6" x 48" Belt & 9" Disc Sander, Closed Stand, 3/4 HP, 115V 1Ph (JSG-96CS)

First Impressions: I purchased this belt sander from Amazon for my home workshop. It was delivered promptly by UPS yesterday. It came in two boxes, one for the stand and one for the sander. The boxes were in perfect condition and the packing was well done. These were Jet factory boxes and were heavy duty. First I opened the stand, It was well beyond my expectations. It is made of heavy sheet steel painted Jet glossy cream with the Jet logo and stripes. The wheels work fine and the door has a clever latch that works well. The stand was blemish-free. There was nothing to assemble, the door and trolley were already installed. There is a wire belt hanger that can be snapped into place on the back of the stand. It is held with one bolt which included in the hardware bag along with bolts to mount the sander to the stand. The hardware bag, wire belt rack, and instructions were inside the stand. Next I opened the box with the sander. It looked perfect. But as I grasped at the base/housing of the sander to pick it up, I was sadly surprised that the base is made of plastic. I own several Jet stationary tools, (lathe, jointer, bandsaw) and have used countless others, and I have never encountered plastic on a major part of a tool. Usually it is iron, sometimes steel, rarely cast aluminum, but never plastic. I immediately started wondering if I should have bought the more expensive model. I pulled the sander from the box and placed it onto the stand. I used the provided hardware to mount it and I put the bolts in upside down (threads up) to make it a little easier. The exposed nuts do not interfere with any movement or operation of the sander. The bolt head in 25mm and the nuts are 14mm. If you are using a socket the 14mm will need to be a deep socket. The sander came with the belt tilted back in the horizontal position. The belt table (made of extruded aluminum) is easier to install with the belt in the vertical position. To move the belt into the vertical position an alan (hex) head cap bolt must be loosened just to the left of the base of the belt. A corresponding alan wrench is provided in the parts bag. I loosed it and the belt would not budge. I searched and searched for a secondary release but found none. I opened the small front door at the base of the belt. Then I tried to open the side door. It had been pushed beneath the sheet metal of the side shroud of the belt above. Using a large screwdriver as a pry bar and a pair of pliers I gently pulled the side door out from under the shroud. Now the door would open and the belt would re position to vertical position. I tightened the alan bolt and installed the table. The table is easy to square up to the belt but difficult to keep in the squared position. I'm going to have to keep working on this, Next I installed the cast iron side table for the disk. It is a heavy handsome well finished table with two miter slots (miter gauge is included), and is supported by a single stainless steel peg that is inserted into a hole in the side of the plastic housing and held in place by a knobbed bolt that screws into a threaded hole in the front of the plastic housing and tightens against the flat side of the stainless steel peg. While I have not yet tried the disk sander, my first impression is that the iron table moves and is likely caused by the heavy table being pinned into a plastic base/housing and only having one contact point with the sander (the single stainless steel peg). So other than the minor surgery on the side door described above, assembly was smooth and quick. All the holes lined up perfectly, all the hardware was furnished and all the bolts and nuts threaded smoothly. Instructions were adequate although minimal. Next I plugged it in and turned it on. I hear the motor buzzing but it is stalled. I turn it off and push the belt manually. I hear the belt scraping against the the top shroud where it curves around the top of the belt. It had become mashed down onto the belt. Again with a large screwdriver as a pry bar and a pair of pliers I gently pulled the edge of the sheet metal shroud off the top of the belt leaving about a 1/8th inch clearance. Now I turned the machine on again and it was up and running!! I had to turn the the tracking dial only 1/4 turn to cause the belt to track right down the middle with no lateral movement. There is a graphite surface behind the belt and upon initial start up there were graphite particles all over the table, but that soon stopped. I placed a 2x4 scrap (SYP) on the table and sanded the end smooth, then rounded it. Then I set the table to 45 degrees and made a bevel on the other end of the scrap. This all worked as expected. There was little vibration. The only hitch was when I returned the table to the 90 degree stops, it was no longer square. I squared it again and then went back to 45 degrees. Again it came back to the 90 degree stops out of square. Initial Impressions: Pros: Delivery and Packaging was excellent. Assembly was easy. Stand is awesome. Seems stable with little vibration. Belt tracks well. Overall fit was good with the minor exceptions noted above. Overall finish is excellent. Seems like plenty of power. Noise level was as expected. Cons: Surprised by plastic housing and concerned about its durability over years/decades of use. Side table seems to have some movement/flex (probably because of the plastic housing) Front table does not return to square after moving to a different position. I am a big fan of Jet woodworking tools. My experience is that they are very well made and a good value. I avoid Powermatic because I do not believe the premium price is worth the small quality upgrade. I have found recent Delta tools to not be up to par with their previous reputation. I love Saw Stop for table saws. But for my money Jet is consistently high quality for the money and is a good value. This is why I was surprised by the plastic base on this sander. But Jet has earned the benefit of the doubt so we will see... I will update this as I use the sander.

