Grizzly G0538 1/3 HP Oscillating Spindle Sander

Customer Reviews

Not Worth The Money

2007-09-18
While the idea of this spindle sander is a good one the execution of the product is severely lacking. The entire unit is made of plastic. The construction reminded me of some of my son's toys. The unit I received (while possibly a lemon) did not work correctly right out of the box. The spindle would not oscillate and the unit made a horrible grinding noise. Upon investigation the problem was discovered to be caused by one of the two cogged belts in the unit slipping on the motor pulley. There is no way to adjust the tension of either of the belts. Had the construction of this unit made it worth the effort to fix this problem I would have done so, but with a unit made entirely of plastic, why bother. I would have thought that at the very least the housing which holds the motor and the oscillating spindle would have been of cast metal since the tension of these belts seems to be critical. I am returning the unit to Grizzly.
My one star is for the basic idea as I think a small unit like this would be a great thing to have if its not something you use every day. But it needs to be robust enough to work properly when I need it!
That all being said, I own numerous Grizzly products and will order from them again. I have always been pleased with the machinery I have received from them. I guess they can't be perfect with everything.

Great for the Money

2007-04-13
An oscillating spindle sander is a great companion tool to the band saw. As an amateur woodworker with a small garage shop, this little unit fits my needs perfectly. As indicated by other reviewers, the body of this machine is plastic, the top is laminated particle board, making it very lightweight, which can be an advantage for a benchtop machine. If you are handling large or heavy pieces, you should definitely bolt this machine to the bench. Though the airflow through the dust port is noisy, it is incredibly efficient. I sanded 4-inch thick laminated material from coarse to fine without a sneeze! Spindle changes are very easy and fast.

The 1/2" sleeve is very tight on the spindle, but loosens up a bit with use. Its washer also hangs over the sleeve and will mar pieces that are thicker than the sanding depth. The unit has only a 5/8" travel of the spindle, which limits the thickness of the piece you can sand. Floor models usually oscillate at an inch or more. As indicated by previous reviewers, it would have been nice to have a storage slot for the washers and the wrench. On the unit I received, the ring holder around the spindle was set a bit low, requiring thin washers underneath to shim it flush with the table. The table was flat and the spindle perfectly perpendicular to the table.

I don't know how this unit will perform over the long haul. My guess is that it is quite suitable for the small home workshop. Large pieces and heavy use will require a more substantial floor model. I give it 4 stars only for the few flaws mention above. For overall performance as a benchtop machine, I give it 5 stars. At the $150 price, it's a bargain. If you do a lot of bandsaw work, or are sanding curves with drum sanders on a drill press, get one of these. You won't be sorry.

Worth it

2007-04-08
I don't have the room for one of the "standard" spindle sanders (Delta et al). This one, while lacking some "fit and finish", works well, is small, light and relatively quiet. Hope I like it's longevity.

Sweet! (for the price)

2004-04-30
I build classical guitars, and used the sander to sand the inner curves on a jig to bend the sides. I was able to put a 9" tall by 1" diameter sanding drum on the spindle and it worked beautifully. Not kosher of course, but did the job well on the laminated plywood that was 6" thick... took my time and it had no problem. Used a machinist square on the jig and the sanding was vertical over the entire height of the form. Not a production unit but great for home use and lite shop work. Very pleased with the work. Delivery was quick from the Amazon supplier. The unit did come with a manual. The part above that states I am a home improvement enthusiast is balony.

