An awesome sander at an awesome price.

Good review. :)
That’s a capable machine if the table is big enough for you.

It’s still made but with other labels on it instead of ryobi.

-- He who dies with the most tools... dies with the emptiest wallet.

Same machine with the Central Machinery label on it goes for $129.99 at Harbor Freight.

Triton used to market the same thing about $250.00

Popular rig for sure.

-- Manufacturer of fine quality sawdust since 1984. Comments and advice on my shop welcome. Check it out at http://lumberjocks.com/dbhost/workshop. Gladly accepting shop build donations!

I have one of the Harbor Freight units. Caught it on sale for $89 just before it went up to a little over $100, now it’s $129. Seems like it jumped up pretty fast, at least at my store.
I agree, it’s a pretty good unit, and takes the same drums as the Rigid sander with the belt unit. My only complaint is the dust collection is SO good, sometimes your work stops at certain points, being sucked down by the holes in the dust collection plate that surrounds the sanding drum. Other than that, it’s a very good sander.

-- Paul, Tennessee, http://www.tsunamiguitars.com

Great review! Might consider getting this one.

AJ

-- If I can do it.....so can you! -AJswoodshop

Thanks for the review! I find myself using my Ridgid Belt/Spindle Sander much more than I ever thought I would.

Nice scrore. For 25 who could pass i up. I had one for a while and wore it out quckly and upgraded to a Jet. Well done.

-- Ken, "Everyday above ground is a good day!"

I bought the same one at Home Depot, maybe 5-6 years ago and have gotten lots of use from it. It’s a nice little sander. My only gripe is that the on/off switch could’ve been on the wide side of the table, so you don’t have to reach around to flip it off.

I purchased the last one at a Home Depot a couple of years back for $67. A very good tool that I get a lot of use out of. The on/off switch became a bit oddly worn some time ago (causing the spindle speed to vary at times), but I took the switch apart, cleaned and filed it, and after putting it back together the unit worked fine. The switch seems to be the only weak point, but I think that is the case with a lot of hobby-grade tools, because I even had one stick in the on position with a table saw some time back. Taking it apart and cleaning and filing it fixed that problem, too. I know that Grizzly offers such switches for sale, so maybe they are not all that durable in the first place.

Howard Ferstler

Actually, I think the Ryobi table is somewhat larger than HF’s. I have one, but have set it aside now that I have the Ridgid spindle/belt sander. I’d keep the Ryobi, but my shop is crowded as it is.