Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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96 of 99 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Not my tool...Change the rating to 1 star, November 29, 2004
I tried to make my neighbor write his own review on the Delta spindle sander. But after watching him "type" I decided to assist him. Thought I was slow, jeeeezzz.
Anyway this is not my tool, but he is sitting here kibitzing as I type. I actually have the Jet JBOS5(see review).
He purchased the Delta because of the lighter weight and smaller size. He is space challenged in his shop (arn't we all) and needed one he could store under the bench when not in use. The Jet is a bit heavy to be lifting up and down a lot, so he went with the Delta.
He purchased this at our favorite local wood workers store and it was already assembled and clean.
First impression.....lots of plastic, of course that's why its light. The table is flat and has a nice finish, but if you lift the machine up using the table as a handle you would be smart to check for level before using the sander, it will move on ya.
The spindles are only 41/2" compared to 6" on the Jet. But you don't get to use the full length on either machine. He got a nice selection of drums with the sander, including the 3". They appear to be adequate to the task, ya gotta be gentle with the smaller diameter ones even on the Jet. Changing spindles is fairly easy.
You do have to clamp or bolt down the machine. Because of its light weight it tends to wander a bit around the bench if you don't. He drilled 4 holes in his bench top and use's bolts and wingnuts, works well.
We had to make an adapter to hook the dust collector up to this machine. Seems to work ok.
The 1/4 hp motor seems a little light to me, but it performs well, even as heavy handed as he is , he hasn't been able to stall the motor, though it does seem to bog down a little on deep pieces. Just needs a little lighter touch, these bench styles are not meant for "hogging". That's what bandsaws are for.
The sander is very quiet when running, and has very little vibration.
He thinks this sander will do the trick for him, until the day he has a "real" shop and can have a floor model. He recommends it for anyone who needs a lighter unit.
UPDATE...It is now February and my woodworking buddy has just brought his 3rd Boss home. The first two broke, after, in my opinion anyway, very little use. Both suffered from the same problem..a small plastic piece on the actuator arm broke, causing the up and down motion to stop working. The second one didn't line up with the hole in the insert very well, and was making growling noise's from the very beginning. He wants to try one more before giving up on the Boss. Will post another update after this one breaks. At least the store was willing to replace em with no hassel at all.
UPDATE..APRIL 05..The third boss was returned to the store..same problems...started "growling" after a couple days and after a couple weeks use the same plastic piece inside broke. My friend returned it and traded it in on the Jet spindle sander. Delta was willing to repair it or send him the parts needed, but he decided he would rather not have a machine that required repair every couple of months (or weeks). It's too bad, because when it works this little machine does a pretty good job, and because of it's light weight and smaller footprint, it is easy to move around the shop and stash under the bench. We don't know if it is a design flaw, bad choice of materials used in construction or just shoddy workmanship (maybe a little of all three), at any rate I think he gave the tool a real good chance to prove out and it didn't make the cut. Can't recommend this one.
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40 of 40 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Very good spindle sander., January 18, 2003
By A Customer
The Delta spindle sander I received had some minor problems. The unit was noisy. Under the 2 year warranty I could have taken it to a service location, but that would have meant a delay. Instead I made the adjustment noted in the directions. This adjustment is supposed to be made after many hours of use. Anyway, it did solve the noise problem. One of the steel arms (called a link) that raises and lowers the motor assembly was bent. I removed it and straightened it out. It appeared this was a factory defect since it did not happen during shipping. The unit was made in Taiwan. Quality control is poor at the assembly plant I guess. This is the main reason for 4 stars and not 5. The operation of the sander is very good. There is minimum vibration and noise during use. The dust bag included does a good job collecting most of the dust. It is easy to control the wood on the nice flat machined table. Make sure you get the free spindle set that is being included. It has an assortment of spindles that are needed. The one included is the narrow spindle and limits the abilities of this sander. Despite the minor problems that may have been unique to this one sander, I have to recommend it. It performs above average. And the price is right.
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37 of 38 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Does the job, I guess..., November 19, 2005
A spindle sander is a pretty simple tool, so it's hard to screw up the construction of one of these. I've been using this one for over a year now and it does the job reasonably well, but it doesn't excite me.
What I like:
- Big, flat, cast iron table that was nice and perpendicular to the spindle out of the box.
- The constraining inserts that close the hole in the table around the drum are made well and stay in plane with the table, while allowing good dust collection.
- The dust collection is actually pretty good when hooked up to a central system. However, see what I don't like below.
- All accessories have a storage spot on the machine. All the drums, bushings, wrenches, everything.
- It's a very quiet machine...that is, until wood comes in contact with the drum.
- It's light and easily mobile, however, it's light because it's plastic. See what I don't like below.
What I sort of like and don't like:
- This one is up to you - it depends on your needs. The Delta comes with a set of larger drums, starting at 3/4" and going up to 3". The comparable Jet model has a finer set of drums including 1/4", 1/2", 5/8" and going up to 2". You can buy the 3" drum for the Jet as an accessory, but you can't buy the smaller drums for the Delta. I don't need small drums for my work, so this is fine for me, but if you do finer work, this might not be for you.
- The Jet also has a larger 1/2 HP motor, while the delta only has 1/4 HP, however, I've never had a problem with power. In my experience, the 1/4 HP is ample even for 5/4 White Oak.
(And the Jet is almost twice as expensive...)
What I really don't like:
- The most irritating part of this machine is the rubber drums. They have no gripping power whatsoever, so sandpaper sleeves just work themselves right off the drum inside of 3 seconds of use. To solve this problem I had to put the sandpaper on the drum, then wrap the top of the assembly in packing tape. It keeps the paper in place, but makes it difficult to change grits on the same size drum. You have to take off the drum, unwrap the tape, remove the paper, replace with new grit, rewrap the drum in tape...it's a pain, so I rarely change grits.
- The 7/8" stroke of the spindle is less than half of the spindle length, which means most of the drum never gets used unless you're working with thick stock. Even when you flip over the paper, there's a strip in the middle that never gets used. Wasteful and inefficient.
- The entire base assembly is plastic.
- The dust port is small and requires an adapter for use with a central system. It works well, but it's also angled steeply down out of the machine, making it hard to bend a 4" hose underneath it.
- It's a little pricey for what it does, especially when the majority of it is plastic, but spindle sanders in general are over-priced.
So the verdict is that it works well, but not excellent. As long as you don't change grits often, packing tape will keep the sandpaper on the drum.
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