Review on WEN 6508 Belt Sander Stand by George Scoles

I bought mine direct from WEN and it arrived quickly and in good condition. Harbor Freight, Rikon, Shop Fox or the lowest jet compete with this mill. It seems better than KV, at least not worse than Rickon, but it costs about half as much as Jet. I was impressed with my large WEN drill so I decided to give it a try. I assembled it in one evening and everything went well. The stand is easy to assemble and I only started reading the instructions after I had the grinder on the stand. Quite easy. Here's the stand. It is made of high quality angle steel and will be strong enough after many screws. These screws are very close together so use the thinnest walled socket. But man, that stance is short. Unless you install the stand on a 2-4 inch base, it will be at a very awkward working height. I'm 5 feet 10 inches tall so I'm not a giant. I had some cargo port rolls and made a wooden base to use and now it's at a higher elevation. Quality: It's basically like a big bench grinder motor with a pulley and belt. Direct drive so you never have to change belts. It will work until it works. It seems strong enough for woodworking and after a very small adjustment the band moves perfectly. The drive appears to be working properly with no apparent heartbeat. Dust covers are made of plastic. The two work tables are made of light metal (aluminum?). They're a little rough, so I'll probably smooth them out a bit. This is a cheap grinder so I'm not expecting cast iron. Why on earth would anyone put a 1 1/4" dust hole on the pulley side of a grinder? Time will tell how this works. The belt guard has the correct 2 1/2" dust hole and the guard runs belts all the time unlike the HF. Besides the fact that WEN makes attachments cheaper, it seems like a good quality machine. Assembly tip tighten three screws .Then remove the table and fill the disc. You'll thank me later. Overall I'm satisfied considering the price. This mill spins and grinds. A more expensive mill spins and grinds and you can have a Buy another tool with an additional $$ you saved."