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

I confess I was disappointed the first time I used this tool-- I like to enjoy new tool purchases for as long as possible, to savor the fun of setting up a new tool, getting it calibrated to my needs, and then using it on whatever project prompted its acquisition. This tool was ready to go out of the box and was so efficient at doing the job for which I'd purchased it (smoothing bandsaw marks out of interior curves in red oak), that within 10 minutes of opening the box, the job was done and I was already looking for a place to store this until the next project. Where's the fun in that?In all seriousness, this is a great tool that performs better than expected. Determined to have some fun with it before putting it away, I did test it on various scraps of wood and was pleased that it did not bog down even when sanding 3" thick hard maple. The adjustable nut on the top of the spindle did a great job compressing the rubber spindle sleeves to make sure the sandpaper tubes stayed on. The work surface provides plenty of space for my needs. I would have saved myself considerable time on prior projects (and likely had better end results) if I had purchased this tool sooner-- it beats the heck out of making a different curved sanding block to hand-sand the inside of every curve.