Customer Reviews

JET 708404 JBOS-5 5-1/2 Inch 1/2 Horsepower Benchtop Oscillating Spindle Sander with Spindle Assortment, 110-Volt 1 Phase

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

*Skip to bottom of review for update*

I've had a Delta BOSS spindle sander for ~5 years and it worked well until the motor burned out. Repairing it would cost almost as much as a new one, and even if repaired its longevity was questionable (other than that I've been pleased with its performance), so I looked for a replacement and settled on the Jet. I've used the Jet and it does the job intended. However, it has some areas in which it could be easily improved. Following are some comparisons between the Jet and the Delta.

1) The Jet is slightly quieter than the Delta, but not a lot - neither is a loud tool.

2) The Delta's round table is larger than the Jet's square one. The Jet's table is beefier (the Delta's never showed any tendency to flex).

3) The Delta's base is plastic, while the Jet is all metal. The feet for the Delta are molded into its base, with non-skid rubber inserts attached - all four of the molded feet are cracked, though this never caused a problem. The Jet has non-slip feet as well, and given the construction I don't think they'll be cracking or breaking off.

4) The Delta's mechanism is simple and looked robust enough. I've read that people have had problems with the nylon drive gear - I did not. However, the cover for the gears broke off at some point.

5) The Delta's steel table inserts fit around the spindles well (one for each spindle), with a pattern cut into them to improve dust collection. Delta has modified the BOSS since, and I don't know if its inserts are still steel. There are fewer inserts (also steel) for the Jet (one size is used for multiple spindles). The table inserts in the Jet aren't flush with the cast iron table top, necessitating shimming them.

6) The Delta has storage for all its accessories. The Jet has storage for some of its accessories. There's storage for the spindles and inserts, but no provision for storing the supplied wrenches required for changing the spindles. Also, there's no storage for the optional 3" spindle and insert. The Jet's insert holder slots are too narrow for the inserts to slip into (they can be forced). Some filing of the holder would correct this for the most part, but the mounting bolts will restrict the depth to which the insert can fit in the innermost slot. Some of the holes in the spindle holder are too small for the spindle to seat into completely.

7) The Delta comes with the full range of spindles (up the 3"). The Jet comes with smaller sizes (down to 1/4"), but the 3" spindle is a costly add-on (and its insert is extra).

8) The Delta is almost too tall while sitting on the benchtop (I'm 5' 9"). The Jet is ~3" taller, so it's too tall for benchtop use for me. I built it a rolling stand that puts it at a more comfortable height. This also solved the problem of lifting the Jet onto the bench - it weighs considerably more than the Delta.

9) The Jet's spindles are ~1" longer than the Delta's, but given the Jet's tilting table feature, in normal (right angle) use the extra length is lost, and the capacities of these sanders are similar.

10) The Delta's dust collection is efficient (when hooked up to a shop vacuum or dust collector - the bag is useless). The Jet is much more open underneath (between the table and the base, to accommodate the tilt feature), so dust collection suffers. I've experimented with some thin plastic sheeting to enclose this volume better). Both tools have odd-sized dust ports.

11) The Jet has twice the horsepower of the Delta (1/2 versus 1/4), but I never bogged down the Delta (these are fairly aggressive sanders, so light pressure is the norm). The Delta's motor is an open design (i.e., dust can get in) with no built-in fan, whereas the Jet has a TEFC motor.

12) The Jet costs ~$150 more than the Delta.

Bottom line: The Jet is a more solidly built machine, and appears to be constructed for the long haul. It has some rough edges that, if corrected, would take it from "very good" to "excellent". Given the extra $150 cost compared to the Delta, Jet should make these corrections. Even as is I'd classify it as a "keeper". The Delta is a decent machine for the money, but my experience with the motor kept me from buying another like it. I own a number of Delta tools (stationary and benchtop), many 15 years old or more, and this is the first failure I've experienced with one.

*Update 4/2007*

I've used the Jet sander for 2 years and I'm still pleased with it - no mechanical problems whatsoever.

The thin plastic sheeting mentioned above works fine for improving the dust collection so I have continued to use it.