I have had this now for a couple of months and used it a lot. It works great, and has the feel of a high end machine. I was surprised that the sander base was made of some kind of plastic and was not cast iron. Had I known that in advance I may not have bought it, however, it does not seem to cause any problems. Low to no vibration. I saw other reviews complaining about the closed base wheel lock. I noticed it was very stiff to use and seemed like it wanted to bend, so I put some white lithium grease on the mechanism and it works great now. It does shed some graphite when first used, so just expect that. No big deal. The belt is easy and quick to change. The tracking stays spot on once adjusted, and is easy to adjust. The dust control is better than I expected. I assembled this by myself with no help and no hernia. The only thing I would say could use improvement is the small aluminum table for the belt portion of the sander is difficult to adjust and you really have to crank down on the handles if you don't want it to move. Update: 5-28-2020: Been using this since I purchased it. No problems except one of the plastic handles that you tighten the spring loaded screws that secure the sanding shelf has broken. Overall it has been excellent.

I excitedly received the combination belt/disc sander with the closed stand. A great upgrade and addition to my shop. The belt sander works as expected but the disc sander has up to 1/4 inch of lateral run out. The disc wobbles worse than a bike wheel with a couple of spokes missing. I looked to see if the shaft / keyway / disc mating surface was misaligned - Nope. No adjustment possible so I chalk this one up to poor quality control on the disc run out. Amazon was great. I called and told them the issue and they promptly sent out another one without even having to return the first one. I was impressed. I was also notified that if I didn't return the first one (with disc run out) my credit card would be charged for the second unit, which is only fair. I received the second unit in 2 days. I opened the box to only find the same issue, just as bad. I contacted Amazon again and they advised to keep both units until they can do an investigation. The investigation should take about a week. The options at that time will be either to return both units, shipping is paid for and UPS pick up from our home and Amazon issues a full refund, or they ship a new unit that has been verified to run true and ship back the two defective units. This is where I am at. Stay tuned. Amazon also gave me the Jet Tool number to call and discuss the issue with them and see if they can rectify the issue. Follow up is supposed to be in a week. I will post another review after this. Amazon has been great, but you can't cover up poor quality or a missed critical inspection station. I expected more from Jet as all the other Jet tools in my shop work fine.

Belt sander disc sander missing. Cabinet arrived damaged.

Purchased in February 2004 to replace a smaller sander that wore out after 15 years. I was impressed with the quality of the machine. Tracking was easily set up and has stayed true. Plenty of power, smooth operation and the vaccuum system is helpful in dust removal. Only negative was in the foot lever to lock the wheels which bent if I engaged the lock with a foot. Worked fine if one used a hand to set the lock. This flimsey locking mechanism should be improved.

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS UNIT. IT IS MY FIRST JET PRODUCT AND I AM VERY SATISFIED WITH THE QUALITY AND OPERATION. WAS A LITTLE SKEPTICLE AT FIRST BECAUSE OF THE SMALLER H.P. MOTOR , BUT SOON FOUND OUT THIS IS NOT A PROBLEM.