I had an older of this model and it worked well with moderate use. The new one is very "light weight" in horsepower and the gears are constructed of some sort of fiber or composite. The set screw for the motor gear was striped and the "D" shaft just spun inside the gear. Being beyond the 30 day return policy now established by Lowes and Home Depot, I drilled the shafts and inserted bolt with nut retainer. It seemed to work well for a few days and then the Gear to the Belt and Disc sanders striped. This is a composite material also and a spline gear. I drilled the shafts here also and thus far, no more problems. There are questions concerning the Quality of Delta Products now being produced. For sure, they are NOT as tough as in years past. Not so good, Delta. We know it has been better.

to the point, this machine has a plastic drive wheel. I got a small piece of wood jerked out of my fingers (my fault) and it wedged the belt and stopped it (safety built in). However, that stripped the plastic drive wheel. After that, anything above slight pressure on the sanding piece and the belt/disc stopped. I didn't want to go through the hassle of begging Delta for an exchange, so I fixed it with JB Weld. Now it works fine. The discovery of the flimsy construction has kept me from considering Delta anything.

This multi-tool set is really pretty, but it is all show and no go. The tools are so heavy and clunky that they are difficult to use. The jig saw has an extra button on the power head that makes it very difficult to use. You actually have to push a button with both hands to get it to work. All of the tools are very noisy and require ear protection to use. The batteries have a very short life and a very long charging time. If you accidentally leave them on the charger it will distroy them. I bought this set for my son for Christmas, but the little elves that built it were obviously not tool makers. I'm sending the whole mess back. No more Black and Decker for me!

As you can see, the other reviews date all the way back to 2000, which tells you that this product was designed a long time ago compared to other cordless tools and batteries available today. This set was, in it's prime, pretty good. I bought it for my mom for Xmas 2001 (which has only been used a couple of times,) and bought one for myself (to replace my Ryobi 12v) a year later

One of my (2) batteries became very aenemic after a year, and the other one's pretty much shot now. For light household use, the driver's pretty much average for a 12v, but the saw and sander eat up the poor capacity NiCD's pretty quick. Forget about replacing the batteries, too, since they are the same capacity as the originals, and about $50 a pop! I may share in some of the blame for the relatively short life of the batteries, because the charger has no trickle or shut-off feature, and who can remmber to remove them from the charger in a timely fashion every time?

I saw a MUCH newer B

I've owned the Multi-tool for four years, and recently had to replace one of the original batteries. A single battery will last most of the day drilling dry wall srews or wood screws. The Saw will cut 1/2 inche ply-wood and the batteries lasted about an hour each doing so. Recently we've added a room to the back of the house 19'X10' and again the driver did a fine job. Now we are gutting out a closet a bathroom and laundry area and combing them into one large bathroom and again one fully charged battery will last most of the day driving screws. I can't say much about the sander, but the noise level is not an issue. The B&D 12volt Multi-Tool is no louder than any other 12 or 14.4 cordless drill.

Bought one on Sunday. Within 15 minutes of use it had eaten 4 belts. One jammed, took 30 minutes to clear. I read and re-read the instructions on tracking adjustments. Pretty simple it seemed, but it didn't work. No matter what, the belts migrated into the housing and were damaged in short order. Took it back the next day.

this sander is the cloud on my sunny day. I've owned Three I know. cool look. will not last for more than a week of heavy use. buy a porter cable. the first one died in an hour. the second finished the job. Three days and then sat for a few months. first week it came out. dead. replace it. still under warranty. next one dies 2 days later. don't buy unless you will only sand with it maybe 30 hours of your life. or you like needless trips to the store.

The sander performed well and met most of my expectations. However, the dust collection boot tended to slip off its mounting easily and required frequent reattachment. And the dust collection capability for coarse sanding is inadquate, leaving most of the sawdust on the floor beneath the sander. But, I didn't buy the sander for its dust collection capability. One trouble spot is the tracking adjustment. The mechanism seems to jam and once the tracking screw is tightened, it can't be released without forcing the roller back into position. Frequent applications of WD-40 seem to be helping. Otherwise, I am happy with the sander.

I bought this sander two years ago. This Makita sander does a good job with final sanding chores, as long as you are outdoors or don't care about noise and dust. The sander is loud, has poor dust collection, and comes with no vacuum port. The plastic interior frame on the dust bag broke causing the bag to occasionally fall off. For the money spent, this sander has been a disappointment.

