Customer Reviews

Bosch 1276DVS 12.5 Amp 4-Inch-by-24-Inch Variable Speed Belt Sander with Cloth Dust Bag

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Great power, lightweight, exceptional balance makes this tool a complete pleasure to use. It is difficult to find anything to complain about. I spent a good month reading, testing and talking to others in my trade before I bought this machine. In my house-restoration endeavors I required a machine I could use in any position on a variety of materials and that had the ability to remove material quickly and accurately. Bosch must have spent a lot of time talking to users to come up with this one. I only have about 100 hours on this machine but it feels like it will last forever. If I had to say something negative it would be the position of the bag. It rides high and sometimes gets in the way. However in thinking about it -- it would be even more in the way anyplace else. I own a lot of machines. This is the overall best.

I bought my Bosch 4x24 about three years ago when they first introduced the magnesium frame and adjustable handle. I've used it to sand three rooms of old floors as I remodel an old house. I immediately noticed that it was very capable when putting on coarse belts without having the motor slow. It has been a great performer sanding table tops flat as I stray from my remodeling to have some woodworking fun.

It has an adjustable gate at the back of the belt that helps to fine tune the dust collection, which is very impressive. I have had some problems when coarse sanding soft, gummy materials that have caused the dust port to clog, but it was very easy to clean. It is much quieter than my previous two belt sanders: a Craftsman and a Black & Decker. This was my first Bosch tool, but since then I bought their detail sander, recipricating saw, and have the 6" Random Orbital on order. I am always recomending Bosch tools when some one wants to purchase a very powerful and high quality professional power tool.

I own four different beltsanders thats used in furniture building. Bosch 4 x 24 is by far the heaviest of them all,
but also the one thats remove the most material. It takes a
strong person to run and dont even think of using this machine
on overhead or on sidewall job. Machine also gets very hot after
an hours work and hot air outlet is on wrong side of machine if
you are right handed. The dust bag is a problem, always in the way. But I know no better sander for heavy work.

I've owned a Bosch 1276DVS 4" x 24" Dustless Variable Speed Belt Sander since 2001, and have used it countless times. It has never failed to perform as expected. It's well balanced (front to back and side-to-side), so the platen stays flat on the wood without tipping. With rough belts, you really have to hold on with both hands, or this powerful tool will pull away from you. The adjustable front handle is a nice feature.

It couldn't be easier to change belts -- pull up the locking lever, slip the old belt off, put the new one on, push the locking lever down. When belts don't track properly, the tracking adjusting screw is easy to turn and effective. Once a belt is on-track, which is easy to do, it usually stays put. Although the dust-bag sometimes gets into your sight-line or hits something above the thing you're sanding, there is no perfect dust bag that I've seen. As with any belt sander (I have several), a tremendous amount of dust is produced, and the bag doesn't get it all. Wear a respirator when using any belt sander. I also wear ear-plugs, even though this unit isn't particularly loud for a belt sander, and use it outside if the job permits.

The electronic speed control is easy to see and use, and it works flawlessly. The sander has a high-quality 10' flexible rubber electric cord, not one of those stiff plastic ones. Any 4" belt sander would be too heavy to use overhead, and difficult to control when using vertically. In other words, it's best (if possible) to use it facing down. This is a first rate tool, and I'd get the same one again.

July 2007 update. The sander stopped working. Turns out it was a defective speed control. I bought a new control through toolpartsdirect dot com, and the sander works like new again.

I bought the 1276DVS a year ago after one reviewer said this was easily his favorite tool of all, more than his favorite saw or drill.

After a year of heavy use I definitely agree with him. The 1276 is so powerful I could drive it to work if it had a steering wheel.

The most useful thing I can say about it is this: I build decks, usually out of recycled plastic/wood composites. A very tough material that is normally quite difficult to sand. With the 1276DVS I can put on a 36 or 40 grit belt and grind away almost as if I was using a planer. High speed and low maintenance. I actually find myself looking for excuses to use it more often. Bravo!

My sander arrived with the "o" ring broken. It seals the dust bag. I used masking tape and A rubber band on it as the dust came out the area rapidly. The "o" ring is so thin that I anticipate replacing this part A lot. Other than that the sander works fine. I also own A porter Cable 362 belt sander. I like the dust bag system on the PC better

After researching options to replace an old Craftsman 3"x21" belt sander which I never could get to work properly, I decided on the Bosch 4"x24" 1276DVS.

My first experience with the new tool was flattening and removing the stain from an old walnut tabletop in preparation for refinishing.

The balance, weight, variable speed and adjustable front control handle made this a very simple job. All I had to do was guide it back and forth across the tabletop (no downward pressure required by me) and in a few minutes the old finish was removed and the top was dead-flat. I never would have gotten those results with my old Craftsman.

Since then I have used it for several glued-up panel flattening operations, and some face frame joint smoothing and the results have been the same.

I must also note that I am usually skeptical about 'dustless' claims. I have several sanders which advertise that they are dustless, but my experience is that the dust collection capabilities on these tools are almost useless.

This sander, however, blew me away with it's dust pickup capability. After sanding on the tabletop, even with all my dust collection devices in the shop, I expected the normal cloud of sawdust in the air. I was very pleased that there was virtually NO AIRBORNE SAWDUST visible after sanding, and not much fine stuff settled out over the next hour either. This unit litterally bagged all the sawdust it generated!

I'm very pleased and would recommend this unit to anyone.

My Bosch 4" DVS belt sander is smooth, powerful and has a low center of gravity for easy handling. It is adjustable for grip and speed and does a good job on anything I've used it for. It's a little heavy for overhead or in-place work but my 3x21 Bosch fills in that gap. This is THE belt sander for the professional woodworker.

If you are planning to own one, be sure to check your physical strength. You'll need strong arms and a good rest to handle this baby, in fact, it's a monster. It weighs a ton, and has power that can hurt your arms for the rest of the day. What I like about this machine is it's power with variable speeds, the ease of the belt change and adjusting. Also the adjustable left-front handle makes it more comfortable. The weight of the machine keeps stabilizing the operation, but the down side is you can't really use it for over your head job. If I need to do that, I would grab a lighter one. One real draw back of the design is the dust bag location. It is placed on the wrong side! and it might get in your way if you are doing a critical sanding. My conclusion, It'a a nice, powerful horse at a reasonable price. It would be even nicer if the carrying case is provided. Thank You Bosch.

This is the cadillac of belt sanders. It is the most versitle machine I have used. It's excellent for smoothing material that has been joined and lightweight enough for scribing base and cabinets. The adjustible front handle lets you use this sander in any comfortable position, and the dust bag gets almost every particle of dust.