mike65072

I'd like to get an oscillating spindle sander in the near future and have been looking at several different models. I got a HF gift certificate for my birthday and happened to see this sander...

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=95088

I know all about HF tools and have had mixed results like most other folks, but some of thier stuff isn't all that bad. Anyone have this sander???

Wood4Fun

I'm sure that unit would work fine under casual use conditions - casual/hobby use is the standard I hold HF products to. Constant/pro use, I'd look elsewhere.

In any case, if it were me, I'd get the Ridgid sander http://www.ridgid.com/Tools/Oscillat...r/EN/index.htm
There is a lot more versatility in this unit, and reliability wise I've heard nothing but good things. I've only had mine a couple months and I dig it. I've used the belt/edge sander more so far than the spindle (and I wanted the spindle). You can get these from Home Depot for $199

Unless you are really pressed for cash, I'd go this route and use the HF certificate for some other stuff you need around the shop.

It always bothers me when people say "save your money and buy something else", so... sorry about that. Like I said, I'd bet the HF unit would do nicely if you are in a pinch.

knotscott

I was thinking the same thing as Wood4fun. The Ridgid offers the OSS, plus an OBS. Catch a sale and a coupon and the price can get into the low $160's.

Gene Howe

The Rigid is a great little machine. I'd go for it over the HF simply because of the versatility of the Rigid.
Gene

dbhost

I have the Ridgid, I looked at the HF first. It is lacking too many features I use regularly to be worthy of space in my shop.

If you don't have a dust collector, get your hands on a current copy of Wood Magazine, and get the coupon for the HF 2 HP DC for $139.00 and use the gift certificate that way... MUCH better use of funds at HF for sure!

BTW: Knotscott. Something is seriously wrong with your sander. Where's all the dust? That one looks like it's never been turned on.

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BHOFM

A friend had a couple of the HF OSS's in his commercial
cabinet shop.

The only problem is the table is too small. He made
tables for them that were 3'X3' with the original table
flush with them.

They were not heavy use items in his shop and gave
no problems after five plus years.

As a side note. he had eight router tables set up
for different cuts and all had HF routers with HF
bits. He never had any problems with them either.

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TheRecklessOne

IMO...

Woodcraft is having a 10% off sale on power tools this month (I think it's national) which means you can get the Clayton oss for 135 bucks. This is the sander that the HF is trying to be. However, I didn't know that the little belt on the Ridgid oscillates. I'm still not sure its big enough though to make a difference. I'd still go with the the Clayton.

If you want to be the envy of the neighborhood the Jet benchtop weighs in at a hefty 77 lbs shipping weight, has a tilting cast iron table, metal base, $25 instant rebate, 10% discount at WC, much better dust collection than the plastic base models your considering. This will cost you about 300 bucks right now which is what you can get the delta B.O.S.S. for.

Again, only my opinion, but your going to use this thing on almost every project once you have one...Are you going to want to upgrade in 6 months? If you can talk the significant other into it go with the JET.

***BY THE WAY IF YOU GO WITH THE RIDGID SWING BY THE POST OFFICE AND GET A CHANGE OF ADDRESS PACKET. THERE IS ALWAYS A 10% OFF COUPON TO HOME DEPOT IN THOSE AND IF YOU'RE A VETERAN OR CURRENT MILITARY THEY'LL GIVE YOU ANOTHER 10% ON TOP OF THAT..ALL YA GOTTA DO IS ASK!

GOOD LUCK!

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knotscott

Mine's got a dusty gray/tan patina and is covered in dust. Borrowed the pic from the Newwoodworker.com.