# Crude but useful - 4 stars for hobby use, 2 stars for professional



## timbertailor (Jul 2, 2014)

What a great review. I wish everyone took the time to cover all the bases, in detail.

I own a Delta and it has served me well for many years but to keep things in context, this type of tool is still a rather "blunt instrument", no matter who makes it. If you keep that in mind, I think you will find that it will do what it is supposed to, nothing more.

Welcome to Lumber Jocks!


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## MarkDavisson (Apr 26, 2009)

"vestigial oddity" !!!

Ok, I had to look that one up! LOL!


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## robertb574 (Jan 12, 2011)

I bought one 5 years ago. I am pleased with it. It tracks true. No wobble. No parts have come loose. It has run continuously without overheating. It is not bolted to the table and does not vibrate enough to move around. I did have to spend some extra time to set the table at a 90 degree angle to the disk sander. Other than that, setup was easy.

It was bought originally to put a bevel on plane blades of planes being restored. It saw heavier use the first two years. Now it is only used occasionally (mainly on wood). For the hobbyist that I am, it has been a very satisfactory machine.


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## Gene01 (Jan 5, 2009)

I used the heck out of one for several years, with few complaints. Then I got a deal on a refurb for my Shopsmith and gave the HF sander to my son. He's been using it for a few years and it's still doing the job.


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## Tennessee (Jul 8, 2011)

This is a great review and welcome to lumberjocks!
That being said, I owned one of these a few years back - maybe I got a bad one but the power issues were overwhelming for me. My belt was not slipping, my motor just could not keep up. Ended up selling it off at a garage sale and went back to my very old Delta, which finally died from bad bearings and other issues. Sold them all off at a garage sale and bought a Powertec BD6900 which has its own problems, but has been a horse.

I would like to have another one in the shop, maybe I need to revisit this tool. They change suppliers from time to time on the same model, and once in a while, things do get better.


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## Lee77 (Feb 15, 2015)

I have one too, going on maybe 5 or 6 years. I too had to tighten the drive belt to keep from stalling. But after that, no complaints. Better sanding belts does make it work a whole lot better!! Haven't had any bolts or nuts fall off. Just recently had to purchase a new scroll saw, so I kept the base and mounted my HF sander to it. And one day will get a spindle/drum sander and mount it on the side of the combo sander.


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## wolfinator (Feb 11, 2015)

Thanks for the kind words, guys!

I'm glad other people have found these sanders to be durable. That's the one thing you can't easily test or discern from most reviews. And HF always makes me a little nervous about that with their 90 day "warranty".

So now I'm more optimistic this guy will hang around for a while.


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## wolfinator (Feb 11, 2015)

> I used the heck out of one for several years, with few complaints. Then I got a deal on a refurb for my Shopsmith and gave the HF sander to my son. He s been using it for a few years and it s still doing the job.
> 
> - Gene Howe


Funny - I was drooling over the Shopsmith belt sander this past weekend. Then I saw the price, and had a heart palpitation.

How do you like yours? Worth it?


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## BTimmons (Aug 6, 2011)

I used that exact sander for the better part of a year getting my comb business off the ground. It wasn't ideal, but I was able to make it work. Dust collection as it's built in to the unit itself isn't all that great, so I had to get really creative.


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## cmmyakman (Feb 16, 2011)

"As I was dialing in the tracking, a nut came flying off!!"

That line made me laugh out loud!


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## gfadvm (Jan 13, 2011)

We need more reviewers like you! You told it all after giving it a trial. I have returned HF tools WAY beyond the 90 day period with no problems.


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## wormil (Nov 19, 2011)

Great review, very detailed, and humorous to boot.


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## ssnvet (Jan 10, 2012)

This was a very good and detailed review.


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## Steve_W (Mar 12, 2014)

Great review!


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## Purrmaster (Sep 1, 2012)

Glad to hear you've had more luck with it than mine. Have you had to change the sanding belt yet? I've found this to be a tedious operation. Fortunately I don't have to do it very often.

I can't keep the mitre/sanding table properly aligned with the disc. It just will not happen. I've never had a problem with the disc itself being wobbly.


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## wolfinator (Feb 11, 2015)

> Glad to hear you ve had more luck with it than mine. Have you had to change the sanding belt yet? I ve found this to be a tedious operation. Fortunately I don t have to do it very often.


I have yet to change the belt. I've been using one of those magic eraser thingies on my belt, which seems to be keeping it going for a while.

The process looks very tedious, though. I probably wouldn't have bought this if I thought I'd want to move between belt grits…


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## crawdaddy (May 19, 2014)

Got the same one, I had the belt slip problem the first day but tightened belt to fix it. The only problem is on cold days I have to push start the rotating.


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## Blackie_ (Jul 10, 2011)

I've had two but wasn't so lucky with either, a great review and I can understand monies being a restraint this being functional for a hobbyist , I wish you all the luck with it.


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## BanjoBen (Dec 8, 2015)

I got one of these a few weeks ago too. I can't say I'm very impressed with it. The issues I've had are:

It vibrates while running.
The disc wobbles a bit. It's not terrible, but definitely there.
I had to bend one piece of metal to get the belt to track straight.
Power is lacking. I can easily stop the belt with only hand pressure on a small piece of wood.
The plastic cover behind the fence broke within a day.

Still, I bought it knowing what I was getting: a dirt-cheap sander. For the money I feel I can't complain too much, since the sander does the job I got it to do. Since I got it I've found enough uses for it that I will purchase a higher quality version of this tool once this one dies.

Anyway, this is a nice review that evaluates the tool fairly. My opinion is that it will work for light use, but if you can afford it, I'd look for something better.


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## CB_Cohick (Dec 22, 2014)

I have had one of these HF combo sanders for a couple months now, and I use it often. I use it often enough that I am ready to replace it. The odd sized dust collection ports make this thing a nuisance if you use it frequently as I have been doing. I have not found anything that I can connect to it. I will probably replace this with a Grizzley G0547 and give the HF sander to one of my kids. Otherwise, it does fine for a disposable tool.


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