I considered trying to adapt the spindles and sleeves from the Delta to the Jet, primarily so I could use the Delta's 3" spindle. The Delta would fit on one of the Jet's smaller diameter solid metal spindles (the sleeve length difference has to be addressed). However, I couldn't get the sleeve off the Jet's spindle. I didn't want to cut it off, so I gave up and bought the 3" spindle and insert. The 3" size is just too useful to pass up. It's also overpriced and should be standard equipment. Oh well.

With the 3" spindle and insert the storage problem became a real headache, so I removed the two shelves that came with the Jet and built two larger ones out of oak and mounted them where the metal shelves had been. The new shelves are the same length, but are slightly wider (they don't protrude any further out than the table top). As with the metal shelves, one side holds the spindles and the other the inserts. On the insert side I also made provision to hold the two wrenches. Metal angle brackets, bent to match the shape of the sander body, hold the new shelves in place. This is a vast improvement to the stock shelves.

I too want to thank all the contributors who took the time to write a review on this great machine. It definitly influenced my decision to buy the Jet JBOS5. The table on mine was perfect right out of the box and only required getting the shipping gunk off before it was ready to use. It is very quiet while running and has no noticeable vibration. It is heavy enough to not need clamping to the work table while in use. I use the smaller spindles more than the larger one's and have not had a problem with bending them as some of the reviewers have. I make a lot of Bandsaw box's and this tool makes sanding the inside of the drawer cavities a dream. Can't believe I spent the last few years sanding them by hand. The built in dust collection system seems to work ok, still end up with a little dust on the table but the majority of it goes out the hose. I made some inserts to use with the smaller spindles (plexiglas) but the ones that come with the machine are certainly adequate to the task. I haven't felt the need for the 3" spindle as I don't do much furniture work, but this machine has plenty of "ummph" to power a spindle of that size if necessary. I have reccommended it to several friends and would reccommend it to anyone. It definitly is a cut above the delta and ryobi offerings.

UPDATE....Nov 2004....I've had this machine for over a year now and am still impressed with it's performance. Can't even estimate how many board feet of wood this sander has cleaned up. Anyone who has tried to sand out bandsaw blade marks on the inside of a box will come to love this thing. I recently purchased an extra set of spindles, so I can have two grit's available. Changing spindles is easier and faster than changing grit size on the spindles. Kind of a spendy way to go, but it has speeded up my production quite a bit. Still haven't bought the 3" but may do that soon. Got some "furniture" projects coming up and it will be very handy. Have had zero problems with this machine and I use it a lot. Still highly recommend it.

October 2006..Yep another update..finally got the 3" drum and insert. Well worth the money, find myself using it a lot. Highly reccomend.

