DELTA 31-396 6-Inch 3 Horsepower Oscillating Edge Sander, 220-Volt 1 Phase

by DELTA

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

The DELTA 31-396 6-Inch 3 HP Oscillating Edge Sander includes a versatile, innovative new design that gently moves up and down as it spins, making it a superior tool for contour sanding. The 3 HP, 220-volt oscillating edge sander includes an idle roller along the adjustable cast iron table that makes the sander suitable for both flush sanding and edge sanding irregular shapes. In addition, the sanding table can be moved both up and down, and forward and backward in conjunction with the sander's adjustable head, which has stops at 0 and 90 degrees with indent stops at 0, 45, and 90 degrees. A quick-release belt tensioning makes belt changing a breeze. In addition, the sander includes a spindle sanding kit that features three sizes of collars and drums.

From the Manufacturer

For professional woodworking, cabinet making, and boat building shops sanding large components, Delta’s 31-396 Oscillating Edge Sander combines an edge sander and a spindle sander. The 3 hp, single phase motor powers a 6 x 108 inch belt at 3,150 fpm. The front table is 35 3/8 x 12 inches; auxiliary table is 11 3/8 x 8 7/8 inches. The main unit sands large parts; the sanding drums work curved, oddly shaped pieces and radii. The spindle sanding kit contains three size drums and collars: 1 -1/2, 2, and 3 inches. The tilt table moves also moves up 3 -1/2 inches, forward 4 -3/4 inches and back while the platen tilts 0-90 degrees. Five year warranty.

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 57.9 x 29.5 x 44.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 500 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: This item can only be shipped to the 48 contiguous states. We regret it cannot be shipped to APO/FPO, Hawaii, Alaska, or Puerto Rico.
• Shipping Advisory: This item must be shipped separately from other items in your order. Additional shipping charges will not apply.
• ASIN: B00009K76U
• California residents: Click here for Proposition 65 warning.
• Item model number: 31-396
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #203,913 in Home Improvement (See Top 100 in Home Improvement)
  • #98 in Home Improvement > Power & Hand Tools > Power Tools > Sanders > Belt Sanders

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Massive Shipping Crate Didn't Protect It!, November 6, 2003

By 

John A Carlo (Fenton, MI United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: DELTA 31-396 6-Inch 3 Horsepower Oscillating Edge Sander, 220-Volt 1 Phase (Tools & Home Improvement)

I've revised this review as of 1/8/04
My sander arrived with the motor fan cover pushed in and rubbing against the fan. This was easy to remedy with a screwdriver. I'm glad I rotated the motor by hand before plugging it in. The outer cover to the grarbox was also dented. My local dealer immediately offered to repair or replace the sander with a new one. There were also several bolts and even a piece of bearing race found at the bottom of the shipping crate. I opted to keep the one I had because because the tables and fences were ground flat and true and "initial" alignment (see comments further on)was very good. The quailty and consistancy of the grind and polish was excellent.

This is a big and bulky machine and it takes four people to lift it onto its mobile base. I used a Jet adjustable base rated for 1200 pounds. I had to cut a few inches off two of the adjusting bars to compensate for the width of the sander.

Assembly was easy and so was belt adjustment. I walked the belt through several rotations by hand to check tracking. All seemed OK. When I turned the sander on it quiclky destroyed the belt. Visual inspection showed the the three bolts I had found at the bottom of the crate were missing from the underside of the sander where they mount the idler drum to the machine. I should have looked it over more carefully. Once installed and readjusted with a new belt installed, the tracking worked perfectly. My dealer sent out his service technician with the replacement parts and a new belt. He assured me that the bearing race and a couple of other metal scraps are not from my sander. My dealer also assures me that as long as they are in business, I will never have to worry about the warranty expiring.

I was initially impressed with the way things line up. As long as the belt is not under tension, the auxilliary table is 90 degrees to the idler drum even when raised all the way up to the auxilliary sanding drums. Under belt tension, the table is off by a few degrees. There is no provision to compensate for this. I'll have to rough sand curved surfaces on this machine and do the final sanding on my Grizzly oscillating drum sander. Why would I not want to start out on the Grizzly? There is a certain economy to using the belt as opposed to an expensive sanding sleeve.

There is no oscillating action with these drums. All oscillation is done with the sanding belt only. The auxiliary sanding table which is made from heavy formed steel is at a true 90 degrees to the main table.

