The Bottom Line: The Jet open stand, 9" disk 6" x 48" belt sander is a winner, far superior to Delta.
The Jet combination belt/disk sander, Model JSG-96, arrives in two boxes...a big one weighing about 110 lbs, containing the sander and accessories. The 2nd box contains the legs/stand and weighs about 20 lbs. I managed to get both boxes in the back end of my VW New Beetle; so with a little effort, self-delivery is manageable.
Packing materials used by Jet are outstanding. Every piece is carefully wrapped and totally scratch-free.
Assembly is very easy, with 90% of the effort going into assembling the stand. It took me about 30 minutes to put the whole thing together...a snap!
There are a couple of very cool features included with this sander, that are not addressed in the owner's manual...1st, the 6" X 48" sanding belt's bed rotates 90 degrees, but the instructions fail to mention that there's a large Allen screw near the motor that must be loosened before the belt bed can be moved. Second, there's this cool little circle-sanding attachment that slides into one of the sander's miter gage slots on either the belt or disk tables. There is a little metal point sticking out of this circle sander that the wood piece sits on, allowing the wood to be rotated 360 degrees from a stationary point...very cool! But again, this is a "you're-on-your-own" feature, as the owner's manual has nothing to say about it.
This Jet sander is replacing a Delta 4" X 36"/6" belt/disk sander, and is far superior in both quality and design. The Jet's belt and disk are run directly off the powerful 3/4 hp motor, negating the need for belts or pulleys. I'm hopeful that the maintenance will, as a result, be minimized. If you've been using a smaller, less powerful, sander in the past, the Jet may take some getting use to...your project will be sanded to a nub if your not careful...use a light touch.
My only complaint is that the dust collection design is not as effective as on the Delta. There is a round 4" dust collection port on the backside of the sander. I purchased separately a 4" to 2" reducer so my shop-vac hose would fit the sander. And, it works pretty good, but there is definitely more dust flying around than I'm use to.
On the whole, the Jet is a good value and well-made machine. By the way, Woodcraft has these babies on sale for a tremendously attractive price...$349.99.
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