How about a belt sander....

[kevin clifford]

Festool already makes them, so let's get it available in North America! I am tired of buying portercable belt sanders and parts to fix them. The tiny Ridgid works ok, but its not Festool.

 

[rst]

We use the Makita 9924s in our glass business.  Despite the fact that we are grinding glass the machines last forever, plus with a Fein adapter we can hookup for dust collection.  I 35 years we have only bought five and they get used daily despite the silica dust .

 

[JPF Woodworking]

I agree (with both posts)....Why NAINA? But I also have gotten around this...use a Bosch 4 X 24 .....connected to my CT 22 it is virtually dust free....works very well. I also have a RO 150 which is really my go to sander but I still use the belt sander in order to avoid circular scratch patterns left with sander.....

 

[rst]

I forgot to mention that we also use them with a 40 grit belt to cut down aluminum doors that have sagged or heaved.

 

[AlexThePalex]

I agree (with both posts)....Why NAINA?

The two belt sanders Festool sells now are only available with 220v motors. Converting them to 110v would need a redesign. Since the belt sanders are not big sellers, I suspect the high cost of redesigning the sanders is prohibiting.

 

[kevin clifford]

That's pretty impressive that the Makitas last that long! Grinding on glass and metal is tough on them for sure.  I will look into those and the Bosch, thank you.
Porter Cable used to be a great tool, but it seems to have gone the way of the dodo. Both their routers (690lr) and their sanders have become consumables, meaning you just have to plan on them having a pretty short life and plan on replacing them every year.

 

[Rip Van Winkle]

I agree (with both posts)....Why NAINA?

The two belt sanders Festool sells now are only available with 220v motors. Converting them to 110v would need a redesign. Since the belt sanders are not big sellers, I suspect the high cost of redesigning the sanders is prohibiting.

Weren't the Festool belt sanders originally HolzHer Derby designs that Festool acquired when they bought HolzHer? If so, there probably was a 110v version available at one time since the Derby tools were sold in the USA. I presume at this point though Festool would have long since gotten rid of the 110v tooling.

 

[ggc]

I believe the AEG HBSE 75s was available in the USA @110V, they come up on ebay occasionally.  I picked up the 240V version in Australia and the sanding frame fits no problem.

There's a post floating around somewhere ( I think it was by gerhard on an australian forum) with the history of these belt sanders, before Festool took over part of Holzher I believe the basic design had been resold under many different brands, AEG/Holzher/Metabo being the main ones, but I'm sure I've even seen a Bosch and Atlas Copco that look like the same shape.

 

[AlexThePalex]

Festool kept most of the design but they did put stronger motors in.