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Reprinted Letter to the Editor of Fine Woodworking Magazine More on Grizzly's drum sanders - I read with great interest the letter from M. Allan Horton on the Grizzly drum sander (FWW #150, p. 10). I own the double drum sander from Grizzly and am totally unhappy with the machine and the attitude and service Grizzly. Upon receiving it, I was disappointed in its construction. The housing is flimsy and poorly constructed. Even after it was assembled and fine-tuned, the housing rattled and added to the noise level. The protection covers over the chain drive sprockets on the front are poorly designed and over a short period of time will be ineffective at best. The instructions for fine-tuning the machine are inadequate and poorly written. It took a lot of head scratching and pondering to adjust the drums so that they would do the job that they were supposed to. When I started up the sander and ran a piece of wood through it, I could tell immediately that I was not going to be happy with it. I contacted the company and was given the runaround about what a fine piece of equipment it was and that I should be totally happy with it. I assured them that they were incorrect in this assumption, and that I was not nor would I ever be happy with it. Grizzly said they would take the machine back, but at a cost to me. There would be a 10% restocking fee, and I would also have to pay the return freight. This amounted to about one-third of the cost of the machine. So I kept it. I was outraged that they would not stand behind their product and pointed out that I had not noticed these penalties listed with the tool in their catalog. I was told that it was in the fine pint in the back of the publication. Unlike Mr. Horton, most of us that are skilled in woodworking are not mechanical engineers. I must point out that he had to make considerable changes to his drum sander that should not have had to be make if Grizzly manufactured a drum sander of any quality. Hopefully anyone who reads this letter will take heed from someone who learned the hard way. Just as anything in life, you get what you pay for. buy cheap, and you get cheap. As soon as I can sell this machine, I will buy the Woodmaster. At least they will stand behind their product and give a 30-day trial to prove it. Dale W. Epling, La Grande, Ore.
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