Oscillating spindle / bobbin sanders - what have you chosen?

[WarnerConstCo.]

State, Kindt, Master, Oliver, Wadkin, Robinson.

[member=3891]WarnerConstCo.[/member]

Alas we see few of the serious big iron versions down under ... Typically Euro and Asian made [sad]

I know you can find many UK manufacturers machines there, i see people finding them all the time.

 

[Kev]

State, Kindt, Master, Oliver, Wadkin, Robinson.

[member=3891]WarnerConstCo.[/member]

Alas we see few of the serious big iron versions down under ... Typically Euro and Asian made [sad]

I know you can find many UK manufacturers machines there, i see people finding them all the time.

True enough for the more common gear - particularly with the shift away from any form of serious manufacturing here!

You'd have a field day over here with some of the big stuff going for a song - an entire workshop was going for $13,500 o.b.o. ($AU) nearby the other day with probably a minimum of $50,000 worth of gear.

Sadly I'd need some serious space and 3 phase 415V juice to take advantage of it. I've even found a good source for 3 & 4 hp single phase 240V motors just in case I find something amazing.

Specialist machines like bobbin sanders are less common and generally tend to be less popular here (I really don't know why). The other issue is transport .. I've spotted some real bargains on the west coast, I'm on the east.

 

[cliffp]

I'm certainly not a fan of adapting a bandsaw into a sander [huh] does anyone really do that?

I bought the sanding attachment for the N4400 and it is a PIA to use.

 

[ear3]

Thought I'd add an update to my experiment with going back to Ridgid products.  So I got the benchtop oscillating spindle sander a couple of weeks ago.  After waiting about 45 min. for someone to fetch it off the top of one of the bays with a forklift (there were no models on the floor), I brought it home, set it up, started the motor and chug-chug-chug, the spindle spun at about 6rpm, making a banging noise as it went as if something was impeding the rotation.  After a bit of experimentation, I figured out that the machine started up just fine if I turned it over on its side first -- it would actually continue spinning once I turned it right side up.  But no dice whenever I tried to start it in the upright position.  So I brought it back later that day and swapped it out for another one -- had to wait another half hr while they fetched another box from up top.  This time I jokingly said that they should take a few extra boxes and put them on the floor, just in case this second one turned out to be a dud.  Glad I did.  Got home, set it up, started the motor, and chug-chug-chug, same problem.  Though this time it wouldn't start even if it was on its side.  So I immediately returned to the store -- keep in mind that I had started this process at about 10am, with the intention of sanding some templates I had just made, and now it was 4pm.  By that point I think the folks at the store thought I was some schmuck who forgot to plug in a power cord and claimed it was the tool's fault.  But no matter -- I fetched a third unit (thankfully they had left some extra boxes on the floor), but this time I asked if I could plug it in at the store so I wouldn't have to go through the whole process again if it also turned out to be defective.  Well, this one actually worked.  So I went home, did a quick setup, and sanded my templates.  It was only a few days ago though that I decided to double check the leveling of the foldable table -- for the initial setup I had only checked one side, as I was so frustrated by how the day had been wasted.  But after gang sanding two curved pieces and discovering that the edge on some sections was out of square, I discovered that the folding table had a significant concavity in the middle.  And if I tried to adjust for that, I found it difficult to impossible to get both ends of the table both coplanar to the main bed and square to the spindle.  Add to that the cheap plastic insert which is bent and pops out if you press too hard on one side.  Not sure if I'm just really unlucky, but I am going to return the machine within the 90 day window after a get a few more miles about it, and will not get another one.  I just wished I had resolved all this a couple of days prior so I could have taken advantage of the 15% sale at Tool Nut on Jet and gotten their benchtop spindle model.

+1 on the Ridgid.  Having the belt sander is a huge plus.  I rarely use the spindles.  It's short money and has a small foot print as well.  PWW or FWW did a review on spindle sanders recently.  The Ridgid won best value and best overall.
I hook my CT. 26 up to it.  Dust collection is excellent.

 

[copcarcollector]

Edward - I dont think you are alone! I have read really excellent reviews on the Rigid, but the more recent reviews describe exactly what you say - motor issues and table flatness issues. Its too bad, they had a great product out there, but it seems more recent production models suffer from very bad QC problems.

 

[adcolor]

If you do not need the tilt top, the Triton and its many clones are cheap and easy to find. Ryobi sold a bunch in the first addition/version, Woodcraft, Wen, several others make the current version.

They are all made by the same Chinese company

 

[leakyroof]

I've recently been considering the Festool CMS sanding module, but it's limited scope v's cost makes me unconvinced. For similar money I could get a top of the line oscillating spindle sander (yes - they're completely different things, I know ... but I got looking at sanding machines of different types and developed a curiosity).

There seems to be a very wide spectrum of machines in the OSS space. Are the free standing machines 5x better than some of the bench machines? The Jet JOVS-10 has got my interest ... LEDA, LAGUNA and Swiss Tec also seem interesting.

... But the bench Jet is quite cheap (available in Oz soon I'm told).

Does anyone have thoughts to share on this?

  Decide on how much you might actually use this type of sander, that will help with your budget setting. I wanted a decent machine, but Benchtop because I have precious little spare floor space in my shop like everyone else.
I bought the smaller Jet model, JBOS-5 and really like it for spindle work. It's not hard to track down the larger, optional spindle either if you want it[ I think it's the 3" diameter one]
Not sure what Dust Collection mods the UK poster did to theirs, I'd like to see, but no pictures in his post.  I have an adapter sizing up to a standard 4" DC hose, works well enough for me with my single stage Delta DC unit that I've never tried downsizing to a Vacuum hose for higher velocity air movement that one of my Festool vacs could provide in dust collection from the sander.  [scratch chin]

 

[Stone Message]

  Decide on how much you might actually use this type of sander, that will help with your budget setting. I wanted a decent machine, but Benchtop because I have precious little spare floor space in my shop like everyone else.
I bought the smaller Jet model, JBOS-5 and really like it for spindle work. It's not hard to track down the larger, optional spindle either if you want it[ I think it's the 3" diameter one]
Not sure what Dust Collection mods the UK poster did to theirs, I'd like to see, but no pictures in his post.  I have an adapter sizing up to a standard 4" DC hose, works well enough for me with my single stage Delta DC unit that I've never tried downsizing to a Vacuum hose for higher velocity air movement that one of my Festool vacs could provide in dust collection from the sander.  [scratch chin]
[/quote]

I am not sure if you are referring to me but I will answer anyway.

The Festool 36 mm hose fits the extractor point perfectly and I find that the dust collection is really good.

Peter

 

[leakyroof]

  Decide on how much you might actually use this type of sander, that will help with your budget setting. I wanted a decent machine, but Benchtop because I have precious little spare floor space in my shop like everyone else.
I bought the smaller Jet model, JBOS-5 and really like it for spindle work. It's not hard to track down the larger, optional spindle either if you want it[ I think it's the 3" diameter one]
Not sure what Dust Collection mods the UK poster did to theirs, I'd like to see, but no pictures in his post.  I have an adapter sizing up to a standard 4" DC hose, works well enough for me with my single stage Delta DC unit that I've never tried downsizing to a Vacuum hose for higher velocity air movement that one of my Festool vacs could provide in dust collection from the sander.  [scratch chin]

I am not sure if you are referring to me but I will answer anyway.

The Festool 36 mm hose fits the extractor point perfectly and I find that the dust collection is really good.

Peter
[/quote]. Not you Peter, I think the poster was Lbob.  They modified their post at one point, so maybe they had pictures that they removed later on?

 

[Gary in Texas]

This, and totally pleased with it!

I had a bench top spindle sander, some of the work I was doing required longer spindles, and the bench top units max out at 6", and you have to take an inch of for the stroke.

This is the only Grizzly product I've ever purchased, the spindles run true, the table top is massive and flat, tilts, and all of the spindles from 3/4" OD and up are 9" in length.  Gave the bench top unit to my son.