The only other alignment problems that I see come from two areas. First of all, when you release the table locks to slide it in and out to the sanding belt, it is possible to push to table out of alignment. This would not be a problem for normal edge sanding operations but would pose a hassle when using the miter guage. A remedy is to take two small thin right angle metal brackets and loosly wedge them in place between the table and the belt as you move the table forward. Then set your table locks and you have repeatable accuracy. Don't forget to slide the metal brackets out befor turning on the sander!

The other problem comes with the built in detent locking mechanism for 0, 45, and 90 degrees. Dissassembly revealed a burr on the end of the pin itself which prevented it from smoothly disengaging. It also revealed that the tip of the spring which thrusts the pin forward was lying in the cutaway wherein the pin retracts. I unscrewed the retaining cap on the pin mechanism and rotated the spring so that a flat edge now rested against the pin. This keeps the tip of the spring from jamming in the pin's raceway. It took some carefuI adjustment to get to detent mechanism to deliver a repeatable 90 degrees. It was worth the effort as it now quickly comes into square.

You can forget about trying to view the indexing scale with the supplied pointer. For my pointer to be anywhere near where it is supposed to be it has to go all the way back against the indexing pin mechanism. Even then, It is impossible to view the scale head on as the motor lies directly in your line of sight. I'm going to epoxy a small mirror to a block of wood with a triangular cross section then epoxy that to the motor mounting plate. That will allow me to view the scale head on even though I'm viewing it at right angles from the front of the sander. It would have been very easy for Delta to do this or for them to have used a prism mounted in a similar way.

This machine deliveres excellent results when sanding straight edges and that is what it is all about. I like the way the drum covers latch back out of the way so you can sand boards longer than the table. If I didn't have the Grizzly oscillating spindle sander and if the Powermatic had a longer belt and allowed you to latch back its guards, I'd have bought the Powermatic.

25 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars no title, December 26, 2003

By 

Nonnie Light "KnitWit" (R-Kan-Saw US of A) - See all my reviews

This review is from: DELTA 31-396 6-Inch 3 Horsepower Oscillating Edge Sander, 220-Volt 1 Phase (Tools & Home Improvement)

I recently purchased this machine and I am quite happy with the sanders performance so far.

There are some things that I would like to make any prospective purchasers aware of. This is a large heavy duty machine that basically works well. I think that Delta needs to address the sanding head detents. At 90, 45 and 180 degree's they would be nice to have, but have a very ambigious feel to them. I can not tell when the head is in these positions, so I have to use a square for an accurate setting. Also the sanding head angle scale is difficult to read since the motor hangs where you need to place your head to get a straight on look at the scale.

The two biggest disapointments are that the sanding platen is not constructed of cast iron but is fabricated of sheet steel and covered with a graphite sheet. The steel is fairly thick, approximately 1/8". Time will tell if this will hold up to long sessions of sanding or not. The thing that I found to be the biggest disapointment though was that the sander is made in Taiwan. The catalog that I found this machine in "Tool Crib" clearly and in color states "Prodly made in the USA". This statement alone was the biggest factor that swayed me into purchasing this machine. If I would have known this I would have saved $900.00 and purchased the Powermatic, Taiwan made sander for $899.00.

The sander does have some good to excellent features. The cast iron tables are nicely ground and very flat. The base that supports the whole machine is robust and gives the sander a stable feel to it. The tracking - oscillating mechanism works good, but is dissapointing in that the drum sanding attachment does not oscillate. The 3 h.p. motor is quite powerful and allows agressive sanding pressure to be applied without bogging.

If you need the longer sanding length a 108" belt gives over an 80" belt sander and feel that you will need a 3 h.p. motor over the 1 1/2 h.p. motor of the Powermatic then maybe the additional cost of $900.00 would be justified. But for me I could have done other things with the money.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great sander, June 30, 2005

By 

C. CA MPBELL - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: DELTA 31-396 6-Inch 3 Horsepower Oscillating Edge Sander, 220-Volt 1 Phase (Tools & Home Improvement)

I am a custom cabinet maker. I have used this machine for about two years now. I really like it. haveing used other edge sanders (Oliver) I found the oscillating belt awesome! My main use is face frames, drawer fronts, clean up of parts, etc.

drum sander is pretty useless for someone to use as a dedicated sander. sleeves get wasted due to the high speed and non-oscillating. As far as setting up for acurate indexing... A little set-up time and your done.