JET 2" x 42" Belt and 8" Disc Sander, 3/4 HP, 1Ph 115V (Model J-41002)

first off before I get into this specific product, know the time and energy I spent looking into all of the belt sanders avauilable, the companies and if they are a legit company, if they will stand behind the product etc.... How reliable the products are and so on..... If you are in the market for a 2" belt sander, you can buy one of those cheap pos "Harbor Freight" brands like Chicago something, it's on amazon and all the other CHINA made crap. If china made a decent product i wouldn't care, but they don't. The pieces inside are plastic.what they say is cast iron is stamped sheet metal. as the sayiong goes, "YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR" Now as for this incredible buy. Firest off, I did allot of research on Jet, the company. You can do the same, They give a 2 year factory warranty, have repair centers all over the country and after the warranty is over you are not on your own. If it goes down, you need a part you can contact them they will firect you to the nearest service center and you can still have it serviced or get parts and service it yourself if you are that type. Point being, there are parts available for these! WhY? JET is a legit manufacture and company. Even Craftsman who had a good reputation for quality is a joke these days when I looked at their belt sanders. (all plastic.) Packaging was perfect, easy to open and get out (although this thing is a real machine and weighs a ton cause it's made of metal not plastic.) Assembly is a breeze, took 20 minutes. Everything fit perfect, was level, didn't have to do any adjustments or modifications. This belt sander has POWER, does not bog down no matter what. I am so so happy with it. I have owned machines 2 and 3 times it's price and this one in my opinion is as good if not better. I will be buying allot more Jet products in the near future as I am setting up a new shop. Tracking and belt change is also easy. This thing is so user friendly, I could not be happier!

My sander came in a grey color. I think the color denotes a metal working machine instead of woodworking (beige color). It's probably found in both categories. It is built like a tank - very heavy, solid construction. The tables are cast iron - very sturdy. It can remove so much material so fast that you'll probably want to put more dust collection next to it. I connect the sander's dust collection ports to a 2" hose (using adaptors) and position a Big Gulp dust collector with a 4" inch hose next to the disk/belt. That gets nearly all of the dust. The belt can get into places a regular sander can't. It is perfect for irregular shaped items and for when you want to shape wood freehand. My son uses it to shape knife handles and wooden display bases. The bases are cross sections of small dead trees/large tree branches so they have very irregular shapes. He said he was able to produce at least twice as many bases compared to when he was hand sanding.

Received my unit yesterday, it is the newer gray model (so that's not a big deal). Assembly was fairly easy, it does need some adjustment after all it was shipped, weighs 70 lbs (shipping weight) so I'm sure the shipping folks weren't exactly delicate. There was a small section of casting flash on the edge by the disk which hand to be filed down so the dust collector would fit. They also send a few allen wrenches which don't actually fit the bolts you need to loosen for adjustment (still haven't figured out what they are for, guess I need to revisit the directions). The plastic dust collection cover for the disk was/is slightly warped and there were a couple of nubs that needed trimming to fit but it was fine after all the screws were installed. Do check tracking BEFORE you turn it on, mine was slightly off and put a little nick in the plastic housing but I'm sure that this machine will see worse. The machine is actually quieter than I expected and comes with a 100 grit belt and disk installed. Belt change is simple, not flawless (you have to finagle the belt out between the table and platen) , but simple enough. There are some reviews about the platen being bent, I believe the angle is by design to encourage proper grid pressure to the belt. Make sure when you adjust your table it is 90 degrees to the platen and not the belt. Slack belt grinding can be don by removing the platen or by grinding above it. Remarkably, it DID NOT burst into flames, smoke, spark, fly into pieces and cause mayhem as some of the reviews would lead you to believe would happen. Bottom line, initial feeling is this is a good unit, plenty of power, fairly quiet motor and decent build. None of the "issues" are deal breakers, I really couldn't find another mid range grinder that I liked so why 4 stars and not 5? The price point seems slightly high. For almost $500 I would expect perfection, no flash, no warped covers, etc. but that's just me. Most importantly I don't regret the purchase

Works like a champ! I really do love it. I acquired this primarily for the belt grinding, and I have a complete set of coarse thru extra-fine belts. I leave the side off as I change belts frequently, which is fairly easy to do... more difficult with coarse belts. I've used the disc grinder several times and it is working great too. Now I need the vacuum system setup as the Jet will take metal off easily (with good belts). I did something stupid and needed support help. Because I messed with the tensioner incorrectly, I needed some help getting it working properly again. Mary in customer support was awesome, and she helped me get manufacturing images and instructions (typical of far east manufacturers - you must look at the pictures and do some interpretation yourself). All in all a surprisingly great experience. BTW as an aside, I purchased a bunch of neodymium magnets and placed them along the bottom where the belt runs. It is amazing how much metal gets attached to them... worth the effort if you like your lungs!