Lookinf at a Delta belt sander

[BandSawyer]

Hi Folks,
I local gut has a delta sander model 31-695 (6" belt 9" disc) for sale at $175.
Anyone have one of these? How do you like it?
BS

[Kudzu]

I find disks rather useless and short life of the paper.

I couldn't live without my belt sander. I have some different but they work the same. Sold my combo and don't have disk sander. Just don't find any advantage. YMMV.

[BandSawyer]

Ya I didn't think the disc was much use but the belt part of it is what I like I think that would be very useful.

[Ruler2112]

I've had the Delta 4x36 belt sander for about forever & use it all the time - everything from sanding to shaping to sharpening lathe tools. It's died twice on me, the last time I couldn't find a part because Delta has been bought out by the Chinese & they stopped making parts for anything. I was able to hack a fix into place, but it's far from ideal.

Like you, I feel the disk sander is worthless. I tried using it once and it was so far out of square that it completely ruined what I was working on. While I had it apart recently to fix the latest breakdown, I actually left the disk off and replaced the lower shield with one made from luann, covering the whole area the disk sander took. I now don't have to worry about anything being too close & getting sucked in when I turn it on or if the fan blows a towel/bag while I'm using it. (Rare, but it's happened.)

The lack of parts availability would be my only concern. There's only a certain amount of hacking you can do on a tool to keep it running until you absolutely need a given part.

[Kudzu]

This is what I have, more of an edge sander than what your looking at but as I said, I love mine.

[EvilTwin]

I don't have that sander in question, but an older powermatic 30a. I find the disk to be the more useful of the two, though I get plenty of use out of the belt side as well. The disk is perfect for creating a radius corner on either wood or metal parts or just bringing down an edge quickly. I keep a crepe stick handy to clear the disk and I get quite a long life out of my paper.

These smaller 4" belt/9" disk machines will not have the capability of a bigger machine, but if thats all you got, then go with it.

This is what a 30a looks like:

[bobburk]

Ruler and BS,
If the machines you are looking at and looking parts for, you perhaps check and become members of the OWWM group. You can obtain info. on the interested machines as well as run an ad on their BOYD (their classified site).

Bob

[BandSawyer]

I guess I have decided to pass on this Delta machine. The parts availablity caused me to pass on a Delta jointer earlier in the year and I feel going after this sander would undo my feeling about Delta from earlier in the year.
Really too bad about Delta.