Customer Reviews
Only eats cheap belts! 
2006-08-08
I was a bit skeptical after ordering one of these, as I'd read the reviews of people claiming that it eats belts.
My personal expirence is that this sander is balanced beautifully. It's got power, it's got an excellent dust system, and it chews right through the wood exactly as I hoped it would.
I went to the store and got two kinds of the same grit (80) belts. One was cheap, the other was much higher quality. Both were bidirectional belts. One was flush-joined, the others weren't.
The flush-joined belts have lasted very well. They track beautifully. They're more expensive, but they work reliably.
The other, cheaper belts have tracking nightmares. I believe it's due to the way the belt is made. The joint is not flush, and leave a raised diagonal line across the belt. This seems to be the reason the belt is mistracking. With _very_ careful manipulation of the tracking adjustment _while_ sanding, I was able to keep one of these cheap belts going for about fifteen minutes before it hit the housing and was chewed to pieces.
The metal housing is wonderful. The weight is great. Using this sander on flush doors is a workout! I can't hardly wait until next spring when I use it on my deck before I stain it. (Just moved into a house last winter)
This is a great tool, and an even better toy. It's a hefty piece of equipment. It did get pretty warm after an hour of solid use in >90 degree heat, but I didn't burn myself changing belts or anything.
Highly recommended.
Belt Eater 
2006-06-27
Bought one on Sunday. Within 15 minutes of use it had eaten 4 belts. One jammed, took 30 minutes to clear. I read and re-read the instructions on tracking adjustments. Pretty simple it seemed, but it didn't work. No matter what, the belts migrated into the housing and were damaged in short order. Took it back the next day.
Not fit for a pro 2006-05-17
this sander is the cloud on my sunny day. I've owned Three I know. cool look. will not last for more than a week of heavy use. buy a porter cable. the first one died in an hour. the second finished the job. Three days and then sat for a few months. first week it came out. dead. replace it. still under warranty. next one dies 2 days later. don't buy unless you will only sand with it maybe 30 hours of your life. or you like needless trips to the store.
Excellent sander 
2006-03-21
The sander performed well and met most of my expectations. However, the dust collection boot tended to slip off its mounting easily and required frequent reattachment. And the dust collection capability for coarse sanding is inadquate, leaving most of the sawdust on the floor beneath the sander. But, I didn't buy the sander for its dust collection capability. One trouble spot is the tracking adjustment. The mechanism seems to jam and once the tracking screw is tightened, it can't be released without forcing the roller back into position. Frequent applications of WD-40 seem to be helping. Otherwise, I am happy with the sander.
DeWalt belt sander 2006-02-05
This belt sander , with its vertiable speed is one of the best sanders I have ever used. And with its sanding frame it makes into stationary belt sander easily and quickly.
Pleased 2008-02-02
Reading all the negative reviews and I originally decided purchasing the sander would be more trouble than it was worth. I looked at quite a few others but in the end, they each had something I couldn't live with. I decided to take the risk and hoped I wouldn't regret it.
It was the right choice. This is an excellent piece of equipment. I've used it on concrete, hardwood and softwoods alike with out any problems. It churns through projects with out slowing down.
I'll agree the dust collector isn't the best, but with the amount of material it's going through, only a vaccume dust collector could solve the problem. Besides, I've never seen a dust collector on any piece of equipment catch everything.
I may have gotten lucky, but it's worth the money.
got a lemon 
2007-05-13
I was so excited about this sander. Unfortunately after using it for less than one day it was eating belts, the tracking adjustment did not work. It spewed dust despite frequently emptying the bag and was a huge disappointment. When I called Dewalt they had me take it to the local Dewalt store for return and said a new sander would be shipped to me. The service person said they would only repair it, not return it. I called Dewalt customer service then the store manager who finally agreed to replace it with a new sander. It arrived and the preliminary test seems hopeful.
It caught on FIRE 2007-04-12
I purchased this as a recond. tool trying to save some money. I was surprised at the weight of the sander but that was not a problem. The first problem I had was that the belt got stuck. Upon further investigation I found that the rear roller had melted and stuck to the belt which the stuck on the flat part of the sander. I cleaned this up and purchased a new belt. A couple days later I was using the sander again. The motor was slowing down so I emptied the dust collector and continued using the sander. Then it started smoking and it caught on fire. I quickly threw it on the floor and the fire went out. I took it to the service center and told him that it caught on fire. I was then asked where was the fire. How should I know when I saw fire I got rid of it as soon as possible. I then asked if it would be repaired or replaced and I was told repaired. Now come on it was on fire it should be replaced. My old Makita which was stolen would run and run and never caught on fire. Not sure if this will be my last dewalt product but I will look at other options next time.
Good sander, needed parts. 2007-02-20
When I received my sander, I tried using it right away. It immediately ate a belt. What I didn't know is that the belt adjustment screw was missing. After checking out the manual I realized what my problem was. I called DeWalt and they sent me an adjustment screw right away. I've now used it quite a bit and have had no further problem with it. I did buy the dust collector attachment and use is every time I use the sander. I recommend it highly.
