tomlt
Established Member
I did a search on here before buying this and it didn't seem like anyone had reviewed it before, so here goes....
Working on a small mantle clock (a piece of wild grained sycamore) I was having some major issues shaping it using hand tools, so after looking around at bobbin sanders deciding the JET's were out of my price range, the SIP/Charnwood/Record clones didn't have a very secure table, I started looking at alternatives. The triton has been appearing on the back covers of the magazines for a while, it looks like another clone of the woodstar/draper machines and I suspect it comes from the factory, but having used Tritons stuff before and being fairly impressed I thought I'd stick with them.
So first impressions...well after a round trip to pick it up after a botched delivery by "sh*tty" link, i returned home and unpacked the sander. It comes in a sturdy box and was well packaged with all of the accessories set into the polystyrene lid for protection. Thankfully the thing doesn't weight too much, about 15kg or so, it certainly feels solid enough with the cast table being the majority of the weight. The base is made of a reasonably sturdy plastic. It comes complete with a full set of sleeves and drums 1/2", 3/4", 1", 1.5", 2" and 3", the sleeves are pretty coarse I would estimate about 60grit, great for heavy shaping, but they do seem to leave some scratch marks. Spindles are quick to change using the included spanner, it comes with various inserts and washers too.
In use the sander is pretty quiet, about the same as a cordless drill on high speed, the table dust extraction worked pretty well when attached to my Numatic NVD750, all the fine stuff got captured, some larger bits did accumulate on the table, but not much. I tested it out on some scraps of pine, oak and the sycamore. Despite being only 450W the sander has got loads of power, despite leaning quite hard on it at times I never managed to stall the spindle. The oscillating action and speed seem just right to precent the sander scorching or clogging the abrasive which was something I was concerned about.
Overall I'm very impressed given it only cost £115, it performs better than expected and will be useful for those awkward shaping jobs. If I ever do need to work at an angle then I'll have to make a sub table, but for the moment this should meet my needs.
Heres some pics:
Working on a small mantle clock (a piece of wild grained sycamore) I was having some major issues shaping it using hand tools, so after looking around at bobbin sanders deciding the JET's were out of my price range, the SIP/Charnwood/Record clones didn't have a very secure table, I started looking at alternatives. The triton has been appearing on the back covers of the magazines for a while, it looks like another clone of the woodstar/draper machines and I suspect it comes from the factory, but having used Tritons stuff before and being fairly impressed I thought I'd stick with them.
So first impressions...well after a round trip to pick it up after a botched delivery by "sh*tty" link, i returned home and unpacked the sander. It comes in a sturdy box and was well packaged with all of the accessories set into the polystyrene lid for protection. Thankfully the thing doesn't weight too much, about 15kg or so, it certainly feels solid enough with the cast table being the majority of the weight. The base is made of a reasonably sturdy plastic. It comes complete with a full set of sleeves and drums 1/2", 3/4", 1", 1.5", 2" and 3", the sleeves are pretty coarse I would estimate about 60grit, great for heavy shaping, but they do seem to leave some scratch marks. Spindles are quick to change using the included spanner, it comes with various inserts and washers too.
In use the sander is pretty quiet, about the same as a cordless drill on high speed, the table dust extraction worked pretty well when attached to my Numatic NVD750, all the fine stuff got captured, some larger bits did accumulate on the table, but not much. I tested it out on some scraps of pine, oak and the sycamore. Despite being only 450W the sander has got loads of power, despite leaning quite hard on it at times I never managed to stall the spindle. The oscillating action and speed seem just right to precent the sander scorching or clogging the abrasive which was something I was concerned about.
Overall I'm very impressed given it only cost £115, it performs better than expected and will be useful for those awkward shaping jobs. If I ever do need to work at an angle then I'll have to make a sub table, but for the moment this should meet my needs.
Heres some pics:
