Many of the Festool on line dealers will ship for free. Regaudless of who you buy from it will be the same price. Festool has a 30 day money back guarantee. No commitment if you don't like it. Agressive enough? I have owned a couple of belt sanders and still have one but even my old right angle PC ROS would give the belt sander a run for the money. My Rotex will certainly keep up. And as mentioned before, dust is pretty much a non issue. AND way way way quieter than a belt sander.
"Larry Jaques" wrote
Remember the old Black and Decker cords? They plugged into all their tools and came in different lengths, If you damaged one of them, you just unplugged it and plugged in another cord. Then repair the old one. And the could be used as extension cords too.
That was back in the day when black and decker actually made good tools.
"Leon" wrote
You're a helluva salesman, Leon. LOL I have and "old" right angle PC ROS and using 80 grit, it won't compete with a 120 belt on my Elu. The dust issue will probably be the clincher though.
Max
That's ok for the saw and some things, generally a nuisance w/ belt sander, at least for my habits...
In general, I don't find them a problem, much...this particular one is particularly perverse for some reason--I think it has to do w/ it comes off at a downward angle too low to the surface and that it is so pliable it almost immediately is on the surface and is directly in line w/ the sander. Since it is _so_ pliable, when pulling the sander back towards one, it doesn't push the cord ahead but it grabs/sticks on the surface being sanded and before ya' know it, you've caught it. The point at which one has to hold it is so close to the sander that it makes free-flowing movement w/ the sander a pita.
I keep saying I'm going to rig up a spring holder or something but never do... :(
_I_ hate stuff I can't reach easily when I want to... :)
--
I was getting B&D back in the 60's, when the detachable cords came out I saw "that" as beginning of the decline... ;~(
Oh yeah, they definitely went through a decline.
But back in the day, when I was young and poor, they did good work for me. I used to go to the factory service center and buy the reconditioned tools. Big bang for the buck. I still have one or two of those tools in my garage, almost 40 years later.
I used to build a lot of rustic furniture. I needed to drill lots of holes and sand those planks down. I was buying drills and sanders for $10 - $25. And they would last for a couple years or so.
My first B&D drill and jigsaw, saber saw then, were Christmas presents when I was 11. I got rid of the jig saw but still have the drill for a dedicated set up. 8 years later I bought a B&D router, age 19, which I still have. About 4~5 years later I bought my last 2 B&D finish sanders and a belt sander. I don't know when I got rid of the finish sanders 20 or so years ago, but still have the belt sander which gets used about once every 10 years.
Russell-
But ... DO you wear a helmet, when using your belt sander ?
Sorry. Your name was familiar from the bicycling forums ;-)
I have a B&D router that I got some time in the '70s. Somewhere along the way I put it in a Porter-Cable plunge base. Would still be working if the armature hadn't grabbed my former ponytail (I now have a #3 buzz cut) through the air vents. I suspect that if I tear it down and pull the hair out it will still work fine, but I needed a working router to finish a job that day so went out and got a new Dewalt and haven't felt the urge to tear the old one down.
Earplugs and safety glasses. You have to fit the safety equipment to the task. Probably should wear some kind of breathing gear too since you do create dust with the belt sander.
On Thu, 15 Apr 2010 06:55:40 -0600, the infamous "Max" scrawled the following:
I wonder if they even _sell_ 32-grit boulder paper for them thangs.
In any case, a planah is what you need, not a belt sandah.
On Thu, 15 Apr 2010 11:32:17 -0500, the infamous "Leon" scrawled the following:
Ditto. An old B&D jigsaw and belt sandah sit on my shelf, ready for use. If you need a shop shelf, cut the board with an axe or B&D jigsaw, shorten to length with the sandah, and put 'em up.
And my old B&D 7614 is a 1/4", 1.5hp, rack&pinion/micrometer fed routah which I can adjust to within a RCH. I've always loved that old beastie.
But I keep the B&D 3/8 VSR drill (now with HF 1/2" keyed chuck) in the truck for the times I need to drill lags for ledgerboards, or when I run out of batteries.
"Larry Jaques" wrote
(Sigh)
Max
My old jig saw was all metal and no tilt shoe. The drill frame is metal with a plastic handle, single speed, 1/4", keyed chuck, and forward only.
Mine be earlier as it only has 3/4" hp and is all metal except for the plastic handles and bottom of the base. I was never very fond of the rack and pinion on my model as it used a wing nut to fix the adjustment but unfortunately tightening the wing nut would readjust the depth. It is my go to router for triming laminate. where the bottom bearing laminate bit is not so fussy about depth settings.
On Fri, 16 Apr 2010 12:05:42 -0500, the infamous "Leon" scrawled the following:
Both considerably older than mine. My jigsaur has a custome plastique body and I don't think the shoe is -designed- to tilt, anyway.
Mine has an eccentric lever for lock. It doesn't change the setting.
I think I'll try the little Griz H7791 trim-routah for laminate the next time I cut'n'trim some. A lighter routah is better for precision like that.
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