I finally got around to swapping out the Harbor Freight 4 X 36 belt, 6 inch disc sanders.

The Wifely Unit got me the newer model two years ago for Christmas and as soon as I made a mounting plate and bolted it to a Harbor Freight machine stand and went to use it I was disappointed.

The table for the disc is only supported on one side and as soon as you put any pressure on it, it droops.

I’m sure I could have messed around and made another bracket for the other side but that wasn’t the only issue I had with it.

If you look at the belt table closely, you will notice it’s not level.

There is no mechanism to make it that way either.

It just has a plastic bumper it sits on.

That is also irritating.

Changing the drive belt is also a major pain in the ass.

So I said screw that.

I got on Ebay and bought a used one of the older model.

Unfortunately I wasn;t paying close enough attention to what I was looking at before I bought it and found out the hard way that it was missing a bunch of parts when it finally showed up. So now I have a parts unit laying around in case I ever need it I guess.

Undeterred and stubborn as always, I got back on EBay a couple weeks later and found a brand new, old stock one, still in the original box and bought that.

The actual price wasn’t bad, basically what a new one cost before they came out with the newer model.

The shipping killed me though.

I wound up paying about $165 for a $90 dollar sander.

Between the used one and the new one I could have probably went and bought a really nice one somewhere.

Oh well, It is what it is.

I took the new one off the stand, made some brackets and reused the same mounting holes to attach the new/old one to the stand I modified for the old,new one.

I pinched it down instead of drilling a bunch more holes and bolting it down.

It’ll work.

I see my photography skills could use a little help, the whole picture is crooked.

Being the nice guy that I am, I just drove over to Portland and gave the newer one to my Son In Law because he has a wood shop he is putting together.

I also gave him a brand new in the box Harbor Freight stand and a hiunk of 3/8’s plate I had the corners rounded off with a laser cutter at work to make an adapter plate out of, just like the one I had it on in my garage.

I didn’t feel like building another one so he gets to do that but it will be perfect for his needs when he gets done.

So that’s one less thing for me to trip over out in my Temple of Tools that is overflowing out the door.