Customer Reviews

Palmgren 81221 13 Amp 12-Inch/4-1/2-Inch/6-Inch 1-1/2 Horsepower 3-In-1 Benchtop Disc/Spindle/Belt Sander with Dust Bag

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Purchasers should find this easy to set up and operate with excellent installation instruction. One item of caution is that all excess oil should be removed prior use and the disc thoroughly cleaned before attempting to affix the adhesive paper to the disc surface.

Manufacturer should consider increasing the size of the tool box to hold the spindle washers and perhaps even spare spindles.

Hello All.
My name is Richard Lees, and I build classical instruments,Baroque and Renaissance Lutes and Vihuelas. For quite a time I have been looking for a sander which, since I have a small shop, would have an equally small footprint. Now while this tool is BIG from the standpoint of weight and stability, in combining all these tools into one unit,it really doesn't take up a lot of room. Most conventional 6"belt/12" disc sanders from other manufacturers are not one jot smaller and in fact often, are larger. But here you get in addition a nice spindle sander.
I always use a spindle sander- and this one is a good one.
Also the speed control is an enormous plus for me as the woods I use range from Ebony -Macassar and Gaboon-, Rosewood- Madagascar and Brazilian ( all of which burn very easily) figured Sycamore as well as Pina Bete or silver spruce.
There are a few things you all should know however.. Firstly this sander is well, undervalued to say the least- more typically a tool of this heft and weight (even the disc shroud is cast) would probably run around 700 to 800 dollars easily had it been built in say Taiwan.
It is built however in China, and while Chinese manufacture can produce brilliant tools if allowed to do so, more often than not importers go there to meet price points unattainable anywhere else, and then cut corners everywhere on top of it all. Nonetheless, usually you can be sure of getting some pretty substantial castings and heft like in the old days.
Such importers (much to all of our collective chagrins) often don't give the same sort of support for what they deem "cosmetic" issues as they might, and whats worse is that even if they do offer support, more often than not, the new part you get to replace the first one is just as bad..
I'm sure you have all seen reviews on various tools here at Amazon which mention this kind of horror.....
Now here with Palmgren however(they have been around for years in the machine tool biz) they have produced a tool which if my experience is any indication, they will support in stalwart fashion and this with respect to the real meat and potatoes of it all. Squareness - azimuth zenith issues from platen to rollers to tables to trunions etc.
In my case as evidence, the machine arrived with the 12" disc slightly scooped (so that it would just snipe ends of stock if the wood was wider than 6inches) , and the disc also had a little too much runout (note that my standards are very serious. In instrument building every joint has to be light tight and be able to take a perfect french polish).
As well the belt platen was off by a skosh in trueness with respect to the drive roller.
In all these instances, Palmgren came through with such elegance and speed in sending out a replacement machine that I was most overjoyed. Thats right, a replacement machine...
In this second machine all was good and true.
I feel very well supported by this company and suspect you will be too.
In addition, with respect to cosmetics, the machine is finished in more than an acceptable manner, sorta cool in fact......
As with any power tool, the wise owner will go over EVERY adjustment and measure EVERY parameter of its operation. Not unlike a chisel which arrives at your doorstep basically shaped but which expects a serious sharpening, this tool likewise profited from a few judicious tweaks here and there - it as a result went from being merely good to being an excellent performer.
These adjustments went smoothly and in getting to know the innards of the machine, I became very happy with its solidity with respect to holding tolerances.
I like very much the locator pins in the trunions of the 12" disc as well as in the belt table, this allows for ease in setting up precise angles. Also the undercut of the frame under the spindle sander table which allows one to clamp jigs onto the surface, The spindle sander can be set to Oscillate or not, depending on your needs.
Likewise as mentioned earlier, the speed adjust is a wonderful addition.
In my craft one must listen to the wood in every operation to sense its sound, and here the supplied dust impellor is to my ears noisy, TOO noisy. To be fair most are. So if you don't have a dust collector in your shop (and shame on you if you don't) well, your stuck. Being that I have a dust collector, I disconnected the belt and removed the dust fan, hooked the sander up to the shop system. The machine is now as far as sanders go, very quiet indeed.
I have hogged wood on this machine too over these several months, and haven't sensed any bogging down as some have reported, but then I don't usually overload sanders anyway... I let the abrasive do the work, lazy you know.....
A good tool - Glad to be an owner , and I looked at a lot of sanders.

regards
rl

I was concerned at first ordering a big tool like this without being able to look at one, but it seemed like the right sander. I was concerned about quality but found a review saying it weighed 200 pounds and that told me it should be built sturdy. I received it and am very happy with it. It gives you a big disk & belt and a spindle also. Other high end disk/belts of this size cost as much or more and don't give you a spindle. Also, for a home, footprint size is a concern. I don't have room for another seperate spindle sander. I am very happy with the quality and construction. Very heavy duty. Belt easly changes from vertical to horizontal. Tables are solid cast iron. I agree with the other review that a storage for extra parts would be nice, but once you buy a full set of spindles you need more room than a built on box would hold anyways. P.S. it takes two minimun to pull this thing from the box, it's that heavy! But it comes with two big screw eyes to hoist it if needed, and I needed it, thanks for the extra thought Palmgren!

I am thrilled with this machine. Originally I was faced with having to buy two machines; a combo belt/disc and an oscillating spindle. But space constraints in my small woodworking shop discouraged me from buying so I kept putting off the decision. Then I read a review that spoke highly of the Palmgren. Two machines (3 devices) in the space required for only one machine was enough to get me to buy the 81221, and I'm very glad I did.

With a 1 1/2HP motor nothing yet has caused this machine to slow down. It just hums and goes. The spindle runs true to it's cast iron table. Once the tables for the disc and belt were adjusted as described in the manual, they stayed put.

The variable speed feature is worth the price of the machine. My biggest gripe with most other brands is that they run at such a high speed that they remove wood much faster than you want. The Palmgren does what *you* tell it to do.

Customer service is a 10 on a scale of 10. Highly responsive to all inquiries.

What could be better?
The manual isn't as descriptive as it should be, and the black and white fuzzy photos leave a lot to be desired.

The dust collection system is an interesting study. The good news is that it does a fair job; in other words, I could live with it if I had to. The bad news is that it really needs vacuum assistance. I'll connect it to my dust collection system once I figure out how to hook up to the non-standard fitting on the Palmgren.

I built my own table. I used 4 heavy duty locking casters and made the total table height 28". That seems short when there's no machine on it, but is about the right height for this tall-ish machine.

Buy one. You'll be happy.

I have used this machine for 1 1/2 years. The spindle sander is very poor. It is located so close to the other stations that any large object cannot be sanded. Mine stopped ocillating after about 6 months. The sandpaper slips on the sleeves. It cannot be tilted so any beveled surface cannot be sanded. In effect, the spindle sander is close to worthless. The disk and belt sander are ok. A better route is to get a Jet spindle sander & a separate belt/disk sander - even if you have a small shop.

This machine is very heavy and functions very well. The dust removal bag is weak but if the system is attached to a shop or central vacuum system it works alright. For a small shop it works fine. One of the lever nuts that adjusts the table angle broke, cheap material, but the machine itself is very heavy and has adequate power. The 12" disk sander has been very useful.

I've had this for several months now. Bought it from Sears. Waited until I got a very good price. I have a small shop so this fit in very well. Had a Ryobi 6" disk/4" belt sander. Didn't like that at all. Probably use the disk and belt on this one much more than the spindle sander. The one real drawback is that the height of the spindle sander table is slightly below the height of the belt sander table (at least in the vertical position. Haven't tried horizontal yet). This can prove awkward as you can imagine. But the machine does what I need it to do. The speed is adjustable (so, so helpful instead of a fixed speed). Not too sure about the dust collection (how does one tell just exactly WHERE the dust is coming from in a woodworking shop) but at least it looks good. All in all, waiting for a good price and then judging it's performance, it's a keeper.