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I am a newbie when comes to power tools, but I have been reading and studying and making some headway. I know that there is nothing like hands-on experience, but my real experience will have to come after I buy the tools. There are some things that seem to be fairly straight forward and I feel comfortable that I have the right item(s) on my list. Like I have my eye on a 14" Delta bandsaw and a Delta 16.5" Drill Press. The bandsaw and drill press seem to be frexible workhorses that most guitar builders have. A router and router table seen like a hight priority tool tool. But some tools, like my first sander is not so obvious. I want something that can handle a lot of various jobs such as nuts, saddles, making bridges and other guitar parts and misc. sanding.

My initial thought was to get a benchtop 6" or 8" disk/4" belt sander (Hitachi looked fine to me at Lowes - like this http://www.amazon.com/Hitachi-SB10YI-8- ... B000SMJCZO.)

Then I saw the combination Rigid oscillating spindle/edge sander which can be set up easily as an oscillating spindle sander or an oscillating edge belt sander (at Home Depot like this http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/sto ... =100061671 ) This appeared to be more flexible and I assumed it would do most anything the disk/belt sander could do. I'm always leary of "combo" stuff, but this seems to get a lot of favorable reviews.

So please set me straight with pros and cons as to what is the best first sanding tool to get for starting a guitar building shop with power tools. And would of these two sanders would be most useful?

I know that I could use the drill press to so some sanding. Maybe it would be enough? I assumed not, that small machine specialized for sanding like above would be much more useful. I assume I'll start by using the drill press for thicknessing using a

Any other thoughts on what the top priority would be for the first 3 or 4 shop power tools?

Thanks for the advice,
Ed

I think you'll find many here love the Rigid OSS. I had a disk/belt sander that I used for making nuts etc, but I found that it was limited in what I could do with it. The Rigid OSS on the other hand is very versitile and can be used for so many different tasks. It was a no brainer for me (which is a good thing LOL!) and as soon as I could afford one, I got one. The disk/belt sander is now collecting...er...dust

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I've got the Ridgid oscillating sander and a Delta 6x36" belt sander. I use both a lot and am glad I've got them.

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Steve Smith
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well i dont have either of those particular sanders, but i have a big 6 inch belt sander and a grizzly oscilating spindle sander, and i think that having the spindle sander is invaluble, i use it it far more than i use my belt sander

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I've got the Rigid thingy and love it. I think it's a really good value.

That said, a question to other owners of that unit: Mines got a little vibration now, especially with the belt sander attachment on. I could swear that when new it was solid as a rock - are yours solid or do they have a little vibration. Mine's still under warranty so I'll go through the trouble of having it fixed, but only if there's improvement to be had.

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I've had a 6" X 89" Powermatic for years, and I wouldn't be without a nice 32" straight sanding surface. I used to have a combination Sears a long time ago and If you can afford it, a 6 by 89 well worth the extra $$. A number of years back I bought a 12" Delta disc sander and I like that too although I hate the switch...
I recently bought the Jet benchtop OSS and the 3" spindle, and that is really a good piece of machinery, but I got along for many years with drum sanders in the drill press.
If I had to make the call again I would do it exactly the same way 6 X 89 first...

Andy, I've had mine about 5 yrs now and it's still as good today as it was when new.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

I have a Jet disc/belt sander (12" disc, 6" x 48" belt) - great machine, I use it all the time, I keep the belt part in the vertical position with the table set up perfectly square to the platten (as is the table on the disc part, of course) - can't imagine life without it.

I also have a Delta 6" x 48" belt sander, which I keep horizontal and use freehand. Use it all the time, can't imagine life without it.

I also have an oscillating spindle sander, which I'm not the happy with, since there's too much runout on the spindle, so it chatters/vibrates as I sand on it. Nevertheless, I use it all the time and can't imagine life without it. One of these years, I'll replace it with a better one.

Have you guys found your Ridgid spindle sanders to be good with regard to runout?

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Todd Rose
Ithaca, NY

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Thanks for the comments so far.

I don't plan to buy 2 sanders on day-one of setting up my little shop. Any direct comments on which sander would be the best first sanding tool to buy? The benchtop disk/belt or the oscillating spindle/edge????

Thanks for the help.

