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Having said that however, it isn't a very powerful sander and with only a 3"x18" belt, there isn't much surface area making contact with the wood. I bought this sander for a particular job I was going to do at my house and selected this particular model primarily because of the price since I don't require use of a belt sander very often. Be prepared for bigger jobs to take some time. It was selling for about half of list price at the time.After several jobs, including sanding down a very weathered outdoor bar top, it is still running as good as it ever did. I was able to complete all the work I intended to use it for without any problems, and I have no reason to expect it won't perform as well in the future. It is still faster than an orbital sander and does what it is supposed to, but if you intend on using a belt sander on a regular basis and expect top performance, than you should probably look for something along the lines of a professional quality 4"x24" with a more powerful motor. If you are like me and only expect to use it a couple times a year around the house and you want to save a few bucks, then this one should do fine.
Light weight. This is a very efficient sander for home use. Much more effective than a disc sander. Handle for two hand use. It saved me a lot of time doing boat decks.
Belts started tracking to the out side of the unit if any pressure was applied to work. I purchased this unit at Lowes about 6 months ago. Performed well at first. Then motor burned up on unit. also very loud when in use.
I bought this sander at Lowes because it was inexpensive, about $50, and I also thought that Black and Decker wasstill a good name. One of B&D's big sellingpoints is automtic belt tracking, no adjustment neccesary. I returned it to Lowes the next day noproblem.I was going to buy the variable speed Dewalt until I read thereviews about it on this site. The floor was approximately 4'X 6'.For a brief moment I thought this tool purchase was goingto be worth the price. I really like the ideaof being able to mount the Dewalt on it's stand and use it asa fixed sander. This is the first belt sander I haveever used. Used the sander to sand old flooradhesive off of plywood. Itdid not work for me.
I went through 4 belts in about 1 hour.The belts would track true and sand good for a short time.Then the belts would go off track and cut into the plastichousing. I could turn it off and manually adjust the beltback into the proper position but they would just go off trackeven quicker after the first time. I was cheap before so I thoughtif I spent $200 on a sander I could pretty much expect to get agood machine but now I am not so sure. Not sure what I am going to do now.
If you plan on going in any way beyond that plan on being disappointed and plan on buying a higher quality sander. I got this sander as a youth beginner and at that time I was unimpressed. If you use this type of sander very infrequently or you are buying this for a person that has a BEGINNING interest in woodworking this is the tool for you to buy. I was told this same thing and didn't listen at a younger age. Oh well small price mistake I guess.
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