Review on 1/2 HP Single Phase Oscillating Spindle Sander By Shop Fox W1831 by Myrv Santamaria

Since I produce quite a few curved cuts among other for templates I figured that I want a spindle sander. Prior to buying this particular product I looked at a model sold by Harbor Freight and read some reviews on Ebay for similar products.Bottom line was that I couldn’t find a presumably better sander in that price range. Also, for whatever reason I assumed that Shop Fox was a US brand, what might be correct, but it turned out that the sander in build in China, which is not necessarily a quality issue, but.First thing I ran into concern the rubber drums. Predominantly because of mostly larger radius curves I’m using the 3” drum. So that the first one I installed. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to tighten the (M10-1.25) nut enough to get sufficient friction on the sandpaper sleeve. Even with very light sanding pressure the sleeve would run up the drum. Hmmm. I tried more tightening, but it wouldn’t work. Utilizing calipers, I measured the drum bulging (expansion) at top, center, and bottom w/ and w/o tightening. Result was not a big difference. Sandpaper sleeve measured close to 3” thus seemed to be okay. The other drums (2”, 1.5”, 1”, and 0.75”) did okay, means the sleeve would stay put. Then I measured the rubber hardness (durometer) of all drums. Turns out that the rubber compound of the 3” has a higher hardness compared to all other. Also, the shape factor (cross sectional area vs. free expandable surface area) of the 3” drum is a factor, resulting in relative less bulging for that drum compared to all other. Contacted the distributor (WI) and they agreed to ship a new 3” drum.BTW the provided tool (presumably 16mm for ISO M10) was too small, just shy of 16mm.Other things related to drums: For the 6 sleeve sizes 3”, 2”, 1.5”, 1”, 0.75”, and 0.5” they provide 3 washers to distribute the pressure from the nut. The 0.5” sleeve sits directly over the spindle w/o a drum. The washer sizes (OD) are 1.78”, 0.83”, and 0.59”. Per their instruction the 1.78” washer is to be used on the 3 largest drums. Problem here is that this washer "crushes the 1.5” sandpaper sleeve. I immediately took another washer close to 1.5”. The smallest washer is to be used on the 0.5” and holds directly the sleeve down, which I think is okay and the only option since there is no rubber drum.Spindle: M10 nut that came with it is low quality, thread not accurately tapped. I immediately replaced it. Squareness spindle vs. sander table. 89some degrees but not hair close to 90 degrees. Same goes (as expected) after the drum is installed.Cast iron table: I cleaned oiled table surface and replaced with paste wax to get some longer lasting rust prevention plus lower the friction. Flatness: Straight edge on different location showed some wiggling. Feeler gages show up to 0.4mm (thickness of 4 pcs copy paper) deviation from flatness. Concerning the table shape, afterwards I think I would prefer a round table with the spindle being in the center to get the same support regardless from what angle I use it. On this model most of the table support is at the rear of the sander, at least that's the way I use it, with the On/Off switch towards me.Dust collection good: Connected relatively small shop vac to dust port on rear of sander. Didn’t leave hardly any saw dust on table surface. I btw used only the 3” sanding sleeve.Noise: Not really quiet but not that loud that it made me measure the decibels. Pretty much in harmony with all my other noisy tools 😊Overall this thing does what I expect it to do and is a little below my expectation because the above. 4 stars reflects the my opnion about price performance ratio. Again, it’s a relative low-cost sander. As of now I'm waiting for a new 3" drum and hope this things keeps running for a good amount of hours.Update May 2019: sander is still going strong, no issues. I use it frequently (just rounded curves on 8 Adirondack chairs). Company was very helpful resolving the issue I had in the beginning with the 3” drum. They quite immediately shipped a new drum, which works w/o any problems.