# The Ultimate Orbital Polisher - Gem Industries Takes on Wood!



## jussdandy

good review Eric, I have sold Jem's for a few years. never even thought about it for wood. I sell it to the solid surface guys, only have the micron and scotchbrite pads in stock for it. but do have guys asking for a better orbital sander with out the swirls on the wood side. Thanks


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## donbee

What is the price of the machine?
I tried to find it, but I guess I don't know where to look.
It looks spendy!


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## a1Jim

Interesting


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## Karson

The price is shown as $500.00 on the Gem site.

That is with the dust shroud.


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## donbee

Mmm mmmm.

Gulp.


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## EricMSaperstein

Gem started into the "wood" line if I remember right about two years ago - mainly but adding a flexible pad and a dust shroud. The machine itself can drive anything that can velcro to the pad its just a heavy duty motor and an orbital gear base.

We found it through Woodworkers Supply - but you can buy directly from Gem as well. It comes from Gem with the dust shroud installed, from Woodworkers Supply it does not come installed.

Definitely not an underpowered machine - but very easy to control. It's like running a hovercraft of sorts - just floats over the surface.


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## jussdandy

I will not be back to the shop till Monday, dont remember the price but its nowhere near 500.00 ive got it with and without the shield so Im sure a lot of other places does also. I will post the price Monday, barring me having a senior momment.


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## EricMSaperstein

We're not setup with a large capacity compressor, really actually need to upgrade that one of these days / blue moons. We have an old geese can't remember the name of it about 1940'ish …. QUINCY that's it …. the only piece of equipment left from my grandfather's auto parts business. Kind of sentimental … so we hang on it to it, I think it's 4CFM and been putting that out for 70 some odd years now.

I believe list price is around $500 as some others have stated. I don't see the reason to go with air personally. If you go with a dust system vs. a shop vac it's quiet and easy to control. Air to me seems like it's an extra step, we make electric into air pressure then air pressure into power. Why not just power the machine with electric?

In a spray booth given the explosive situation OK then I can see air vs. electric …


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## Innovator

Eric, great review

Thanks


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## Jimi_C

Wow, based on the review I expected this to be in the $1000-2000 range. If you're running a large production shop, $500 is nothing compared to what you pay for some other tools!


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## EricMSaperstein

Yes - the overall tag compared to most pieces of equipment is far from anything extreme! The average basic piece of equipment even in a small shop is $2,000+ ...

A wide belt sander capable of doing tabletops that we produce would run $35,000 … alternate would be a stroke sander for around $5,000. Either would still leave cross grain sanding marks where this does not.

CNC planing took a few hours to complete and if you don't have machine it will run you $50-$100/hr depending on the service rate you have when you outsource. CNC planing takes off a significant amount of material as well, and it leaves large round swirl marks and depressions that are a major pain to get out. We ended up having to belt sand by hand then scrape. Not to mention hauling a 250lb tabletop from point A to point B then back to point A.

One tabletop easily covers the cost of the machine all said and done from our perspective.

The Gem buffer as Barry mentioned does have quite a long standing reputation in the auto industry. It's also gained a large following in solid surface. Wood is the next obvious frontier, I'm actually very surprised it didn't move in this direction sooner.


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## cmaxnavy

Eric:
Fantastic post! I'm equally impressed with your wonderful table designs - just superb! Max


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## jussdandy

OK for fun I checked the price I can sell the Gem sanders for.
BWH $275.00 1 in stock no shroud
BWH-S with shroud $398.00 0 in stock but can easly get


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## EricMSaperstein

OK Great so $398.00 - even better … this is a no brainier guys if you do any kind of surface prep work in solid wood, solid surface, metal, stone - $398.00 is nothing for this tool. It'll earn its keep in one or two jobs!

Thanks for the feedback on the review! More to follow as time allows - things are a bit out of the norm lately, time limited and creative ability a bit stifled as a result.


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## EricMSaperstein

So - I'm curious - who decided to go ahead with an order this week? I figure some of you by now already have to have one of these polishers in hand?


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## EricMSaperstein

http://www.artisansofthevalley.com/docs/gemindustries_sanderdemo_HQ.mp4 - We did a short video clip this summer of the use of the Gem Sander on one of our pieces. They used it for a trade show and it'll appear on their website soon if it hasn't already!


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## NBeener

Haven't seen you in a ********************'s age, Eric !

Thanks for that review.

For the first time ever, I took my Porter-Cable random orbit, dual-action polisher to the tapered display tower I built.

I'm a convert. It did a GREAT job, using (in this case, Howard's Citrus Shield) paste wax.


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## EricMSaperstein

Artisans is now a retailer for Gem Industries - if any of you guys are interested in this machine let us know!


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