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Part 2  concluded with  links to two videos produced by ToolSelect.com.  The reviews, Jet Drill Press -JDP-12 and the Jet Mortiser-JBM-5 were published shortly before I wrote part 1 & 2.  The third tool review video, Jet  Oscillating Edge Sander-JET 708447 OES-80CS, was not published at that time.

I found three  issues with the operation of the edge sander.  We, ToolSelect.com and I, felt it would be fair to share my findings with Jet and give them the opportunity to respond.  Jet was contacted and they are sharing this information with their organization.  I’ll keep you posted as new information develops.

http://www.toolselect.com/videos/video/JET-708447-OES-80CS-6-Inch-1-1-2-Horsepower-Oscillating-Edge-Sander

As you will see in the video, when a dust hose is attached to the edge sander’s dust hood, the added weight of the hose causes the hood to move away from the sander, reducing it’s efficiency.  I replaced the locking knobs with a larger one to fix this problem.

In the contour sanding mode the dust hood has to be moved out of the way to allow the auxiliary table to be installed.  The dust hood in this  position reduces the dust collection to zero.

When changing from the horizontal to vertical sanding position, I found a problem with locking the sanding head at 90 degrees to the work platform.   Without a positive stop to hold the head at 90 degrees, the user must look at the scale to determine if the sanding head is in the proper position. The scale is located  where it can only be viewed from the end of the sander, which puts  the locking mechanism out of reach.

In the video,  I demonstrated how I fixed this issue by installing a indexing pin. The spring loaded  pin  locks into a hole drilled into the head,  holding it at 90 degrees to the work surface.

On the positive side,  I found the 1/2″ oscillations to do good job reducing scratches left by the sanding belt.  This and the graphite  platen do a great job of reducing heat build up and the chance of burning your work.  Heat reduction also extends the life of the sanding belt.

The 1.5 hp motor gives this machine plenty of power for the 6″ belt.  I quickly sanded several maple drawer boxes and enough parts to build six chairs.

I usually don’t give much consideration to storage space on a piece of equipment but this sander is the exception. The storage cabinet is large enough to store the auxiliary table and several sanding belts.

 

Keith