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20 of 21 found the following review helpful:
 Super Sander Will Take the Place of a Belt/Disk!Jan 17, 2002
By Jeffrey A. Smith
"jasncompany"
If you're looking for a good, general purpose sander, and you're considering spending a few hundred bucks on a combination belt/disc sander, consider this...
This Jet edge sander will give you a much higher capacity and will perform all the tasks of the belt/disc sander plus give you new capabilities. It will surface-sand pieces up to 36" with full platen support underneath the piece (you don't have to move the piece to fully sand the entire surface). The end of this sander COULD eliminate any desire you have for an oscillating spindle sander, as well. The curved end of the belt enables shaping and smoothing of curved pieces. And, of course, it's great on door edges. Dust collection is better than you'd expect, too. I use this machine a whole lot more than I ever expected to, and it is one of the best tool purchases I've made. Great belt tracking, quick belt changes. One warning, though... It's topheavy, so be careful! You can't push against the platen without turning the machine over! It needs to be secured to a platform or either placed against a wall. The machine comes with an import motor, of course (a Mao Shan), but mine's been smooth and quiet, and never seems strained. Overall, a great machine!
20 of 22 found the following review helpful:
 JunkJul 20, 2004
It's true that this device is relative quiet (though any graphite-coated
platen will also be quiet), and the belt tracks well, but this sander
has a lot of serious problems. First, This is really a 4-3/4" sander. It's impossible to set the table
height so that the top of table is even with the bottom of the belt.
In fact, the best that you can get is for the top of the table to
be a little more than an inch above the bottom of the belt, seriously
limiting the amount of belt width that's actually available for use.
Since I need 6" of belt, this one is a show stopper for me. There are other problems as well: The table-angle and table-height adjustments are Mickey Mouse.
The angle adjustment has no detents and the protractor scale is very
inaccurate and inconveniently located---you have to use a square every time
you set the set up the sander for 90 degrees. Since I move from
flat to 90-degrees all the time, this is a real inconvenience. Moreover,
the table is held up by two legs that are held in place by two screws,
and that's it. Lifting the table up from the lowest position is
difficult---there's no spring or adjustment screw as in most other
edge sanders, and lifting the table requires a lot of muscle.
To lower the table, you have to hold
up the 30-pound weight of the table with one hand while you release
the set screws with the other. If you slip, the table comes
crashing down to the stops. Moreover, the two legs of the table
don't move evenly, so it's difficult to adjust the table so that
its level. Though the sander tracks well out of the box, tracking will
need to be adjusted as the belt stretches. Unlike other edge sanders,
there is no convenient knob to adjust tracking. The tracking
adjustments are complicated, and very inconvenient. One of the drums
is adjusted using a small (3mm), easy-to-loose hex wrench. The other
requires fiddling around with a hammer (loosening four screws and nudging
the motor into place). This is way too complicated for an adjustment
that you'll have to do all the time. Equally inconvenient is the lever that releases the belt tension, which does
not move the drum enough for a new belt to slip on easily. It should
have at least another 1/2" of play when the lever is in the released
position. Consequently, belts have to be worked into place rather than
slipping on smoothly. Finally, you have to remove the dust-collection
hood (three easy-to-loose screws) to use the end stop. In all, I was very disappointed with this sander. The features that
the other reviewers raved about (such as being able to use
the end for contour sanding) are available in every other sander
on the market, including less expensive ones. Almost all edge
sanders come with graphite-coated platens, nowadays. I'd go with
just about any of the other alternatives.
14 of 15 found the following review helpful:
 Jet Edge SanderJan 07, 2002
By W. E. H.
This is an excellent product, built with the quality that I have come to expect from Jet. The factory alignment was right on, in terms of right angles, and the tracking needed only minor adjustment, which is easily done. I especially like the end table, for sanding contours. Dust collection seems to work pretty well. The only defect is cosmetic; the paint is peeling from the cast iron table edges.
9 of 10 found the following review helpful:
Better than I expectedJan 17, 2005
By David Swanson
I bought this instead of a 6x48" with 12" disc combination sander, and a careful comparison of the Powermatic Model 80. And i really dislike the way the lower end Jet 6x48 with 9" disk is made.
The fit and finish are good. Everything appears better than I anticipated for a sander in his price range. It's essentially a low end edge sander and there are features I wish were better and went in questioning them but I really wanted something this size and can't get something twice as expensive nor do I have room for much larger.
Powermatics' Model 13 uses a cast iron platen, this uses laminated steel. It's very, very thick and graphite coated. I spoke with someone at Powermatic and asked "what's the advantage of the cast iron platten, since the prices of these 2 machines is the same." They said it doesn't really matter, there's no benefit.
The way the table adjusts or moves up and down is rather Mickey Mouse but it's not terribly awkward as I originally feared it may be. It's not that bad at all.
What is more bothersome to me is the fact that the table will only go so low robbing 1 1/2 inches of belt width when the sander is on the verticle. You have a 4 1/2 usable width which irks me. I don't think it would have been asking too much to atleast split the difference.
It's fine when you move the sander to horizontal. You now have a full 6" width but you have to use the supplied steel edge fence if a fence is needed if you go that route.
Powermatic makes a new Model 80 edge sander that oscilates and the cast iron table moves vertical if you place the sander on its horizontal. The model 80 also has a tiltable table on the front. Features i really liked but the platen is held on by only 4 screws which are towards the middle and the platten appears thinner, features i don't like at all. This sander is also a compromise. This Jet does have a heavier platten and is held on by 8 screws, 4 along each edge from front to back and is very thick and machined flat.
So faced with compromises I felt I needed a heavier platten vs. the moveability of model 80's tables. The Powermatic people also said they were compromises and neither stood out as a clear cut over the other. So far I'm pretty happy with this compromise.
9 of 11 found the following review helpful:
Jet's biggest disappointmentOct 29, 2004
By Robert Oswald
I'm a big jet owner but am VERY disappointed in this sander. The table height adjustment is primitive. It takes holding it in place with two hands and tightening two knobs. Very, very poor design. And the table obscures over an inch of the belt, so this sander only has about 4 1/2 inches usable. Very poor.
Table angle adjustment is very crude. A single toggle lever in a hard to access place. I don't tilt it much so it's not a big deal, but it is a poor design.
I haven't tried/needed to adjust tracking yet but the adjustment looks like it is going to be a hassle, unlike my Delta drum/disk sander.
This whole tool feels like one of Jet's first designs that never got improved. This is NOT the quality I expect from Jet. I'm sorry I bought it.
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