The good, the bad and the ugly. 
2006-09-25
The history: I have owned this belt sander for a little over a year. It was given to me as a birthday present, and I have used it maybe three times. The first use was in a fixer-upper house that I was painting and (obviously) fixing up. I used it in this house probably for about 3 hours total. The only other time I can remember using it clearly, was about a week ago on a small wooden bench that I am trying to build (new hobby). I may have used it here and there on other things, but this unit has probably less than 5 hours on it, and definately less than 10 hours on it.
WORTH NOTING: I am a loyal DeWalt customer. I know many people will look at me cross eyed when they hear that- but I've had great luck with the tools that I've owned from them in the past 2-3 years, and I own MOSTLY yellow power tools. Their cordless drill and reciprocating saw are possibly my favorite, most used tools. I've tortured those two and they look and act brand new.
The Good- This tool is AWESOME to use. I spoke to someone who loved the Porter Cable because it was easy to get into tight places if you removed the dust collection, was well balanced, etc. In my limited experience with the Porter Cable (you can see how often I've used belt sanders) I found the Dewalt design to be MUCH better. With its lower center of gravity and great balance, it is easy for me to maneuver- even going up vertical walls/doors, etc. It is heavy- but because of the balance it is heavy when it needs to be and easy to handle when it needs to be. If you are sanding something down on the floor, the weight pushes straight down and you just need to hold it steady to keep the sander from taking off like a race car. Very little if any downward force is required to use this tool in this fashion due to its being just heavy enough. And, as I mentioned, if you are going up a wall or door- the balance makes the tool seem not quite so heavy. I can pick it up and hold if flat to a wall for quite some time without any fatigue (maybe an hour before you start to notice). This machine is also PLENTY powerful enough, and can eat through wood like anything I've seen. 5 stars for usage characteristics in my book.
The Bad- The dust collection port is not "great". I can see why people say it doesn't work, as it seems to work sometimes and not others. I have been thinking of buying the adapter (approx. $15) to hook this up to a shop vac for dust collection- but haven't gotten around to it. Again, I don't use this tool enough.
A lot of reviews have stated that this machine eats belts. I haven't seen this to be the case at all- I've only bought 2 belts (different grits) for this machine, and after all the use (a WHOLE 5 hours or so) they are starting to frey a little on the sides. The freying is even though, and I would expect this from the heavy sanding that I've been doing. I think these belts could last 10-15 hours with cleaning. Maybe I'm lucky.
Instructions- Maybe I'm not good at reading instructions, but I just find Dewalts instruction manuals to be lacking. In my experience with any of their tools, there is usually one or two key pieces of information that gets left out- or at least is hard to find. Once you figure out the missing piece, everything is great, but finding that piece can be frustrating, and sometimes you may not even realize that your problem is something due to a setting or feature of the tool. For instance, if you hadn't read the directions thoroughly, you may not have realized how the tracking works on this sander- and may not have even known that you needed to track it. Maybe a poor example....but I hope the point is there.
The UGLY- My last project about a week ago was building a SMALL bench (small= almost doll sized). I had a small piece of wood that I needed to sand down. I was using this tool and everything was working fine. I put the piece down, went to do something else, came back, got setup to continue sanding again, pulled the trigger and....nothing. Yup, it was plugged in, yup the plug was working. I was shocked to be honest. No smell, no noises, nothing. Just a dead tool- that was running PERFECTLY when I stopped using it 5-10 minutes before.
This was a friday night, so I had to wait until monday to call and get it fixed. I was actually shocked and miffed that I had killed a DeWalt tool under such little use (again- 5-10 hours!). I figured, no problem - It's still got the warranty.
I called DeWalt and was advized of the nearest service center. I brought it in to the place and found out they no longer service DeWalt warranty items since about 3 months ago. They were nice enough to tell me the next closes place, who told me they couldn't repair it under warrant unless I had my purchase receipt. They were an "Authorized Repair Center" not a "Dewalt Repare Center". Who would keep their receipt for 3 years? They said it would probably be about $50 total to fix, and it is a $200 tool. I told them that I had read many reviews on here that showed this as being an ongoing problem, so I'd rather save the $50 if it's going to happen again- and put it towards another sander that won't break.
I called Dewalt again and found that their closest Dewalt Service Center is about an hour and a half drive away. I can mail it in, and probably will- but the bottom line is that this is a no-warranty warranty. Sure, we'll replace it if it breaks- but it's going to be a lot of hassle for you!
The Bottom Line- For use, this is a GREAT tool. However, it breaks down MUCH too fast. If you are going to spend $25-40/hr to sand something, just hire someone else to do it. I wish it had held up, since it did operate very well. It is, at least for me, a big hassle to go through the warranty. I like Dewalt tools a lot, but I would probably look elsewhere for a belt sander if I had to do it over again. I think this is a case, maybe, where the engineering of the tool was very good- but the manufacturing was lacking. Maybe it's a cheap switch they use? I don't know. Look at the Porter Cables, or the Bosch sanders.
