WEN Benchtop Belt and Disc Sander with 4 x 36 in. Belt, 6 in. Disc and Cast Iron Base (6502T)

Even the brand names have similar designs. So if they are all manufactured in a similar factory (if not the same), then get this one.I had a Harbor Freight similar sander, but it was NOT built as good and was an older design. It was made of sheet metal for the frame (that's bad). Worked great for an occasional use home garage unit, but not for woodworking. But not for more than 15 minutes of use at a time (I found out later).So I bought this WEN to replace it after only 3 months of my new woodworking hobby. I have now used this unit for 2-years - several days in a week and several hours each time.Likes: Better fence (than most), can be aligned to run larger width boards across without hitting the disc sander or the fence mount (you can if set the gap too high). It's been reliable, after a year, I did notice some bearing noise - so a little lubrication maintenance and thorough cleaning are needed from time to time (as all should). Easy belt changes (no screws to remove or covers). There is one pivot bold to loosen to get the belt off when in the flatbed. That was not the case with the crappy Harbor Freight sander, 6 screws, and more...shrouds to remove each time. Do you know how many belts it takes to sand wood from 80-320 grit??? (makes a huge difference)!Dislikes: all brands are like this: the fence is too high up on the bed, could get 2 more inches (in many cases). I ended up salvaging my harbor freight fence to gain 1 inch on the length of wood I could sand, but then the fence frame is in the way for wider pieces. I'm likely will have a custom fence made with the extension length to give me the full length of the flatbed (but WEN's fence is better than most I've seen). The disc sander deck can get out of alignment easily (only one mount/angle adjustment screw) and the cheap miter gauge and is not accurate with the loose track slop (like most brands-all too cheap). I could use a better dust collector inlet for use as a flatbed sander - but that would likely impede the vertical sanding configuration. The inlet probably works great for vertical sanding...but not as well for woodworking sanding in the flat configuration.But the other thing I like about the WEN is the reality that all the other major brands have the exact same model (design) - even the big national high-end woodworker brands (just different color plastic parts, but virtually the same plastic parts-so obvious). Maybe they have a nicer miter gauge or a thicker metal fence or thumb screws for adjustments, but the differences are little. So I would not pay 2x the cost.Overall, I'm happy with it since I'm not seeing much better designs even from the national high-end brands. I would rather replace this unit 2x than spend the $ on the same design as the others brands. I might still overtax this unit at times, but it has held up so far. One day I will update to a 6" x 48" sander, but for now, this 4" is working out fairly well. Now can I just get a 12" sanding surface out of this one at times? I would recommend this model for this sander design and never recommend the Harbor Freight version - this one is worth the few $ more (but not that much more).

This is a great buy if you're a hobbyist or using this as a backup to a commercial grinder. It's a pretty durable iron base. Does the job for my needs. Highly recommend this!

Bought this sander to replace a 30 year old one that gave up. The quality is decent, but on the flimsy side. The placement of the power switch is not so great. I’ve found that several times when reaching to turn the unit off my hand would come in contact with the disc sanding disc( ouch). The belt doesn’t stay in the center while using sander. At first I thought it may actually come off while using, but it doesn’t. Over all for the cost, a decent tool.

Very happy with this WEN belt sander.My machine was in good shape, no damage. Some minimal assembly is required, perhaps five minutes of work plus whatever time you spend reading the manual. If you open the box from the bottom so as to lift the box off the sander in its packaging (as I did) you might overlook the instruction manual. For my machine the instructions were present (and pretty good, too) but placed at the top of the box, above the molded Styrofoam blocks.The machine is solid without weighing a ton.The only speeds are ON and OFF but that's fine for my needs.The disc sander did a great job on some end grains. The tilt scale, marked in degrees, shows how far you are from a 90 degree square sanding surface. A Speed Square (TM) showed the tilt table was dead-on 90 degrees to the sanding disc when the pointer showed zero degrees, without any adjustment needed. Maybe a disc sander doesn't need much fuss about getting it really square. It's not a miter saw. It's still nice that the tilt table was square to the disc.The sanding belt was already mounted. The belt centered up easily by using the tension control wheel. Sanding some Douglas fir pieces of a project produced nicely smoothed surfaces. If I let the belt do the work there was little change in the speed of the belt. If I pressed too hard then the belt slowed, as you would expect. The safety stop on the belt sander is heavy duty. It easily supported each work piece without noticeable chatter.There are just two mounting holes in the base of the sander. I'm used to seeing more but two bolt holes should be sufficient for this excellent little belt sander.Finally, I was quite pleased with the price. As several reviewers mentioned, this WEN belt sander seems to be the twin of some sanders sold in big box stores at a higher price.The sander comes with just one belt and one disc. Both are already mounted, which is convenient. Unless you already have 4 x 36 belts and 6-inch discs, you'll need those, too.Changing the belt was a cinch. I have not yet needed to change the disc.The dust collection worked fairly well. The dust port was slightly larger than my 2-1/4 inch adapter. Despite the loose fit my vac pulled a lot of sanding dust as it was generated. There was still some sanding dust but cleanup was a snap compared to the dust that most sanding projects produce.One note of caution. When using the orange-yellow thumb wheel to adjust the tracking of the belt, keep your fingers OUTSIDE of the machine. There is a gap there so a finger that strays while the thumb is busy adjusting the little wheel could easily get abraided. This is a small point that should be easy to improve for future buyers.Altogether I am very pleased with the addition of this WEN belt sander to my workshop.