This review is for the ORANGE, METAL BASE SANDER MODEL 6500. First thing after taking it out of the box and before assembly was to plug it in to be sure the motor worked. Then I totally disassembled the sander and inspected all the parts. I do this for all power equipment that comes from China now. Some parts had burrs or were not perfectly straight or were binding (like the belt release lever). Everything was cleaned of the old China grease, filed and or sanded until parts mated perfectly as designed. Tightened the drive belt (this orange model 6500 takes a regular V belt, not a cog belt like the cast iron model 6502 that causes so much trouble), then as per the instructions, put car wax on the plate ( area under the sanding belt) and shined it up nice and slippery. Then put on the belt, started the sander and adjusted the roller to center the belt. At this point the sanding disc was not attached yet. I let it run a few minutes and then sanded a piece of scrap plywood seeing how hard I had to press to stop the belt and stall the motor. It takes a bit of pressure, but It was not too hard to stall the machine. I noticed that pushing that hard twists the frame of the sanding belt and it starts to ride off the side of the rollers. So I'm going to add another support in the middle like the one that rests on the motor but on the opposite side of the belt.
Installed the disc and miter table. I was surprised how rigid it was after reading so many reviews complaining about how much it flexes. The miter gauge is plastic and has lots of play in the table, so that makes it useless for high precision work, but it will work fine for 90% of my home projects/repairs. I also like that it weighs about 30 lbs so it can easily be carried outside when doing big projects because this has no dust vac port and the dust does go all over. It also does not vibrate, stays put on the not-so-rubbery rubber feet and is not loud at all. About on par with a bench grinder.
UPDATE 10/26/2018. Have been using the sander for a few days now. Maybe less than 1 hour run time, and just light duty work. Tonight the Idler Roller started making noise. I removed the sanding belt and it runs quiet. Took the Idler Roller off and a piece of plastic (yes both rollers are plastic, ugh.) had broken off that holds the ball bearing. About 20% of the recess the bearing fits in was missing, with a few cracks in other places. Opposite side has 3 cracks around the ball bearing. Called WEN suppport directly and they are sending me a new plastic roller, as well as an ALUMINUM roller from the 6502 model (the blue cast iron base model) . Support said the 6502 aluminum roller will fit the 6500 model. If it does, I will probably order the 6502 drive roller too and replace the plastic drive roller also. This is the only drawback to this model. Everything is metal except the rollers and the switch plate and switch. I already made an aluminum switch plate, and installed a classic heavy duty toggle switch. I really dislike plastic parts on power tools. LOL!. Will update when the new rollers come. Otherwise, in my opinion, this is the better of the two sanders, mostly because the 6500 uses a traditional V belt that does not have the shredding issues the 6502 has with a cog belt when it is not properly adjusted. Also, the 6500 has a enclosed motor where the 6502 has an open motor so dust will get in. I know the 6500 has air vents and a fan for cooling so a simple shroud pointing down should stop dust from entering the motor. Well, now I'm just rambling, so I hope you found this diatribe helpful. LOL!
UPDATE 11/09/2018. The model 6502 aluminum idler roller came from WEN support. It is the roller, two sealed bearings, and axle shaft with rubber dampeners. It is an exact fit/replacement for the plastic roller in the orange 6500 model, except the 6500 uses non-sealed bearings and no rubber dampeners. So the aluminum roller is an upgrade all around and the dampeners make it quieter and sealed bearings will last longer and run quieter too.
I called support this morning and asked if the 6502 DRIVING aluminum roller assembly will fit the 6500. We discussed the difference between the two parts, and there is a difference between drive shafts. I ordered the entire assembly (aluminum roller with set screws, two sealed bearings, retaining clip and drive shaft) knowing the drive shaft from the 6500 plastic drive roller will probably be needed to make it work with the sanding disc. The 6502 drive shaft is locked to the aluminum roller with two set screws, where the 6500 drive shaft is molded into the plastic roller. So the 6500 drive shaft will need to be driven out of plastic roller and installed in aluminum roller to make a 100% compatible drive roller assembly. Both shafts are 12mm diameter. BTW, sealed ball bearings to fit both roller assemblies can be found on Amazon. Search for "6201 2RS ball bearings". All 6201 series ball bearings have 32mm diameter, 12mm hole, and are 10mm thick. 4 are needed. I also suggest downloading the PDF manuals for both the 6500 & 6502 models for part numbers and exploded parts diagrams.
BTW support said the 6502 cogged drive belt has been eliminated in the next release of the 6502. They are going with the trouble free V belt used on the 6500 model.
Happy modding!
UPDATE 11/12/2018 Added some pics showing the aluminum idler roller installed. Where the shaft passes through the belt plate a rubber bushing can be seen. There is one on each side and they do a lot to reduce noise. I also added support for the belt plate at the front corner. A bolt, connector and length of threaded stock (all 3/8") were installed in a hole drilled in the base. Then bent outward a bit so a new support tab would line up with it. This simple mod does not interfere with changing the sanding belt and prevents twisting of the belt plate when pressing down on it or working at the roller end. Twisting causes the sanding belt to walk off the rollers, so this simple mod is well worth the cost of the hardware. Now the belt tracks true no matter how I am sanding.
