G1183-6" x 48" Belt/12" Disc Combo Sander, 3450 RPM

This is the 4th we owned over the years, three, including this new one are still in service. The older three are much better, although 1 has finally bit the dust after many years of good service and saved for parts. This new one is just not the quality. For one thing the belt will not track properly, if not constantly adjusted it will destroy itself against sides. Looks like the crown on spools/drums is missing. Hold a straight edge up to them and are flat. Won't buy another of these.

Works perfectly so far. Be aware of the speed it's very fast. Works great for metal and wood.

After starting to use it regularly for knife making, (maybe 5 hours of running at most) I had trouble keeping the tool stand level and in place. Then the bushings that help the lower roller to track broke loose and it was not usable. I tried to disassemble the unit to work on it. The bearings are press fit, and the set screws to remove the sanding disk are very difficult to reach. It took a lot of vigorous pounding to drive out the bearings ( will have to replace one) and then the broken bushing was visible, noone makes a part for this that I could find so I will have to make one. A lot of work for a tool with limited ability to tolerate stress. You get what you pay for. Not a serious sander for tough jobs.

I have owned this model for several years. The only difficulties I have had is a need to watch and make minor adjustments on the travel of the belt during use, and the absence of a dust collection port. I replaced the screws and nuts on the belt guard with thumb screws to facilitate removal of the guard prior to replacement of the belt. Maybe not the best piece of machinery due to the type of bearing used, but quite satisfactory for periodic use.

Read Robert Bushnells review and he says it all. Great for infrequent use. I had mine purchased from Grizzly in 2002. I wired it for 220 per enclosed instructions and whenever I used it, it worked fine except for belt tracking adjustments needed. It did get good use for the first 2 years while building our kitchen cabt's. Since then very little not too heavy use. If this machine has a total of 60 hours use in 11 years I'd be surprised. So now the motor has burned up. The windings melted and showed no signs of being hit by something and when you consider it's a sealed motor that's unlikely. Of course I could order a new motor from Grizzly but that's $398. More than 1/2 the price of a new unit. Just the stator winding is $155 and no one at the Grizzly shop has ever repaired a motor. Local shops won't touch a Chinese motor. So off to the scrap yard with it. Cost about &12.50 an hour. Way too expensive. Spend about $400 to $500 more and get something for Germany if you need to do heavy sanding and want to have something to hand down to your grandkids and maybe further. The motor will go on forever. Wish I had.