BucktoolPro 1HP Bench Belt Sander for Metal Working, 4 x 36 in Belt and 8 in Disc Sander with 1HP Direct-drive Motor, Benchtop for Metalworking, BD4801-M

Jumping up from the cheapo 4x36 from harbor freight, this thing met just about every expectation. So yeah, you reading this wondering what's missing from the description and pics? This is what you're looking for.Build quality is great. The plastic housing is that fuzzy feeling plastic, and it's sturdy enough that when you give it a nice slap (you know the one) it doesn't feel hollow and it doesn't have any 'give'. I was surprised. The arm comes with a smaller Platten you can screw into the main Platten to get those notches on knife blades that separate the tang from the blade. The guard/vacuum port at the bottom of the arm has thumb screws for easy removal, and I just keep it off because I switch belts frequently.There are 3 pairs of threaded holes on the side of the arm for mounting the table at various heights, or custom jigs if you make them. Annoyingly, the cast iron "table" that comes for the arm wasn't able to be adjusted square without grinding the mounting bracket slightly, and it's less of a table and more of a platform. Said "table" has no markings of any sort to get a specific angle or any stops for 90, you need to use a square or protractor to get the angle you desire. But it's completely usable with a machinist square. Keep in mind that's my only complaint with the arm, everything else is great. No wobble, great tracking.On to the disc: I use it less than I do the arm. It's using a Velcro backed disc instead of PSA, and I have yet to find an 8" replacement locally (though they do exist online). The nature of 'hook and loop' discs is that they may not sit exactly flush and have some give, so I may swap them out.The table for the disc side is aluminum, and reminds me of the cast aluminum tables on Craftsman stuff from the 80's. Not bad at all. It comes with a miter gauge that is pretty solid, and has angle gauges on both sides of the table. My biggest complaint here is that the dust collection guard below the table is plastic, and they ship the unit with a metal guard over the top of the disc to protect it that they instruct you to discard- I hope bucktool will consider swapping that plastic material for something metal, as with only a few uses the guard caught fire, melted into the path of the disc, then rubbed until that part fell off (Note: the guard on the belt arm is made of metal).Now onto the power. I have my unit sitting on an osb table top, not bolted down. I tried to see how hard I needed to press into the belt to get it to stall, and it scooted the machine instead of stopping it. So it definitely has the oomph to get what you need done. There's no wobble while it's running either.So what's my overall opinion on this thing? I'd say that for the money, this is probably the best 4x36 grinder you can get. I know you can spend more on other brands like jet, but I don't think any of that additional cost is going into materials. The additional 1/4 hp from the standard bucktool grinder is probably worth the jump in cost alone. So if you're hesitant about pulling the trigger, I say go for it. It's worth it.

Solid well built sander at a good price

I searched long and hard before I bought this. I had a 2x72 and the motor went out which(long story) ended up putting down my whole system. I needed something to get me by until I could afford another and this is a gem for the money.Power is more than ample.Tracks well, belt align with platen and all are adjustable.Belt swap takes about 20 seconds, with 36 grit ceramic…from there it gets faster based on higher grit.Speeds aren’t egregiously fast, but fast enough to shape a 4.5” camp knife bevel on a 3/8 piece of steel in about 30 minutes. (Very good for a 1” belt!). Still about 3x the time a 2x72 will do the same thing.Quiet, and very little vibration.Seems “OK” on build quality, assembly took no more than 5-10 minutes.Table is kind of crappy looking and a little tilted but big enough to do the job.Why 4 stars? The motor gets HOT, I’ll be eager to see if it’s breaking in or an early sign of blowing out.All in all, for end to end knife making, for the money, I would recommend this to anyone who is not able to drop $1500+ on a 2x72. Everything in between is a waste of money. Do this or go for a big boy…it all comes down to how fast you want to take off material.

Good product. I don’t do a lot of grinding but this tool does what I need it to do. Great for home use hobbyists.

I ordered this sander combo specifically for shaping knife handles(I already have the same brand 2x42 for shaping the blades), and it showed up just in time for me to test it out on my first hand forged Mokume Gane billet, it worked great! I used the 1” belt for squaring up the edges, and used the 8” disk for flattening the faces. The motor seems to be a lot higher quality than the one on my 2x42 version! It has an extra 1/4hp, and seems to have a “soft start” compared to the other. Of course I really wish it had a variable speed controller so I can slow the motor down for sharpening knives but at this price point a VS is unheard of. Lots of other well thought out parts went into this machine, the dual adjustment knobs on the disks work table make it so you can true of the table perfectly, the holder on the side for all the small parts is a nice touch as well. It’s holds all 3 Allen wrenches as well as the miter gauge for the disk(these little miter gauges always get lost since they don’t get used a whole lot). I’m hoping to find some quality 1x42 scalloped belts and then I will probably leave this with the platen removed for shaping knife handles. I’ll leave table on the disk at 45 degrees for shaping the fronts on knife handles as well. The manual says they sell a 4”-(2) 1 3/4” Y for hooking this up to dust collection, but it isn’t included so of course I didn’t get to test that out but I did plug each side into my shop vac and dust collection was better than my harbor freight 12” disk sander. All in all I would recommend this to anyone looking at getting into knifemaking or like me, looking to set up separate tools for different processes.

I got this for my husband when his old sander gave up the ghost. He says this thing works like a champ and it is certainly getting put through its paces right now as we are finishing up our remodel on our old farmhouse. He loves the dual speeds, and of course the part that he can change up the belts to the grit he wants to use for whatever project he is working on. It doesn't take up a lot of space and it is lightweight enough to be lifted and placed on a shelf when not needed on the workbench.

Well packaged, easy to set up. Sturdy work tables. Works well. I love the 2-speed operation. I hope it lasts many years.