Oscillating spindle sander
Last christmas, I added an oscillating spindle sander to my power tools arsenal. The acquisition has mainly been driven based on project that I either had in the pipeline or future project. for the time being, it's a little bit of both where I have a project, still on the bench and waiting completion, one current project (Arts and craft bed) and some other future project involving curves.
Criteria
Well here a some of the criteria in choosing the model :
possibility of mobility
Space is still a premium in a one car garage so looking at offering the possibility to move or build a stand for multiple purpose was high up on the list
Variety of spindle size
variety of spindle size and some ease of changing the spindle and the sand paper is always something good. Ease of use
Dust collection
Something that I might need to let go natively and to add to the product later
Getting information
I've been looking at getting my feet wet with some curves, not too crazy, but add some to the design and expand a little bit on the projects. As for many of you, looking at reviews helped somewhat narrow down the selection.
I've looked attentively at the latest Fine woodworking review in the latest tool review (2016 I believe) which included a review of the bench top model. Although it might not cover all model, I still liked the review method.
Also looked at other inclusive articles online and also looked at what was available in stores close by and mapping to what I've seen online.
Selection process
After looking at past articles and reviews the rigid belt/spindle sander model always gets very good review and looks very good. Price is always been pretty good and even see it on special on some occasion. Well, I did own one a one point in time and never got good result with it, mainly to get the sand paper to stay solidly on the spindle or belt mechanism. I sold the model I had.
I did not want to get into potentially the same issues again and sell it back. I must agree that the feature to convert from/to spindle/belt is some very nice feature, I looked away as not too many other model offers this same feature.
I finally settled down to a King Industrial model that ressembles many other model in the reviews. I think that the same manufacturer just rebrands for some brand names, with some differences on tool storage, but the main gut of the tool is pretty much the same.
Some downside to this particular model :
Yes dust collection sucks. Will address in a future build with the tool cabinet and arrange for proper dust collection for tools that are similar in dust collector port size
No very large spindle - largest is 2 inch spindle size. To me for now, I don't see this as a major issue, will just need fair the curve with what we got.
Now I just need to build a tool cabinet/storage/stand to be able to mount it a proper height. I also want to include some other tool storage within this cabinet, for this tool but other tools in the shop that have other consumables or accessories.