Grizzly Industrial G0459-12" 1-1/2 HP Baby Drum Sander

I bought mine direct from Grizzly about a year ago and it's been a real work horse for me. I've had zero major problems with it. it's not a big industrial machine that can take off an 1/16 inch at a time. It's not a planer :). It's probably not engineered to be used all day every day. I use mine once or twice a week. But for the price and size it's a great little machine.As stated in the manual, sniping is common for any drum sander. However I've found that I can remove the sniping by taking an extra pass or two on the same setting, and by applying slight upword pressure on the board until it feeds to the outfeed pressure roller, and again as it finishes feeding. Or if I'm running narrow stock, I run it through at an angle. I don't use mine for finish sanding so running the boards through at an angle doesn't cause me any issues.Two minor annoyances: 1) it's difficult to keep the belt on track. I have to adjust the tracking almost every time I use it. 2) the velcro on the drum began to come off at one end. I called support to ask the best way to secure it and they told me to use contact cement. it worked like a charm. easy fix.

ok, to be quite honest, I have not had this machine that long and have only used it one night.I am building custom cabinets. My door frames are red oak. After ripping oak stair treads into 2 1/2" pieces (stair treads make a terrific starting place for good, straight pieces and are reasonably priced), I screwed 4 of them together (a "bundle") and ran them thru my DeWalt planer to make all of them even (11 bundles). Before I ran them thru this tool, I had to make a modification.The dust port points the wrong way. I moved it 90 degrees so it directs off to one side (I had to make 3 new holes to do this) and screwed it down. My shopvac now attached with the hose looping off to the side of the unit, not over the belt.Before I used the unit, I ran the table up to check the square. I used an aluminum level for this and based square on having the level lightly touch the drum on the left side, then I slid the level to the right side. I had even pressure the whole way across. I was ready to run the bundles through now.I started the unit and was quite surprised at how quiet it was. I used a dedicated 20 amp circuit in my shop with a 25' 12/2 extension cord to the sander and never had any issues with the power or breaker like the person who rated this at 2 stars. The power cord supplied with the unit is quite long, but I needed the extension cord anyway.I set the belt speed close to the max and ran my first bundle through. Each bundle was 4' long and 4" wide. The sander took off about 1/8" of material in about 4 passes without breaking a sweat.After sanding both edges of each bundle, I unbundled the 44 pieces ("bundles" to "sticks") and ran the "sticks" through the planer to reduce them to 13/16. I am quite happy with the DeWalt planer, but that's another review.After planing the sticks, I set up the sander to finish them and remove what little planer chatter there was. I only had to run each stick through twice - one time on each side, to bring the thickness to exactly 3/4". The finish the sander created was quite impressive. I did run the pieces on an angle so they used the whole drum and not just a 2 1/8" path.The only thing I encountered when running them on my angle was if I had the angle set wrong and the last few inches were over too far (too far to run thru the sander), I had to move the stick so it would move thru the unit properly. The belt itself is rubberized, so moving the stick took a little effort. I figure I can fix this my attaching a small cheap laser to the edges of the belt area on the planer, and, using a square to align them, create a laser pointer that will shine on the wood to let me know if I have the proper angle. If you run the pieces straight through, this isn't an issue at all.In all, I ran the 4' pieces (11 4" bundles and 44 sticks) through the sander about 130 times, and all in under an hour. I can't even begin to tally how many hours this would have taken me to palm sand the pieces to get them where I needed them, and without any concern about making them even throughout their length or matching thickness between pieces.Since this is the first (built-in wall) cabinet I need to build of 5 in my house, and I need to do a few for a friend, this was an investment that will provide significant returns.Oh - I did mount this on a wheeled DeWalt DW7350 planer stand as it's too heavy to truly be portable (I sit my planer on my table saw when I need it).I also measured a few test pieces with a digital slide caliper to determine if the ends were thinner than the middle due to a possible cant in the board as it enters or leaves the planer (can't remember what this is called - you see this happen with planers quite often). The ends measured the same as the middle.The belt drive is fantastic. I wish my planer was set up like this.I'd buy this tool again in a heartbeat based on my experiences that one night with my oak boards.We'll see how it works over time with the other cabinets I want to build. My friend wants to change her carpet steps to finished oak, and I believe this machine will allow me to make pristine steps for her.So far, I feel this tool is an investment worth taking. Just change the dust port to the side if you get one.

The product is excellent, shipping was very poor

Okay - when I first got this sander, I loved it.But there is a MAJOR design flaw in the conveyor belt motor. It has a small drive shaft in it that snaps where the shaft is milled into a worm gear. My first motor lasted several months before the drive shaft snapped. It was under warranty, so I got a new motor for free, but waiting for it to arrive set the kitchen project I was doing back a week and ticked off my customer. The second motor shaft snapped after less than three weeks, the third motor shaft snapped afer TWO HOURS!!! And I was REALLY babying the thing(I DO NOT abuse my tools - it's just not smart). Anyway, after the last motor shaft snapped last week I am now jury-rigging my own conveyor drive with an electric motor, a mandrel and some belts and pulleys - I had to take the chain sprocket off the drive shaft and take it to a machinist who sized it for the 1/2" shaft on my mandrel.The whole jury-rigged thing is now bolted onto the side of the sander and works quite well, though it looks like something out of the Beverly Hillbillies.My shop is full of big Grizzly tools that are solid performers and excellent tools, but stay away from this 12" sander until they fix the motor problem (they've gone through 3 series' of motors and they ALL have the same problem!)unless you REALLY like your tools constantly breaking down, wasting time and money and really ticking you off.By the way, the first tech guy I talked to at Grizzly admitted that the shaft breakage was a common problem. They now deny that there is ANYTHING wrong with the machine.