DeWalt DW433 Belt Sander 240v

Bought this last week for some wood staining projects I'm working on. It was easy to set up and to start using. I find the controls to be simple, and the action was sufficient. However, I noticed the motor tends to overheat and get a little clunky. I don't want to return it per se, but I don't think I'd recommend it.

Clunky motor noise and gritty motion should have alerted me to this disaster area. I'd also spent some time sourcing the attachment to connect it to a vacuum (DE4050) which DeWalt office had told was available, only to find that it has been discontinued - I suspect due to the fact that it didn't work: plenty of info on this on the web, if only I'd checked before purchase.

So I've been struggling today holding the sander and a vacuum nozzle. Material is removed pretty well but only for 10-15 minutes at a time as the machine gets so hot. Finally, after I guess about 2 hours total run-time, it has given up.

VERY annoying.

If it wasn't for the lack of a kitbox I would have given the actual DeWalt DW433 Belt Sander a rating of 9. Form and function are superb. When I ordered this sander (from www.dmtools.co.uk - recommended) it came bundled with a good quality sanding frame (for sanding large areas flat) and an inversion table to convert the sander into a bench mounted, vertical belt sander, both of which, attach quickly and easily. The inversion table is brilliant and I have used it with Norton zirconium belts to finish some stainless steel items flawlessly and square. The sander itself has also been a noteable pleasure to use, on all of my carpentry projects, giving great results. Dust extraction is good although the collection bag is a little too small for anything other than a 10 minute job, but, at least it doesn't get in the way to much when it is attached.