Another pic shows a mod to the belt plate to improve performance. The orange paint was sanded off, then the plate was polished up followed by a coat of car wax. Now the sanding belt can be pressed on harder before the motor starts to slow down because there is less friction between belt and plate. I hear that spray silicone works well too.
UPDATE 11/20/2018 The aluminum drive roller came. The bearings are smaller than what the 6500 takes, so I re-used the existing bearings. Replaced the shaft in the aluminum roller with the shaft from the plastic roller and it all went back together perfect. Note: There are TWO set screws in the same threaded hole holding the aluminum roller to the shaft. Be sure to remove both. Odd setup. Bolts right in place, but is a little wider than the plastic roller but still fits with plenty of clearance.
Also made a new fence that is solid as a rock and gives about 1.5 inches more table space, and when the band is vertical the miter table clears it. Added a support arm to the miter table to make it rigid. Drilled and tapped the end of the chrome support and bolted on a 3/4x3/16 bar that gives the right side serious support and makes the whole table very rigid. Table mod works on the disc too. Also modified the sanding disc by attaching an 8" x 1/8" round hardened aluminum plate. Adds a lot more usable sanding area. Works great! Final upgrade was to make a 7x10 miter table from aluminum that takes a miter gauge with 3/4 x 3/16" track. Attached pics of the mods in case anyone else would like to make similar mods.
Have on order a double undersized pulley wheel for the motor. It has both 40mm and 30mm diameter pulleys which will under drive the roller and sanding disc 43mm pulley to give it extra torque, but slightly slower disc and belt speeds. The 40mm pulley will reduce RPM's about 7%, and the 30mm pulley will reduce RPM's about 13%. I expect noticeable increase in torque/power with the 30mm pulley. The trade off is slightly slower belt and disc speeds.
What an awesome little sanding machine!
UPDATE: 12/18/2018 The under drive pulley is now installed. It is a double pulley, two different sizes. So to get the drive belt to align properly with the new choice of pullies requires the motor move front to back as well as side to side. That requires the base be drilled. Took about 20 minutes to make the mods with a cordless drill and 3/8 inch bit. A little 3 in 1 oil helps. Having the belt speed dropped has given the motor a lot more torque to power through high pressure on the sanding belt. I was totally surprised how well this worked. Just a 7% reduction in belt speed made a noticeable change in power. And the 13% reduction made a huge difference in how hard work pieces can be pressed to the belt. Using an 80 grit Zerconia belt (for metal work) I was able to burn through 1/8" x 1" steel stock. Squaring up the cuts, and putting a nice 1/2 inch radius on corners was a breeze. Before the belt would have stopped and motor hum. Not now, it continues to grind. But it is still possible to stop the belt with enough pressure. Then the motor spins inside the drive belt. That is the problem with going smaller on the drive side rather than larger on the driven side. Oh Well. Occasional spark. Metal gets so hot it is blue. And it is very hard to stop the belt with a large wood block. So it was a great improvement. Had to take a ball peen hammer to the belt guard to pound some additional clearance for the double wide pulley (used a 36mm socket as the anvil). Also took off the original Table support that rested on the motor and made a new support that matches the other one that was added earlier. Sanding belt is now super rock solid and belt does not wander on rollers due to table twisting. Lean on it as hard as you want. LOL. Look at pics for details. BTW, the sander is quieter running at slower speed. Enjoy!
Update 10/04/2019. The sander is working wonderfully. The larger 8 inch sanding disk is perfect. I gave up on the two speed setup and went back to the single speed. Lots of vibration was traced to a bad belt. Had many S shaped lengths of the belt. A new belt solved that problem. Added 3/16 plate steel to below the motor. This makes the entire machine run smoother. Pics to come.
Update 12/26/2020. Have been using the heck out of this sander. All the mods have held up with no breakage. I did go back to the original drive pulley because the two pulley wheel caused vibration. The machine works great, keeps on running. I like that it is quiet, about the same as my drill press. Probably going to replace the stamped metal base with a piece of 1/4" aluminum plate to make the whole thing more rigid. The motor has been fine. The roller upgrade to the aluminum ones was a good mod. I especially like the 8 inch disk mod, that really works great and has never come loose or put undo stress on the shaft or bearings.
| Manufacturer | WEN |
|---|---|
| Part Number | 6500 |
| Item Weight | 32.1 pounds |
| Product Dimensions | 20 x 14.5 x 12.5 inches |
| Item model number | 6500 |
| Is Discontinued By Manufacturer | No |
| Size | 4 x 36"/6" |
| Style | 6-inch Disc w/ Steel Base |
| Power Source | 3.2A motor provides up to 1150 FPM |
| Amperage Capacity | 3.2 Amps |
| Item Package Quantity | 1 |
| Measurement System | Metric |
| Grit Rating | 80 |
| Grit Description | Medium |
| Included Components | Belt Disc Sander |
| Batteries Included? | No |
| Batteries Required? | No |
