Any opinions on the General Sanding Center. (Disc/belt combo) Model 15-035DC. I am comparing with the Powermatic. I have no experience with General machinery but have had been real happy with Powermatic. The General is almost 100 lbs heavier than the Powermatic and looks attractive from the specs.
Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.
Michael
Replies
I had the Delta 31-300 and thought it was very sturdy and plenty powerful. However I am not a big fan of disk/ belt sanders in general. The belt sands across the grain making final finishing necessary and more time consuming, and the contact area of the belt is too narrow feed long (over 3 foot) stock without gouging. Disk sanders have their uses but they also sand across the grain and there is really nothing that they do which cant be done an another machine. I have the Ridgid horizontal oscillating belt sander. The belt is horizontal giving much more contact area and is more stable. You can feed stock as easilly as with a jointer. It also doubles as a oscillating drum sander, very handy for shaping and sanding curved parts. If the Ridgid is not heavy duty enough (I wish there was a Delta or Powermatic equivelent) look at an edge sander. There are lots of machines out there that cost $400 and use much longer belts (that is a good thing). Unfortunately the oscillating feature isn't found on units less than $800 bucks. Around $1,100 Powermatic and Jet have some great machines.
If you are sanding small parts for toys or jewelry boxes a sanding station can be a good choice.
I actually have the Ridgid tool also. It is a great tool for what it is, but I need something beefier, and I do alot of jewelry boxes. I use the belt for shaping/contouring wood more than anything.
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled