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I have owned this model for several years. Great power for it's size. Current model is made in England. Mine is made in Japan. Great ergonomics. Light enough for vertical sanding.Superb dust collection.Belt tracking is very good.Very quiet.
Flat top means you can flip it over and use it as a fixed place sander. This smaller belt sander is a great belt sander. For the price, there is nothing close to it. It is well built and not as noisy as others. The dust collecter bag works well and it is very easy to remove and empty. The sanding belts can be removed and replaced very quickly and easily.
The dust collection is good with the bag and very good if hooked up to a shop vac.The belts are easy to change.I have been using this belt sander mainly for scribing kitchen cabinets and for this task it has been extremely usefull. This small belt sander has been a very good investment.It is lightweight and comfortable to use.
Material removal was decent, but the 5.6 A motor may be too small for the weekend wannabe contractor. I'm guessing the motor was shorting to the brushes at high speed. Overall, it was a tight little sander, very comfortable to hold and operate.
White sparks were visible through the motor vent on the side, and there was a definite loss of motor torque. Needless to say, I was very disappointed in this tool and luckily was able to return it. This went along with a popping sound coming from the sander (and my lights flickering in my house).
I purchased this sander to do some medium duty sanding/stripping on doors and woodwork. But after only an 45 min to an hour of use, the motor began to spark at high rpm and no load. I would opt for a higher amp motor and a different brand sander like I did.
The belts, like on the other Makita models, were easy to load and use. The 5 belts that came with it were a good selling point, too.
The sander worked perfectly. I just spent 4 hours using this tool to smooth a glued up table top I'm making. The dust catcher works very well. Changing belts is very easy and precise alignment before use is not required. I'm no expert in wood working and I was very pleased with this sander. It has good power and I had no trouble with belt tracking.
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