This sander kicks. I got the first one, and for some reason, the motor was off center, so it was much closer to the edge of one of the rings. It must have been an assembly problem. It's brand new, so rather than fuss with it, I called Amazon, and they promptly sent a replacement. That is why I deal with Amazon. On to the new sander.
This is a heavy, approx 80 pound, cast iron top, benchtop sander. The cast iron top is rock solid, smooth, straight, and even all the way across it's ground polished surface. I'm a critical nut, use a dial caliper to measure things, use the Incra table saw fence, which is accurate to within .002" inch. So when I talk about this Jet sander, keep that in mind.
Right out of the box, I used the Bosch digital protractor (another highly recommended item) which measures angles in tenths of a degree. (Equal to 3600 dots in a circle), and the spindle was accurate to within 7/10ths of one degree at the most extreme angle, and within 1 or 2/10ths of a degree at the others. So you could say right out of the box it was not off by even one degree. The best you can expect to get for measuring an upright metal shaft, with an expandable thick rubber tube, designed to squash out to hold a circular sleeve of sandpaper. For all intents and purposes, that it dead on. :-)
This does not pertain to the built in rule, you use to set the top to 90 degree, 45 degrees, or whatever tilting angle you may choose. After you perfectly set the top with any 90 degree square, it is advisable to loosen the setting screw, and fine adjust the pointer. See mention of this farther into the review.
It would be a lot easier to simply say, this Jet Benchtop Oscillating Spindle Sander is perfectly dead on, but then again, perfect is a relative term. I hope your having as much fun reading this review, as I am writing it. :=)
So what about the rest of the machine. I wouldn't bother buying anything more powerful. The 1/2HP induction motor found in the base, is a direct drive, with more than enough power to sand rock wood. I mated it on top of a Sears, very inexpensive, two shelf, red, metal, roll around cart. Lots of room for the sander, at a nice height. Also plenty of room, or extras, like the 3" optional drum and insert ring, the wrenches, and whatever amount of sanding tubes, you may need storage for. The lower shelf has even more storage. At the risk of sounding vain, the creme white Jet, with black and red accents, looks great on the matching red color stand. With the roll around wheels, it makes a lot of use for a little bit of dollars. It is Sears least expensive.
Back to the sander. You will want to take out a square, and set the table top to exactly 90 degrees to the spindle, then loosen the holding screw to the pointer, and precisely point it to the 90 degree mark on the built in rule. In doing so, and moving it to the 45 degree mark on the rule, by tilting the table, it was a dead on 45 when measuring. So the rule is accurate, once set.
The nitty gritty is that this sander is quiet, smooth, plenty of power for sanding edges, even on stacked hardwoods. It has multiple spindle sizes included. The little ones are not meant to lean on, (they go that fine) so if you are trying to remove stock quickly, choose the larger shaft sizes. I do recommend getting the optional 3" spindle, and insert ring, to maximize the smoothness and evenness of sanding larger surfaces.
I look at this as a lifetime tool. No need to buy a much more expensive floor standing model.
One note on cleaning the top. The manufacturer advises you to clean the cosmolene off of the top with kerosene, and a paper towel. Cast iron rusts just by looking at it, so they protect it for shipping. Anything like a solvent with totally eliminate any surface protection at all. In that condition, even the humidity in the air with start microscopic rusting. Not only does Jet advise you to clean it off with kerosene (which is an oil based product), they then advise you to wax the top.
If I had to be critical of the unit, I would say the one disadvantage of a benchtop unit, is that you have to limit the table top size, to prevent tipping over when using larger stock. The Jet JBOS-5 has sufficient top surface to meet my needs, but ever since I installed a large side, and outfeed table on the table saw, I am sensitive to the advantages of larger outfeed tables. One could be built and added onto the benchtop model, and give you more surface than the floor models.
All in all, with this kind of solid construction and performance, and price, this is the sweetheart deal. Highly recommended.

I got my sander about 3 weeks ago, and I've used it a lot. It's very heavy and doesn't move around like I had feared. It does an excellent job. The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars was that it required complete disassembly and had to have the table shimmed on one side so that the spindle would be square to the table in the x plane of the table. You can adjust the angle and the zero stop from front to back, but there's no adjustment from side-to-side. You might think this is not important, but if you're sanding a tall piece (like a bandsawn box, for instance), you'll find that you're sanding more at the bottom than at the top, or vice versa. Once I took the thing apart and put the paper shims under the left side, it was dead on, and has remained so.

The other "adjustment" I had to make was to beat the cast top flat with a soft mallet. It was bowed in the middle. It didn't take a lot of "whacks" to straighten it out, and now it's flat, but again, this is one reason I didn't give this sander 5 stars. Not many people would ever check a sander meant to sand curves for flatness of the top, but when sanding tall pieces, it's important.

Once shimmed and properly beaten with a mallet, this is a fine tool! ;-)

It's not clearly stated anywhere, but the motor is an induction motor, and is very quiet. I was afraid I'd end up with a universal motor (e.g., a router motor) and have a noisy machine, but such is not the case.

If you're sanding small, flat pieces, the adjustment I spoke of will not be an issue with you.

Overall, I really like this machine. It's powerful, heavy, and quiet. I'm glad I opted to buy this machine rather than spend ...additional [money] on its big brother, the floor model.

I compared this sander to the Delta Boss, a comparable model from Bridgewood, and Ridgid. I liked this one as well as any.

I got the machine about a month ago and have used it on a couple projects. Overall, I'm quite pleased. I wasn't sure it was worth the greater price than the Grizzly or the Delta, but now I have no regrets.

The machine arrived in good shape. The table wasn't quite square to the spindle out of the box, but was easily adjusted, by following the directions in the thin but adequate manual.

