Belt sander need

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I am looking for a hand-held belt sander to use for a variety of projects. I'd prefer it not be too heavy to allow for overhead work, but heavy & powerful enough to do reasonably tough jobs. Good dust collection,stable tracking & easy replacement of the belt are also desirable. A 3X18 or 3X21 inch size belt seems most appropriate also. I'm dissappointed that Ridgid does not offer one.

Does anyone have any experience or recommendations? I've been focusing on Makita since I have had good experience with some of their other tools

Thanks for your comments.

John G.

[imported_brantstx]

Somebody may shoot me for saying this, but Ryobi has a 3 x 21" belt sander (model BE-321) that sells at HD for $99 that I think is pretty nice tongue.gif . I've owned it for about 4 years now, and I've been very pleased with it. To do better, I think you have to go to the Porter-Cable units, but they're more than twice the price, and very heavy, too. The Ryobi is variable-speed, and the belt-changing is easy. It has a very low profile, too. It's still a current model- stop by HD and take a look.

[woodslayer]

I have the Makita 9911 3 x 18 Variable Speed and have no complaints. I wanted a small and light sander that would not require considerable effort to hold in awkward positions or overhead and still be of sufficient quality that it should last a long time and this model seemed to fit my requirements quite well. I have not experienced any problems with the belts staying on and the dust collection is excellent. Make no mistake about it, this unit will not remove stock like the 12 amp 4 x 24 giants but if your needs are less this is definitely a nice sander.

Woodslayer

[muckdog]

I went with the Dewalt 433 that includes the stand. So far I have only used it once to sand the hardwood floor a closet. It went through wood pretty damn quick with 36 grit. I like it so far. Easy to change paper. The selling point for for the dewalt compaired to other top brands was the stand and a $25 coupon for buying it on amazon. Got it before christmas so the coupon my not be there anymore. It is a little heavy so you may like the Makita which appears to be the smallest one that I've seen.

[imported_Bob D.]

That's a nice deal on the DeWalt DW433KT. The stand would be handy for working small items too.
My old Skil sander is ready to give up and die on me, I think this will be my choice for a replacement.

[ 01-30-2004, 06:36 PM: Message edited by: Bob D. ]

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Thanks for the feedback. I have been looking at Makita's models 9910, 9911, & 9920. The best deal is on a "refurb'd" 9910 for $59 from Toolking. I'm somewhat sceptical about it, but it carries a one year warranty from Makita & appears lighter which would be ok for a lot of the work I do.. The 9911 is more attrative due to the variable speed function. Should this be a consideration.

Is there any disadvantage to a 3" wide v. a 4" or a 21" long model v. a 24"?

Thanks again for the feedback.

John G.