For anyone contemplating the purchase of a stationary sanding machine, I bought this Fisch unit at the woodworking show last weekend. Here are my observations and comments. I’m not a professional tool reviewer so if there are questions I haven’t answered I’d be glad to provide them to the best of my abilities.
First one might ask, “Why Fisch?” Well, it’s a nice blue color, Looks and acts like Jet & Delta’s similar machines and … cost close to $200 less than either of these. The blue color is what made the deal, of course (grin).
The machine came mounted on a pallet which made loading, unloading and moving around easier but be sure to have a hand or a good handtruck available – it weighs in at probably about 150lbs and comes basically fully assembled except for a few minor things. Unfortunately, of the four places where it could be secured to the pallet, only one of four possible lag bolts was installed and it was loose enough I took it out with my fingers. The “other” one was rattling around in the cabinet.
Fit & finish, something that’s always noted, is pretty good except the casting that surrounds the sanding disk is pretty rough. Oh-well, that’s not what one uses for sanding so no biggie. The tables are nicely finished. There was the requisite amount of cosmoline on all machined cast iron parts, of course.
The only major thing that had to be assembled was the table for the belt sander. I love it when a tool maker sends you (almost) every tool needed to assemble their product. And having all the bolts the same size is a plus, too, with a couple exceptions. Everything went together without any trouble.
The nuts for the rubber feet are 12mm metric while everything else is english. The 90degree stops for the tables are adjusted with allen wrenches but the correct size for these wasn’t supplied. Two other allen wrenches were included for adjusting or maintaining most everything else, however.
The belt has an oscillating feature that moves the belt side to side about 3/4″. This can be disengaged by puling out a small fitting on the lower left of the belt assembly.
The disk is quite flat judging from gauging it with a steel rule – haven’t put the dial indicator on it yet. It seems to run very true from the first test use.
Adjusting the belt from vertical to horizontal requires removing the belt dust port and loosening one of the two bolts that secures the assembly. This is a minor irritation – the port comes off by removing three knobbed screws, but I think I’ll eventually cut an opening in the port to allow putting a wrench on the front nut without taking the port off. (see Fisch02 for illustration. The port has been removed and sitting to one side for the photo).
Fisch01 image is how it came out of the packing crate. Fisch03 is fully assembled and ready for work.
There’s a slight amount of vibration while running, nothing I can’t live with given the light duty I will probably put the machine to use in. A link belt would probably reduce or eliminat this however the motor pulley is only about 1″ across and looking at the linkbelt geometry I don’t know how well they would work on such a small pulley.
The supplied belt has a wicked seam and will probably be replaced sooner than later. Not enough to knock the workpiece out of my hand but annoying none the less. Tracking the belt is easily done by adjusting the …. ummmm… adjuster on the top idle roller. The bed of the belt sander has a graphite impregnated surface for friction reduction. I don’t know how prevelant this is in this kind of machine but it makes a lot of sense.
Both table gauges were like really, really close to being correct when checked with a square to the disk and belt, but like any gauge I would check each time the table(s) gets adjusted to whatever angle.
I haven’t seen this line of tools mentioned here in the Knots forum so thought I’d throw it out in case anyone’s intersted.
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Replies
Well, it certainly is blue!
R
I'll have to second that- blue it is!
Thanks for the thorough review Dennis. I've considered the Delta closed stand model for the last couple of years but the price differential over the open base didn't make sense. Also the Fisch's oscillating feature is a plus, it helps the spindle sander considerably.
I forgot to mention the price. I think the list price was $699.00. Show special $649.00. I looked at the Jet (same size, etc. and motor power) which listed for $810 for closed stand model. No show special on the Jet. Delta wasn't there in any formal manner and I figured their tools usually run at least the same if not more than Jet. The Jet open stand model was $754 with the stand, $690 without the stand. Jet is a direct drive while the Fisch is belt drive. I suspect the direct drive would run with less vibration. For my use, I can live with the belt drive.
Fisch is a Taiwan made machine.Dennis in Bellevue WA
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I looked around a bit after your first post. This must be a new release. None of the online distributors listed on Fisch's website carries this sander yet. Also no reference within the site either. However I did find a Shop Fox look alike for just $435 with a 1hp motor. Shop Fox is the GMC to Grizzly's Chevy. Not sure if this is an apples to apples comparison with the Fisch.
http://tool-corral.com/shopsite_sc/store/html/page18.html
I'm not in the least trying to discredit the Shopfox, Joe, but apples are apples and oranges are oranges. The Fox is a 1HP motor, the Fisch is 1 1/2. The Fox is a 10" disk, the Fisch is 12. There's no mention of the belt oscillating feature for the Fox.
Whether all this adds up to over $200 difference in list price .... . A 10" disk would probably serve as well along with a 1HP motor. The 'oscillation' is only 3/4" side to side and it's rather slow at that. But it's there.
I notice the little Fisch listed just below the Fox in the link you provided is only $109 but with only a 1/3hp motor.
Here's a link to the Fisch site:
http://fisch-woodworking.com/
This sander *is* listed as a new item is probably why it's not showing up on vendor's sites.
Dennis in Bellevue WA
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Joe -
Sorry - the link shows a 4x6 sanding center different from the one I got. I guess this thing is so new that it's not even on the Fisch web site.
Rockler carries these things (that's from whom I purchased it) so perhaps if there's a rockler's near you, you could inquire there.
Arcghhhhhhh - I can't even find it in the online Rockler catalog.Dennis in Bellevue WA
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My time frame is after Christmas I'm sure it will be listed soon.
DENNIS: Nice looking sander,another great addition to your shop there Buddy..
Best wishes and Happy woodworking.. ToolDoc
Dennis
Congrats on the sander. I thin----k it looks great. Couldn't really see it well. In picture 3 there is a piece of lint on the shop floor to the right of the sander. It's very distracting. Is is possible to pick that up and get a new picture???!!!!
I can't tell what color the sander is because of the distraction from the lint..he..he..he..ha..ha..ha..ho..ho..ho..
Congrats, looking good buddy!!
sarge..jt
That "lint" is the twister tie from the power cord. And yes, my shop is usually that much of a mess. Some day .....
Another thing I forgot to mention -
The miter gauge is a slotted affair which is nice. The miter gauge has a pretty sloppy fit in the slot which isn't. Sloppy meaning it moves a little.
I bought a secondary miter gauge at Rockler, one with little spring loaded balls on the side that I'll use in preference to the one that came with the sander.
Normally I bring the images into Photoshop and lighten them up a bit and touch up the contrast. Sorry for the poor quality, bud. I'll work on my technique! (grin)
Dennis in Bellevue WA
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