Anyone have experience w this?

http://www.amazon.com/Palmgren-81192-6-Inch-Benchtop-Horsepower/dp/B00068U80S/ref=sr_1_5/103-4736955-2080620?ie=UTF8&s=hi&qid=1189888381&sr=1-5

At $160 the price is hard to beat. I'm guessing it's comparable to the $200 Delta HD sells which has been discussed here before, but the Delta comes with (what appears to be a flimsy) stand. I'd prefer to build my own stand anyhow.

I've been trying to hold out for a $1200 free-standing Wilton w 12" disc, but my parents insisted that my birthday present come from Amazon (they love Amazon for some reason) so I don't have much to lose. Hopefully it'll get me by for a few years.

BTW I had NO idea Palmgren put out any power tools........

So I wanted to follow up here since it appears no one has knowledge of this unit. I got it for a gift from my parents as mentioned, and since they have Amazon Prime (or whatever it is) it came 2nd day shipping. How Amazon made any money shipping ~108lbs 2nd day I'll never know.

Anyway.....from what little I've used the sander it's basically what I expected. It doesn't have gobs of power and you can bog it if you load up the belt, but it's also not entirely gutless and gets the job done reasonably well. It came with an uber-cheap belt with a seam that makes the workpiece jump, and too fine at 100 grit. I think a 40 or 60 grit quality belt would make a world of difference and remove material faster without having to lean into the work.

The dust collection port is useless for me (working w metal), and it just shoots a nice puddle of black dust onto my table. I obviously didn't attach the dust collection bag. The dust collection mechanism immediately under the table at the belt is plastic, as is the cover for the round disc. I dunno if either one will eventually melt, but I doubt it. If they should, neither is really necessary and can be thrown away IMO. The rest of the sander around the abrasives is cast "metal" and seems like it will hold up well.

So far, for the price, I'd recommend this for a semi-serious hobbyist fab shop. In my case I don't expect it to last forever, but it's a nice compromise until I can afford a sweet Wilton floor unit.

http://www.supermotors.net/getfile/586709/fullsize/miscshop-086.jpg

Finally, in looking at the Sears catalog, Craftsman markets a unit just slightly smaller than this; same size belt at 6x48 but with a 6in disc rather than my 9in disc, and with an 8A motor vs my 10A motor, which I'm certain is a Palmgren based upon several visual cues:
http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_00921757000P?vName=Tools&keyword=disc+sander

For the higher price tag w a smaller belt and lesser motor it's obviously not as good a value.

My dad just got me a Delta one from lowes for $35 on clearance. It's a 6" with a 4x36" belt. Most of it has the same design as yours and the sears one.

The belt is poo, I darn near killed it just testing it out. No biggie.

http://www.absolutehome.com/web/catalog/product_detail.aspx?pid=81531&cm_ven=Froogle&cm_cat=Tools&cm_pla=Delta%20Machinery&cm_ite=Delta%20Machinery-Stationary%20Tools-81531&cid=46E32F3CED6EE66077FF35D676180BB6

http://images1.hdpi.com/product/delta-sander-SA446-new2.jpg

What length belt does the palmgren take? Just currious.

I have a couple of sanders like the little delta shown above. I lengthened one of them to take a 54" belt, much, much better belt life. The smaller sanders I have specifically said to remove the plastic pieces that you mention, the disc dust collector and the belt dust collector , if you are using it for metal.

You may find 40 and 60 grit far to corse. The grit tends to tear from the belt rather than remove metal. I would say any grit bellow 100 you should only sand on the portions of the belt that are not backed by the metal parts of the sander. I bought a box of 36 grit belts first, they sucked, went 120 grit next and it is much better. You can get good Norton zirconia alumina (blue) belts from McMastercarr for very reasonable prices.

Later,
Jason