Grizzly - H2936 Downdraft Sanding Table (Rating: 4)

Last year I had a real problem breathing when I had to do prolonged periods of sanding during the winter months with the shop closed up tight to retain heat. I first though about getting a Trend Airshield but the weight sitting on top of my head during use wasn't very comfortable so I started thinking seriously about a downdraft table. I wanted the Denray brand but the prices were more than I could afford and looked at the Grizzly models.

Grizzlys pricing was more affordable and the shipping was very reasonable so I went ahead with Grizzly. True to form Grizzly was quick about shipping and UPS Freight managed to deliver it unscathed. The truck backed up to the dock and my helper and I got it down and into the shop with no problem. Once in the shop unpacking was a breeze and it was up and running in under 30 minutes.

Once plugged in the squirrel cage motor wasn't as quiet as I had expected, making a loud racket so I opened the right side door to look at the motor to see if something was amiss. The motor is held on to the fan housing with four mounting bolts. One was missing entirely and the other three were just about to fall off as well. Once the missing bolt was reinstalled and the other three were tightened the noise was dramatically lessened.

The major difference between Grizzly and Denray, other than price was the filtering mechanics. Denray uses reusable and cleanable cloth sleeves where Grizzly uses furnace filters. Both are cleanable but the Denray should be more long lasting and easier to clean inside the table. But I am very happy with the amount of dust and debris the Grizzly table captures in the pull-out tray under the table. That dust that isn't in the air for me to breath.

Denray uses a neoprene covering in the table to keep the work from moving around. I have seen older Denray machines and the neoprene is still good after a lot of years. Grizzly uses rubber grommets to support the work and provide airflow. The problem there is when the grommets get dusty they tend not to hold as well and sometimes the work will slip around when using a belt sander.

All-in-all the Grizzly is a good value for a downdraft table. The things keeping it from being a 5 star machine is the problems with the motor not being tight after being transported from Taiwan, some thread lock would have gone a long way to keep them tight, the filters need to be more like the Denray and get more of the finer particles and the rubber grommets tend to get dusty and let the work slip. I might have a need for a second table in the future and I can say for sure I will strongly consider another Grizzly downdraft table.