I got this sander to have the addition of a dust collection system that my made in france B&D had a dust collection system but I went for the $12 less same model without it , huge mistake .
I did look at and plug in a porter cable and dewalt that were close to the same price range with much the same features and I will admit the dewalt was pretty quite .
This is not how I would describe the makita with any stretch of the imagination .
The sole reason I chose the makita was it was the ONLY one that sported a flat base , the others where all bowed down in the center and I did not want to sand same cups shapes into the surface of any wood project I had in process .
i got mine before they added the case and I used it for the very first time after it sat in the box for two years .
This has to be the loudest sander ever produced , I you want to draw everyones attention and have a small crowd of onlooker develope they will surely do so and have no trouble locating the source of the sounds produced .
It also vibrates much more than the older B&D which was very quiet and smooth .
Horrible thing really , the addition of a speed control may be the only thing that saves this sander form being banned to life stored in the box set of the back of a shelf , you could not retain a friendship if you loaned it out or gave it away .
I use the old B&B and follow it's movement with a vacuum hose to pick up most dust , at least you can hold onto it with one hand .
I have a makita random orbital with speed control and it is a great tool but there are times where you need something to get into corners but retain your hearing at the same time .
This is not a sander you would want to use to sand inside of a open ended wood box , here what you have is a vitual organic noise amplifier just to add to the roar of this makita .

Review said low noise, low vibes....maybe they did not pack the padded gloves and ear muffs in the case. It is horrible. besides down time to load is a joke unless in the last 2 years makita come up with a better solution to the spring tabs. I shutter every time I need to sand an inside corner to something. I do not like it, never have liked it, and never will like it. If you need one go to a store or trade show and buy one that is quieter with less vibration. TRY IT BEFORE YOU BUY IT. I do not use it unless I absolutely have no choice. As for dust collection anything is better than nothing. My suggestion to avoiding the dust....don't use it.

Similar to others...I've been through 2 of these sanders. I'm kind of stuck as all of my dust collection is setup for the PC hookup(why can't we have universal connections on a tool where DC is so imperative, I will never know). Suppose we have to understand that a sander is a continuous use tool and expectations may need to be reduced for longevity. I do woodworking as a side job and I have had other sanders seize up as well.

If you read the Intermediate Woodworkers review, that's my story also. I agree with everything he said. I would add that this Porter Cable sander uses a rubber band as part of the random orbiting action. Also there is a gasket which is applied with basically a double sided tape. Once it comes loose it loses its adhesion. If you buy this sander you should expect to have to replace the pad, gasket and rubber band at one time or another. All and all, a poorly and cheaply designed sander. That being said - when the sander is working it does a very nice job.

I just purchased my third. My previous two lasted over two years each. I am a hobbyist woodworker but also refinish furniture and I estimate I've put 100+ hard hours on each of my previous two. I use dust collection about 80% of the time. I rate this sander's performance at 5 stars because it is agressive and powerful with little vibration and performs its intended duties well. In my experience it outperforms direct competitors' models and has better reliability. I am more than satisfied with the durability and rate it 5 stars as well because the operating cost relative to purchase price is quite cheap - beats hand sanding!

I wonder if there's something wrong with the clamps on a batch of these. We bought this a couple years ago and never really used it much. Just started trying to use it in earnest this evening and I will add my "paper falls off" woes to the group.

I tried about ten times with a number of different types of sandpaper - it seems that the clamps tighten down when you pull up on the lever, but in order to lock the levers into place they "relax" just a little bit and the paper doesn't hold in place well. Just a tiny bit of sideways motion and yep, paper starts to slide right off...

Sounds like they've had this model forever - maybe it's time the old B&D spent some money on R&D and upgraded their product a little bit.

Looks like it goes on the garage sale pile and it's time to try out another...

I came to the website looking to see if B&D still made this puppy. I bought mine in '84, and have been diligently beating it to death ever since. My first house - total gut job. Used the sander on everything. Second house, much better, lots of woodwork and moldings, and a built-in wet bar all done in cherry.

I built a 20 foot long work bench and LOTS of cabinets for the garage/workshop. A couple of kid's furniture projects later, bookselves, desks and dollhouses - the thing started making a very loud rattling noise.

Its the same top bearing issue mentioned before. Its not really a bearing at all, just a weird metal donut that started to melt the inside of the plastic case. And after only 20 years! What a piece of junk, huh?

Yes, I would love to have kept more skin on my knuckles, but I do change the paper often, and those teeny little levers are a joke. Mine never let go of the paper, though. You've got me a little worried.

I've had good and bad experiences with B&D. Their belt sanders are about as sturdy as a styrofoam cup. Had one two months and it crapped out.

I've got other sanders, but this one has the right weight, the right size and (until last week), the right level of invincibility I need from powertools.

I think I'll risk it and go drop another 25 bucks - the same price it was in '84. I'll let you know in 2025 if it was worth it.

I've had this sander for more than 15 years! I sanded everything from cars to sheetrock! I can't count the times I've dropped it, and it still worked. The felt pad has worn completely off to the base. I just placed an order for a new one for $25.00 it's not worth fixing it, or maybe if I make the time to find the parts. All around sander, light weight no frills.

I bought this sander while building two bedside tables. Halfway through the project the motor burned out. I payed the $15 to ship it back and have it fixed under warranty. The very next day the diamond shaped pad on the tip broke off. Replacement pads are nowhere to be found! Just a horrible product!

I bought this a number of years ago as my first ro sander. It was okay but I agree with reviewers on a number of points, ie, paper is a little expensive, dust collection is useless, fine sanding point wears out quickly, noisy, underpowered.

I quickly moved on to better sander from Porter Cable and then on to a Festool. It would have saved time and money to have bought the Festool in the first place rather than have the BD languish in the bottom of my tool chest.

This was my first electric sander, so I can't compare performance, but I agree with the other reviewers who point out that it doesn't collect dust the way it's supposed to. Despite others' enthusiasm for the hook and loop feature, it didn't turn out to be all it was cracked up to be. If you're doing a bigger project (I was sanding down the wood trim on a window I had stripped) the paper wears out pretty quickly, and they're not exactly cheap. It's better than sanding by hand, but I wish I'd [pulled] it up and spent a little more to get a Bosch or something like that.

I recently purchased this sander for general use and for finish sanding on the hardwood floors in our apartment. Having used Black and Decker equipment many times before I felt quite confident in the brand.

Boy was I let down by this machine. Having read the instructions and after setting it up with the included sanding belt I adjusted the belt tension to what I assumed was correct. In the beginning the sander performed fine, although I noticed it didn't remove as much matierial as I was accustomed to a belt sander removing. Then the problems started. The belt started to slide off by a good 1/2 to 1 centimeter. I stopped and retightened the belt. After another 5 minutes it happened again. Having this happen repeatedly I decided to stop for the day and return the sander the next morning. After talking to the manager of the hardware store he had commented that many people had been having the same problem with the sander and told me that I needed to "really tighten the belt down good and tight." Upon returning home I slipped a new belt on cranked the tightness knob til what I thought was right and proceeded to sand away. All was well and good for about 5 minutes then it all started over. The only problem this time was the belt slid the other way, into the machine, through the cheap plastic guard and shredded the side of the belt. This happened before I noticed and had a chance to stop it.

Needless to say the sander was returned the next day and the money put towards a brand new dewalt sander. The dewalt performs better than perfect and I was able to finish the floors in a day. Unfortunately, thanks to the black and decker I was delayed two days returning it to the store.

I now know why they call it "DRAGSTER" - You have to keep dragging it back to the store.

I purchased this sander because I liked the features of the product. The sander has a very low profile that allows the user to get close the edge of a floor or another area where there is a right angle. However, during my first use I was disapointed to find that the lever that compresses the tension spring for the belt failed. I had to return the sander to a service center for repair the first day it was in use. It seems to me that the lever is made of poor quality material. Hopefully, the replacement will be made better. I think the design is great for a homeowner's basic needs.

Never owned and belt sander before, so I just picked the one that looked the coolest... Good for simple projects around the house, I can't imagine it would be of any real use to a serious wood worker. Haven't had the squeak that other reviews mention, but have only put about 2 hours on it so far. A few non-performance related gripes... because of it's odd shape, a case would have been nice, so it can be stored with my other tools. Other gripe is the dust bag. Would have been great if you could attach a shop vac, but you can't. I scoured B&D's website, hoping there was some sort of attachment, but no dice. All in all... nice, easy to use sander for small DIY'er type projects, but probably not a good idea for bigger projects.