I was impressed by the following:
- very quiet, very smooth operation
- good power, didn't significantly bog down sanding thick pieces
- solid, heavy, stable, and stayed put in my bench.
- the dust collection works quite well

Negatives:
- The 2" spindle quickly developed a "bulge", becoming out-of-round. I intend to call Jet about this. I switched to the 1" spindle, and it was fine.
- The optional 3" spindle and plate are not included, and are quite expensive. They also don't fit in the built-in storage area.
- No built-in storage area for the 3 included wrenches.

I've been using this sander for several months now; for the kinds of projects I create, it's been indispensible. I have been very pleased with the machine. ... the table and spindle were not square. It was a minor shimming to fix the problem and I enjoy tuning up my woodworking equipment, so it didn't impact my rating. I don't think you can go wrong purchasing this sander-it's powerful, very quiet and incredibly handy if you make projects with curves and bends. It comes supplied with a nice assortment of different size spindles and plates, and the tilting table works great and stays where it is locked in. Just a note: it is a fairly tall machine-if you are 5' tall, you will probably want to find a short table to put it on if you want to be able to look down into your project. I would recommend this sander.

I've run my sander for about three months now(got one of the first ones), and much prefer it over any other I've used. You can turn this thing on in the morning and not turn it off until dark. I've intentionally tried to stop it by exerting LOTS of pressure on it, and it doesn't even slow down a little. The only thing Jet could have done better is to design a spindle lock, but access to the spindle nuts is quite good. Fit and finish are flawless(as are most Jet products), and it is well worth the extra money over the Delta.

I received this sander recently. My first job was four walnut Queen Anne table legs. This is one heck of a machine. It makes the Delta, Ridgid, etc. machines look and perform like toys! I finished shaping and sanding those walnut legs in less than an hour. I recommend it without any hesitation. You will not be disappointed.

It came out of the box in excellent condition and was ready to use in an hour or so (clean & wax the top, check squareness, etc.). The only concern I have is the device to set the 90 degree position for the top is inadequate and impossible to set with any "level" (no pun intended) of assurance. I believe Jet can do better on such a wonderfully engineered machine. Be prepared to spend an additional $200 or so for sanding sleeves. I had to order them directly from Jet. Shame on Amazon for selling a piece of equipment and not selling the sanding sleeves.

Every bit the quality product I expect from JET. Not my first JET purchase, and it won't be my last. I had the Ryobi unit a few years ago, sold it with some other tools when I moved. It came time to buy another spindle sander, and I looked at them all. Tilting table is a big plus, nothing else has it in the price range, and it stays at the angle you set it at! The only spindle you don't get is the 3 inch, and you would have to decide if you even need it (it IS an expensive add-on). Yes, it is probably expensive by comparison to ... others in this size range, but it's worth every penny. Yes, I do recommend this unit if you want something that will probably outlast all of us, but you don't need or can't afford the big floor unit. You will not regret this purchase. Enjoy!

Update, about six years later. Still going strong. I have just finished my fifth hardwood rocking horse; and nearly completed the complete interior finish of our new home. The sander has been used repeatedly to shape and smooth 8/4 hardwood and to shape the large saddles, rockers and other parts of the horses.

One minor problem about three years ago: The machine started making a clicking sound during oscillation. I lifted it off of the home-made cabinet (this dude is heavy) and found a screw, washer and lock washer on the cabinet top. After searching the parts diagrams in the manual I located the empty hole and re-installed the hardware (and similar hardware on opposite side of oscillation mechanism)with lock tite. Only problem and I still love this machine.

But don't put too much weight on the word "little". I have used the machine for about 3 months now. Plenty of power to edge sand or duplicate stacked hardwood shapes to the length capacity of the drum. The table is large enough to handle even the bigger, heavy pieces. I didn't experience the table shimming problem -- mine was perfect out of the box. Good overall fit and finish. Nice built-in storage for the table inserts, but it would be nice if they provided similar slots for the wrenches and the optional 3" insert.

If you are going to sand or finish shape long gentle curves you should probably spend it and buy the optional 3" drum (and DO buy the 3" table insert. The 3" drum looks like it fills the empty insert hole but it doesn't. This machine has more than enough power to do a really messy manicure on you pinkies -...

I did bend the 1/4 spindle rather quickly. It might have been the ham-handed operator but Jet might want to look at hardness on these smaller shafts. Overall, however, this is an excellent machine to look at if you can't quite justify the extra money for a floor model.