sand flea - Sand Flee SF1800 (Rating: 1)

This has been nothing but a $700 paperweight.

The Sandflee is an expensive unit compared to the model the inventor in Canada sells. However its made of steel and looks more of a real shop fixture. So I bought it.

The build looked good out of the box. Very simple metal box. What they do not tell you is you really need to mount this to a bench. The unit is not something you could move on and off the bench as the motor to box connection is not solid. They call it the "portable 18" drum sander". I built a dedicated bench with wheels for it and gave it its own little corner of the shop. This was a big mistake as the motor lasted about 45 minutes. I sanded a few pieces messing with table to get it level and then tried to flatten a mahogany guitar body I glued up. It was pretty flat already I just wanted to clean it up. The motor seized in the middle of it. Not totally but just ground to a halt and slowly chugged thru. Of course this is no way to get even surface results.

Seems the motor is not strong enough to take any downward pressure at all. This is bad. If I cannot push a 4 lb 13" wide piece of mahogany thru than we have problems. By push I mean push it accross the table not downwards. Just the weight of the wood was all it tool to stall the motor. The whole point of buying the 18" version was to sand flat wide pieces. Why offer an 18" unti that cannot do a 13" W by 18" long guitar body? That's not exactly stressing dimension.

I also bought the keyless chuck the offer for the side. I attached a sand mop just like Sand Flee does in their web demos and tried sanding some trim. It bogged right down. Geez … this motor is weak.

I set the unit up to factory spec. Lowered the table just to the point it will catch a piece of scrap and push it back. We're talking a few thousands. So the unit is incapable of taking a few thousandths without stalling midway.

I contacted RJR who makes the Sandflee and they said they had motor problems and will replace it. Fine. 2 weeks later a motor is on the way. I had to email a few times to get the fire burning on that action. When it arrives I plug it in and guess what? Seized motor. Thanks so much for sending a dead motor to replace the faulty one.

What a waste of my time. For the premium price tag I expect a working machine but that appears too much to ask.

This is probably the worst tool purchase in recent time for my shop. It's now the shop joke as space it at a premium and here is this shinny metal "bench" with no purpose that cost more than its neighbor, the OSS we use daily. Bumping into the non working machine to use the working one is a daily reminder. Of course breaking out the $99 random orbit to do panels while starring at the useless $700 Sandflee is another frustration.

I liked the idea and was willing pay the price for the premium steel unit but I didn't receive anything premium. For its price you think I'd get a working motor. Nope. Then at least they would check the replacement right? Nope. Just send a motor someone else likely returned. C'mon guys, seriously.

I really wanted to like this tool. But pathetic is all I can say.