Im thinkin about getting a 12" disc sander from Harbor Freight. its a 1 hp bench top sander and its made by Central Machinery and it's on sale now for $99.99. I know some of the HF stuff is crap and some isn't...but dont know about Central Machinery.. anyone bought anything made by them.. good???bad??? thanks...
I may get flamed for this, but I've had very good luck with central machinery. I have 4 or five friends that have that sander, and we have one at school. All are working fine. So what's a quality American made 12" disk sander go for?
The big thing with these items built offshore that are electrical is what happens when they take a dump. None of the electrical shops here will even take a look at them and being electrical HF won't stand behind them for more than a few weeks. I'm of the opinion that if you need a piece of equipment like this you are into something a little more than "light duty". That being the case why not save up a little more money and get a heavier duty model that is backed by an american company. Just my opinion. Frank
[ QUOTE ] I'm of the opinion that if you need a piece of equipment like this you are into something a little more than "light duty". [/ QUOTE ] Harbor Freights electrical tools are fine.... if you don't use them regularly. And anything other than light duty use will make you wish you'd saved for a "name brand" product w/ a good warranty. Put my vote in for saving for something better, too.
Yeah, if you need bang for the buck, you cannot beat harbor freight. They are right here in Nashville. A lot of their tools are no-name brands. Sort of like XXX-out golf balls. My family's small engine repair shop has been running their tools for years. (mostly low torque stuff) We use the snap on truck for the heavy torque and precision items. Good thing is that if you can get away with Harbor tools on some stuff, you can afford the snap on truck when it pulls in
When I bought my disc sander, I tried to find a local store that carried a Delta 12" disc sander, but no one had them in stock and Home Depot didn't seem especially interested in ordering them - which was kinda strange since HD is usually pretty helpful. Needing the sander for a project I bought the HF sander. It runs smooth enough, but my big complaint with it is that the table will not stay square. The little handles for tightening aren't too sturdy and in fact one broke off. It may work to get some metric Allen bolts and crank up the table locks real tight, but it looks like a brace device would be better. And right now, I hate to take the time to make one. Before I went Harbor Freight, I'd take a look at what Grizzly offers. Granted, the Griz sells Taiwanese stuff, but their buyers travel overseas and lay out the requirements for the tools they want built. HF seems to buy what the offshore suppliers offer and don't make an effort to have any more than a cheaply built machine.
Now that I told you all about HF vs. Grizzly, I took a look at the 12" sanders on both sites. The Grizzly looks just like the 5 year old HF sander I have. Grizzly sander The HF sander - from what I can see, looks like a newer model and it may have a more secure table locking system. Harbor Freight sander Price on both is $129.99 with Grizzly charging $10. for shipping.
AHotRod - what kind of sander do you have. who's got a 12" sander that was made in America?? and where'd you get it??
[ QUOTE ] AHotRod - what kind of sander do you have. who's got a 12" sander that was made in America?? and where'd you get it?? [/ QUOTE ] And what did you pay for it?
I don't want to be dumbass but how much of this stuff is really made in the USA. Most of the US companies have "partnered" with companies in China to duplicate their specs. My company does it and we send a lot of crap back but we do have very high quality standards. So I am guessing a lot of companies - particularlly electical tools. Hell I consider everthing I do fairly light duty yet I wear out 1 cordless drill per year...and no one will stand behind them except Sears and you have to buy the warranty.
thats true.. ive always believed that you 'get what you pay for'.. but im curious as to how the $100.00 sander holds up to a 300.00, 500.00 or 1000.00 disc sander.. thanks.
I'll weigh in on this one. For a while I spent some money at Harbor Freight. Bought soem stuff that seems to be OK, but alot of it has turned to crap. I've decided to stay away. The tranny Jack I got from them has broken more than a few times. The power tools might make it through a car build but I wouldn't hold my breath. I've gotten to the point where I've been buying more old tools power tools from eBay as well as the newspaper classifieds and local sales. Sometimes I can't afford the nice new stuff so I go on the hunt for a good used tool. Check out your local Gov. Surplus auctions. I got some good stuff when they shut down one of the Gov. Vehicle shops. But I'm staying away from harbor Freight and their Chinese junk. I'd rather pay twice as much and get a quality tool new or used...
I got a 14" disk sander at an auction with a 2hp motor for $120.00 it is great but the 14" disk's are harder to find localy. my brother has bought 3 cheap ones and burned them all out doing the same kind of work i do with mine. a great place to look is at your local schools. most in my area have done away with there wood shop,auto shop and metal shop. alot of my bigger tools have come this way with a little deal making with some one in the school system.
[ QUOTE ] I bought an engine hoist from them and I am gruntled. [/ QUOTE ] Does that mean that you are NOT DIS-gruntled?
I usually buy makita for my house. The stuff I have bought from places like harbor fright we for work. They have all died or are slowly dying.Almost all my personal electric tools are 4+ yrs old and no problems yet. Plus they are all(makita) made in the USA.
I buy very little new stuff, garage sales , auctions and word of mouth gets me a lot of name brand stuff pretty cheap. My problem is I have other people around the shop often and I much prefer they use the $11.00 calipers from Harbor Freight as my Mitutoyas. Same with drills and bits, welding clamps ect.I know how I treat tools ,I don't know how everyone else treats 'em. I spend some snowy Sundays at the hock shops also , I take the current sale adds from Sears ,or whatever and try to buy at half of sale price.
[ QUOTE ] The Delta 12" bench top sander is a good one that goes for about $180. [/ QUOTE ] I just took a look at my Delta table saw...made in tiwan. Same as my craftsman disc/belt sander. Seems you just can't win
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