Adequate for a small shop like mine

2004-02-06
First, a caveat: I don't own and haven't used any other spindle sanders, so I can't say how much better or worse this sander is from a Jet, Delta, whatever. However, for my limited sanding needs it works great. There is no cast iron on this product. The base is constructed of green-colored plastic, and the table is a manufactured wood covered with laminate. The fit and finish isn't bad for being plastic though, and the motor seems powerful enough. The unit arrives needing very little assembly, namely, using four screws to attach a steel plate that covers the bottom of the unit. Guessing, I'd say the thing weighs about 20 lbs or so. In my small shop thats an advantage because I can store it on a shelf out of the way and not break a sweat lugging it to the bench (unlike, say, my so-called 'portable' planer that weighs about 90 lbs.) The spindle is a shade under 1/2" diameter and takes 1/2" sanding sleeves directly. The instructions say that these small sleeves are a tight fit, and recommend using talc to put them on. Believe it. If you actually could get a 1/2" sleeve on without talc, I'm not sure you'd ever get it off again. The other 5 sizes (up to 3" sleeves) use rubber drums that fit nicely over the spindle and on which the sanding sleeves fit without such a struggle. The unit is pleasantly quiet by itself, however, when you hook up a shop vac to the 2-1/2" port on the bottom of the table the rush of air through the spindle plate creates a whine with some of the drums. There are convenient spindles on which to store the drums molded into the plastic base, along with a slot to store the 6 spindle plates and the spindle wrenches. The only thing missing is a place to put the 3 different-size washers needed to mount the spindle drums. I stick them in with the spindle plates, but a molded peg to put them on would have been nice. I'm not sure how long this sander would last in a production environment, and it doesn't have any of the table tilting of the Jet, etc., but it's worked fine for me so far. Not a 5-star fantastic product, but a good value for the money IMO.

Small sander, big heart

2008-03-07
While certainly not a workhorse spindle sander, the Grizzly G0538 delivers a smooth, reliable job. Changing spindles is quick and made handier with the spare spindle holders built into the base. The unit works fine as long as you don't force-feed your stock into the spindle. Let the tool do the work, and the results are pleasing.

Grizzly Spindle Sander

2008-02-17
I have a Delta sander in my shop, but needed a portable one for another location. This model was decently priced and so far has worked as well as the Delta. The only problem is the amount of noise generated by attaching a shop vac to the vacuum port; the limited air flow causes quite a bit of noise.

sander

2008-02-13
Performs exactly as advertised, and at a very good price! I'd definitely buy from Grizzly/Amazon in the future.

Good for the small shop

2008-01-13
I have had and used this unit for almost a year now.

The unit is well designed and has not failed me in any way. There are times when the motor will bog down but only under extreme pressure by the user (ahem!). The sleeves are nicely stored on pins underneath the shelf. The throat plates are a little awkward to get to since they are stored on the back of the machine. Other reviewers have noted that the washers used on differing size sleeves don't have a place to be stored and they are right. If you get one of these, make sure you rig something up or the washers will disappear.

One other thing I would mention, and this is not a drawback to the machine itself, is to stock up on a variety of replacement sleeves. This machine does its job well and therefore fills up the sanding sleeves quickly. I recommend a rubber debris remover to lengthen the life of the sleeves but ultimately they need to be replaced fairly quickly.

Only the throat plate storage and the lack of a storage location for the washers bring the rating down to a 4. The machine itself works great!

Great sander for the price

2007-12-28
First, I'll skip most of the points made in the previous reviews and simply point out some other aspects of the sander that I like/dislike:

As far as the "whooshing" noise when connected to a dust collector; for me this is actually a plus since it lets me know if my 2-1/2" dust collector hose became detached from the unit. I use the hose on many machines and cannot devote the dust collector to the sander alone. Dust collection is fantastic with my Penn State DC-3B dust collector and Jet two-stage accessory lid for a trash can.

With regard to wrench storage; yes it would be nice to have a dedicated area for placing the wrenches after changing a spindle but I find that simply hanging the from the currently-in-use spindle peg works just fine. In addition, it helps me quickly locate the position for the spindle during a change.

The unit is lightweight and portable. Sometimes it may shift if you really push your work into the spindle (bad) but you could mount it to the bench with four bolts if this is a concern.

Sanding drum changes are a snap and I have never had any problems with them sticking on the spindle. Typical change time is about 30 seconds.

Although advertised as 1/3hp, I find the unit is plenty powerful for the work I do (signs/plaques). If you provide enough force on the part, and are not holding it well then this unit is certainly capable of grabbing and launching the item being sanded. Very happy with the power and have never been able to stall the unit.

All in all, I use this sander on a semi-production manner on a day-to-day basis and highly recommend it for the occasional/moderate intensity shop.