I purchased on of these at Lowes for $90. Initially I attempted to used it in the horizontal position. With only very light pressure the speed would slow down drasticaly. When I removed the piece of wood I was working on the belt speed remained reduced and the motor began to smoke. On attempting to restart the motor the rpm's remained low and I shut it off before it started smoking again. I had to start the sander with the belt disengaged and then re-engage the belt. On attempting to use the sander in a vertical position, I found that the platen would not stay vertical to the table surface. There was about 10 degrees of play in it. When I returned it to Lowes the tool manager showed me in the operating instrucions that the platen is set to vertical with respect to the FINGER GUARD, not the table. I couldn't believe it. Delta expects you to use the 1 inch wide finger guard and not the table as a work surface when sanding at 90 deg.. Pathetic. Thank goodness Lowes took it back in retun or I would have had a very expensive boat anchor.

I got this unit to sand 2 x 4 cedar for a play set. I got the unit home and desovered that half the wholes for the guards were not threaded. So I spent an hour tapping them and assembling the guards. Then I plugged it in and.....nothing.
I returned it and got a new unit, within 10min the belt was slipping and a strong smell of burning rubber was smelled. then I had to hand turn the belt when switching on the unit to get it started.
It has a cheap clutch and a cheap motor. save your money and buy somthing better like the Model 31-695 (That is what I plan on doing)

Seeing as how I paid under $80 for my unit at a holiday closeout/clearance sale in a local home center, my rating of "5 Stars" is directly relevant to that key fact. Well-packed from the factory, easy to assembly, minimal adjustments required, good instruction book. Really light in weight given it's size and it's reasonably quiet too. Low or no vibration and I used mine clamped onto a B&D Workmate with no problems. The miter and fence assemly is a bit too loose in the track and so it has a tendency to slip right out. But, once I realized it did, I was more deliberate using it and didn't have any further problems with it. I did not experience any problems with the belt portion during operation -- no walking or chatter. It did a really good job of sanding a 6" cutdown piece of Douglas Fir rough planking. The end result was a very smooth, uniform surface all the way around including the ends. All-in-all, this is a well-made and very solid-performing, low-priced piece of equipment for a small, cramped and tight-budgeted shop like mine. Be mindful of your actual needs and your means when choosing this type of unit. It's probably not a wise choice for heavy or frequent use.

This is an extremely important addition to the Performax 16-32 drum sander that doesn't compare to an otherwise well designed machine. The installation is relatively easy, two bolts on either side to mount the side brackets. The trick is to get the tables flat corresponding to the conveyor belt. After raising and lowering the tables and brackets several times I managed to get them close, but not where I wanted them, which is dead on. As a previous reviewer stated, they have a tendency to trail off (down) at the ends away from the machine, which makes them almost useless. Take it from a guy who has owned both the Performax and the Delta: you are still better off with the Performax. This item should be at least close right out of the box, and perfect with a few adjustments, but I'll have to settle for close.

These are the most irritating part of buying a Performax 16-32 Drum Sander. First of all, they aren't included with the sander. One of those hidden gotcha's that you always run into with big power tools. Secondly, they are a &^%$! to align and keep aligned. I have no good advice here. You just keep trying until, suddenly, everything works. And third, they aren't as ridgid as something in this price range should be.

The fourth irritating fact is that you really do need them. Without, you are always at risk of uneven or off level feed with anything larger than a chessboard. And nothing is worse than having your drum sander convert hours of painstaking work into sawdust. Avoid the expense at your own risk. I suppose you could build a stationary sanding table for the beast that would make these unnecessary, but if you are like me and whell things about this is the only option in town.

With trepidation due to the older, negative reviews, I ordered these and installed them this evening. Took me maybe 45 minutes from opening the box to aligning them dead-on flat with the conveyor table using a straight-edge clamped first to one side, then the other for each of the two tables.

Compared with how much time I saved drum sanding my first set of edge-glued panels, or for that matter installing and tuning jointer knives, my least favorite shop chore, it's a no-brainer.

It's too early to say whether I'll have to re-adjust frequently, but if the alignment slips to easily, I'll try sanding the mating surfaces a bit for better purchase.

Flimsy? Yeah I wish they were made of iron like my table saw wings, but this is a portable machine for me. They're about the same weight as my planer infeed/outfeed tables, and those have never been a problem.