Grizzly G0459 12 Baby Drum Sander
From Laage.se wiki
The Grizzly G0459 12" Baby Drum Sander is a small, but heavy duty sander that sands wood up to 12" wide and is a compact size made for "bench tops or sturdy tool stands". It comes with a 1 1/2 HP sanding motor, a variable speed conveyor motor, and a gear table elevation handwheel and a thickness scale for superior control over the finish. The unit runs well, for the most part, as long as you don't attempt to take off too much material at a time, but it will need its own 30 amp breaker and outlet. There were several complaints about the drive belt motor issue after multiple instances of the shaft snapping, frustrating users, and another Achilles' heel seems to be the plastic gear in the conveyor gearbox, which is made to be the weak link in the unit, designed to strip out easily "per Grizzly tech", according to one reviewer. Of ten customer reviews on Amazon, one reviewer said, "My shop is full of big Grizzly tools that are solid performers and excellent tools, but stay away from this 12" sander until they fix the motor problem (they've gone through 3 series' of motors and they ALL have the same problem!)" The reviewer also said that the first Grizzly tech they spoke to admited there was a common problem with shaft breakage but that Grizzly has subesquently said there is nothing wrong with the machine after three motor shaft replacements and a user-created solution made from other parts. The first reviews, from May 2007 to January 2009 were positive, 5-star reviews with one exception, the 2-star that says the machine may benefit from 220 power, the dust port is too small, you must take care not to take off too much material or you'll stall the machine and trip a breaker, and that it seems underpowered, but that it's not bad for the price. Later reviews hinge on the plastic gear breaking and the motor shaft issue. One reviewer from October 2009 says it's poorly made out of very poor quality steel and the drive shaft snapped after four uses but that Grizzly was good about taking it back and offering free shipping to return it. The most recent review in December 2010 recommended a return to the hand planer over this.
baby drum sander
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