The story is referenced by FWW #188 which is still on the shelves. If you want to read the story go to your local Barnes and Noble. No membership required there.
Gary or anyone else interested, can either go to Barnes and Noble and read the article or he can buy a membership if interested. I also posted again with the results from the review article.
Larry, you have to be a member to read it online.
Robert,
I went to Home Depot yesterday to look at the Ridgid. I must say I'm disappointed that the only place to buy this is from Home Depot, and I also did not see any supplies for the Ridgid there ( a complaint I had seen on a review elsewhere) Where do you get you supplies for this sander?
Gary
Leuf
I looked at the Wilton, and it seems identical to the Grizzly. And the price is no longer $100, but $149, identical to the Grizzly. Are these sanders manufactured by the same company and just rebranded? Where do you get supplies for your Wilton? Does it have a plastic table?
The other sander I am leaning towards is the Ridgid, because of the high marks by FWW, convertible belt sander, 3/4" miter slot. It does not take 3" drums, but I got the impression you had trouble with that size on your sander.
Thanks for your assistance.
Gary
Ridgid is the Home Depot house brand for stationary power tools.
The sleeves are a standard size--Ryobi, Delta, Grizzly, etc 4-1/2" long sleeves all work fine. The belts are also standard 4x24 belts. The Ryobi sleeves that Home Depot sells as a set are about as inexpensive as you're going to get. The brands don't need to match any more than drill bits have to be the same brand as drills.
If all else fails, Klingspor has both belts and sleeves.
The spindles and belts seem like standard items sold at any decent woodworking supplier, or mail order places like Klingspoor or Amazon.
With regard to 3 inch drums, the diameter of the big end of the belt transport is 3 inches if you really need that radius available for anything.
The larger the spindle, the faster it will sand and is less likely to gouge. I find that I use the 3" drum more than all others combined by a ratio of probably of 5 to 1. I was not sure about the larger 3" spindle when buying my sander, it's was an optional accessory, but I am very glad I got it. It comes in handy when doing jobs other than sanding inside radiuses.
Learn to use the wrenches. They give you twice the leverage with one hand. Having used tools with spindle locks and those that require 2 wrenches, I much prefer the 2 wrench tools.
Leverage
Use a wrench to hold the spindle or drum.
OOps, I am not real familiar with this sander. I don't know if you use 2 wrenches to remove the spindles or not.
There is one wrench and no place to put a second one (that I have found) .
Part of my reason for posting is this hope that someone will say "You idiot, you just need to stick the burfl in the whozzit".
-Steve
Despite having to keep up with two wrenches, I've never understood the mania for spindle locks on routers either. It takes two hands to tighten/untighten spindle lock equipped routers, a task much easier and more quickly done with two wrenches in one hand.
Considering the number of folks who haven't figured that out, a "how to" should probably be in the product manual.
I prefer spindle lock routers, especially my table-mounted DW 621.
-- Mark
On my older BOSS, you only need one wrench to change the spindles.
There is absolutely NO need for a spindle lock on this tool as the tension on the spindle to attach it, as well as to expand it to keep the paper from slipping, is adjusted with the single wrench on top, and one hand holding the spindle, and not much torque is needed.
There must be something wrong with one that does, or else Delta has "upgraded" the product, breaking it in the process ... a not unlikely scenario considering their recent history.
That is a situation that warrants a spindle lock. When the router is fixed under a table top and you have to use the wrenches below the table. Loose on top of a table, spindle locks require too much grabbing, holding, and working against the hand with the wrench. I have a Triton router with spindle lock and do above the table bit changes. I would prefer above the table with 2 wrenches. I still have to brace my self when working with 1 wrench. With 2 wrenches I just squeeze my hand closed.
My sander cautions not to over tighten the spindle as the spin direction tightens the spindle.
Same with the BOSS ... the nut is reverse threaded.
My penance for failure to bite into the "router lift" $yndrome with my 7518 is to use two wrenches on top of the table for bit changes, and a pair of water pump pliers to get the damn nut loosened on the motor sleeve after it gets hot ... which it indeed does.
I can live with all that better than I can with that #$(%U#POS spindle lock on my Bosch Colt. ;)
And the link given was to an online site, not a magazine rack :-).
Makes a serviceable thickness sander for up to 4" stock, too. The big drum's handy then.
They've got to be made by the same company. i know wilton is part of the same company as Jet. Same price as the griz, but qualifies for free shipping which the griz doesn't. I think I got most of my spindles from rockler, except for the 1/2" which I think I got from grizzly. As others have noted, it's a standard size so you can shop around. The only sizes I use are 1/2",1", and 2". I don't really see the point in stocking the in between sizes. The spindles do last a really long time.
The table is melamine, there is a plastic ring that the metal inserts sit in. Once I got everything shimmed level it hasn't really been an issue, and I don't see any wear on the table. I do once in a while get a workpiece that is just the right size to get caught on the edge of the ring. I will probably end up taking a couple pieces of 1/4" baltic birch, laminate them and drill a 2" hole in one and a 1" in the other and just have it drop over the whole table so it's a completely smooth surface, but it hasn't been enough of an issue to get around to it, and I do use it a lot.
Yeah. When you tighten the nut down the washers make the rubber drum expand a little at the top and bottom and that keeps the sleeve from coming off. I just couldn't make that happen with the 3" drum. If I used a ratchet instead of the little wrench maybe I could do it. For the type of work I do it wasn't worth exploring, the 2" works for me. If you anticipate using the 3" a lot i think you're better off with a larger machine anyway. I didn't like the way Jet sells the 3" as an expensive accessory.
-Leuf
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