Ed

My belt/disc is in the trash ever since picking up the edge/spindle. Thats what you should buy first. For sure, without doubt. Anyone who says otherwise is just plain wrong or perhaps on a horse tranquilizer or something like that.

Buy the Rigid.

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Nah, it's 'ludes...

I have the Rigid OSS / Belt sander and it is close to the most used tool in my shop. Fine Woodworking gives it a best value rating in the current issue. Best $ I've spent on a tool.

Ron

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I have both and think they are two different type of machines that are capable of different things and find both necessary...Mike

If you want to build your own body molds having a spindle sander sure is handy. Don't know if you get the same utility out of a belt sander, certainly not with a disk sander. I don't have a belt or disk sander and what I don't know certainly isn't hurting me or my pocket book.

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"Generosity is always different in the eye of the person who didn't receive anything, but who wanted some." Waddy Thomson

That's pretty much what I was trying to say. For me, it would be like trying to choose between a plane and a chisel: they both cut, but in different ways and for different purposes.

If backed up against a wall and forced to choose between one or the other, I'd give up the spindle sander. But then, I'd sure miss it.

I've never had an edge sander and haven't yet felt the need for one.

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Todd Rose
Ithaca, NY

https://www.dreamingrosesecobnb.com/todds-art-music

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As mentioned, I will start with a band-saw, drill press, router table and sander. It looks like there is no consensus on which sander would be best to start with, the disk/belt Vs oscillating spindle/edge.

Of course I could use the drill press for spindle sanding with no oscillation if I got the disk/belt. I don't know how well the drill press would work for this.

Maybe he can just stop by and trash pick your trash.

Anything you shape on the 10" disc you can shape better with the edge sander attachment on the Rigid. Because it's oscillating you get no burn, ever.

There's probably a few things you can do with the belt/disc that you can't with the Rigid but I think the emphasis is on the few part of that statement.

Buy the Rigid - consensus-shmonsensus! you won't regret it.

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By all means. I may not have actually thrown it out yet. I'll warn you that you have to give the belt a push to get it started!


One edit: I do have a belt sander that I do use and it's one of these delta 1" jobbies like here: http://www3.telus.net/BrentBeach/Sharpe ... nder00.jpg

Those can be had for like $100 new. I think that the combo of the Rigid osc/edge + the narrow belt/disc is a good combo. Honestly though I hit the 1" belt far less often then when I didn't have the Rigid. The plus of the narrow belt is that you can get places you can't with a wide belt sander. I never use the disc on the belt sander unless I need to light a piece of wood on fire or lose the temper of an chisel or something like that.

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If you care to look, FWW magazine did a review of the low end (to not so low end) group of OSS tools. The Rigid came in as best buy (and best overall IIRC). The thing is so versatile for the kind of work we do. And its so dang inexpensive! What is it now? $200? BTW, HD FINALLY started stocking replacement sleeves.

Get one soon before someone at Rigid decides to "improve" the thing and ends up ruining it.

I have a combo disk/belt sander on the way and most def have intended uses for it. But the only other sander I want is one of those 1" belt sanders given their ability to get into tight places.

Mike

You are going an issue that I have been wondering about. With the disk sander the outside is traveling much faster than the center of the disk. So the outside gets much more sanding than the middle. So how do you guys keep the sanding even from one end to the other end of the object being sanded on the disk?

This was one of reasons I was leaning so heavily toward the oscillating spindle/edge machine, but thought I'd ask before buying since I know so little about the pros and cons of each.

Ed

It's not that hard. You just put more pressure on the end that's toward the middle. Or, in some cases, the workpiece is held up against the fence of the miter gauge, keeping it square (or at whatever desired angle) to the disc.

But I often do that kind of sanding on the belt part of my Jet disc/belt machine. As I said, I keep the belt vertical on that machine, with the table attached and squared to the platten. I can do very precise, accurate sanding on either the disc or the belt, and often use the miter gauge on both.

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Todd Rose
Ithaca, NY

https://www.dreamingrosesecobnb.com/todds-art-music

https://www.facebook.com/ToddRoseGuitars/

Which you can do with the edge sander on the rigid too BTW.

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Does the Rigid have an edge stop? I seem to recall it did, but cannot find one in my shop. Must be imagining things.

Mike