Main Discussion Area > Around the Campfire
Belt/Disc Sander
islandpiper:
My craftsman 6 x 48 is going strong, purchased in 1980. Once i had Sears come out, take it apart and haul the cast iron bed back to the factory to be milled flat, then return and re-assemble it the tool has run real well, that was bout 1984......the dang bed just WARPED.....
But, overall, it has been a good tool. It can move lots of wood with a 40 grit belt on it and does fast and efficient finishing work with a fine belt.
I'd never go smaller if i had to replace it. And, by the way, i use it commercially, so it gets more hours of run time than most home owner tools do.
piper
Tsalagi:
Yes, a Craftsman stationary tool made in 1980 is probably a good one. Back then, Craftsman was getting them in from probably Delta or a couple other stationary power tool companies that are long-since out of business. American-made. Like they were getting "Ted Williams" brand firearms from Marlin/Glenfield or Remington back in the day.
But a Craftsman power tool today is a far cry from those days. Some things in power tools have gotten better. Cordless tools today are better than they were when they first came out. But the quality of American brand stationary power tools has gone down drastically. Craftsman stationary power tools today, well, they say you get what you pay for---and sometimes you don't even get that much.
American power tools "brands" really don't mean anything anymore. Right now, there's a company marketing "Rockwell" brand power tools. This to cash in on the fact Rockwell International used to own the Porter Cable line, back in the 1960s and 1970s. So, people have seen those industrial grade tools from back in the day and now think they're getting that today with the "Rockwell" brand coming out. Well, no. It's only a name. Rockwell International ceased to exist in the early 1990s. It's not the same thing. The same with DeWalt. DeWalt used to make radial arm saws. Black and Decker then owned it and just used the name trying to get people to think that old company that made radial arm saws was now making those yellow tools that are exactly the same as Black and Deckers. Now Black&Decker/DeWalt also owns Porter Cable. American companies use famous names to market product and you pay for that name---not for the quality that was once associated with that brand name back decades ago.
JW_Halverson:
Hi, My name is Howie Hill and I build longbows...wanna buy one for um, lemme see $1,000?
Thanks for sharing your expertise and experience with us Tsalagi. Nothing worse than a cheap tool when you are pouring your heart into a project.
mullet:
That is a sad commentary on where we are today.
Hillbilly:
You don't need a durn $1,000 sander to make a few bows. I have a Ryobi that I got at Lowe's several years ago for about $150 and I've ground a helluva lot of wood, antler, horn, metal, and everything else on it. Never had a bit of a problem and it'll grind a piece of wood just as good as the expensive one. If it don't last thirty years, so what- I can buy five more for what one top-end one would cost. If you're setting up a professional woodworking shop where you're going to be using it ten hours a day, that's one thing. But for what most of us do, you don't have to have a pro-grade tool to flatten some bow tips, grind a piece of bamboo flat, or shape a knife handle.
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