Makita - 1200W 100mm Belt Sander - 9403

The sander was pretty much assembled except for the belt and sanding dust bag, so no problem there. Tracking adjustment is touchy but works very well, and operation is excellent so far. It would be nice if it could be operated inverted in a vice like my previous sander but the housing is not designed to accommodate that. Receipt was delayed by a couple of days as the package had apparently been mis-shipped to the wrong store, but when I picked it up the package was immaculate, and all was in good shape.

Beast of a sander!

Loving it after the first few uses. Upgraded from a 3”x24” Makita belt sander. The extra weight and surface area make sanding a tabletop much quicker. The handle is comfortable and its easy to operate with one hand even with its power and size. The dust collection is quite excellent for just a bag. I planned to buy an attachment to fit a Festool dust extractor to use on it, but I’m thinking its not really necessary.

Fantastic Machine - all metal construction

I bought this several years ago, BUT, mine was make in the UK, so I cannot speak for those made elsewhere. It is an excellent tool, well built and a very powerful sander. You have to be careful or it will run away on you!One caution. When I first bought it the sandpaper kept coming off, running to the edge. I called, and they said to make adjustments with a very fine turn of the adjustment screw. After that it was 100%. You may have to make an initial larger adjustment, but once close to being set, just minute ones.AND, get one of those crepe blocks to keep your paper clean. Not sure how they work, but they really work.

Great tool

I am a Makita fan!Having used it's little brother for a good number of years, today it finally gave up the ghost.I needed a new one urgently to get a kitchen table top in shape.Best price I found was on Screwfix and they had one in stock so I ordered it and picked it up.2 minutes into using it I knew I had made the right decision and I estimate that I finished the job about an hour earlier than using my old one.It does weigh a bit but this is an advantage. Just squeeze the trigger and hold it back and keep control of it (Easy for me because my dog does the same thing!Only niggle I have was that it kept giving me electric shocks to begin with. Thought it was faulty and had no insulation. Fortunately I am close to an electrician who tested it and it found ... MoreI am a Makita fan!Having used it's little brother for a good number of years, today it finally gave up the ghost.I needed a new one urgently to get a kitchen table top in shape.Best price I found was on Screwfix and they had one in stock so I ordered it and picked it up.2 minutes into using it I knew I had made the right decision and I estimate that I finished the job about an hour earlier than using my old one.It does weigh a bit but this is an advantage. Just squeeze the trigger and hold it back and keep control of it (Easy for me because my dog does the same thing!Only niggle I have was that it kept giving me electric shocks to begin with. Thought it was faulty and had no insulation. Fortunately I am close to an electrician who tested it and it found it ok. I am guessing it is static build up and it does seem to have disappeared.If you are considering this buy it - not a cheaper one to save a few bob!

Makita 9403

This is a great sander, though a little expensive. This sander did not break a single belt, and I wore out several of them with no breakage. The unit is well engineered, and the engineers recognized that the biggest enemy of a sander doing this much work was getting the heat and dust away from the sander as quickly as possible. It has very serious blower in it. I didn't even attempt to use that little bag for large jobs and I hooked it up to my vacuum with an adapter I made. Then I realized that I didn't even need the vacuum, the sander had such a powerful blower. So then I just hooked up a vacuum hose going to a 5 litre bucket, with the hose going through a scrap cloth sheet held on the top of the bucket by the rubber seal that comes with the bucket lid. That saved ... MoreThis is a great sander, though a little expensive. This sander did not break a single belt, and I wore out several of them with no breakage. The unit is well engineered, and the engineers recognized that the biggest enemy of a sander doing this much work was getting the heat and dust away from the sander as quickly as possible. It has very serious blower in it. I didn't even attempt to use that little bag for large jobs and I hooked it up to my vacuum with an adapter I made. Then I realized that I didn't even need the vacuum, the sander had such a powerful blower. So then I just hooked up a vacuum hose going to a 5 litre bucket, with the hose going through a scrap cloth sheet held on the top of the bucket by the rubber seal that comes with the bucket lid. That saved unloading the heavy ash vacuum, I just dumped the large amount of sawdust from the bucket periodically. Do not attempt to use this sander without a means to collect the dust even outside !!This is a serious heavy powerful tool, not for a weak person. With the motor electrical trigger locked on, it can get you in trouble fast if you are not holding on with good support. It also would be difficult working on vertical or underneath surfaces being so heavy. I only did the flat surface bench work. Good powerful motor but no speed control for the price.There are several things I noticed. The front roller gets extremely hot, and it isn’t perfectly smooth so you may need to give the roller a quick once over with a metalfile. Quality control issue at Makita ! There’s some odd milling marks on it. Also, there is an odd raised ridge in the read rubber roller which again can be easily rubbed down with emery cloth for a smooth roller.The big 3 downsides are:1) no speed control2) no carry case3) Plastic attachment for dust bag prone to get knocked and damaged. Really should have been a metal collar. Jubilee clip style.Otherwise a sound piece of kit.

Tool time!

Got this sander for my old pine floors. No variable speed. Just pull the trigger and go. At 11 amps, the lights slightly dimmed when I turned it on. It’s just pure muscle. I’m a professional painter. Not a flooring specialist, but it’s working great for my purposes. I felt like Tim the tool man Taylor when I first turned it on (insert grunting noises). I’m super happy with it.

Very good tool, but ...

I bought this sander because of my years of trust in the Makita. The technique is superb, but .... It is high time for Makita to release any product in hard or at least soft cases. I think the price is quite high for this kind of kit. To be honest, I am absolutely disappointed with such a cheap packaging that at first I did not even believe that it was a Makita. It is simply unrealistic to store a tool in this cardboard package, and even more so to transport it. Due to the poor quality of the packaging, I received a sander with a broken plastic vacuum cleaner adapter. I didn't like the fact that this adapter is not removable .... more precisely, you can remove it, but for this you need to unscrew four screws, which is not always convenient. This adapter is very thin ... MoreI bought this sander because of my years of trust in the Makita. The technique is superb, but .... It is high time for Makita to release any product in hard or at least soft cases. I think the price is quite high for this kind of kit. To be honest, I am absolutely disappointed with such a cheap packaging that at first I did not even believe that it was a Makita. It is simply unrealistic to store a tool in this cardboard package, and even more so to transport it. Due to the poor quality of the packaging, I received a sander with a broken plastic vacuum cleaner adapter. I didn't like the fact that this adapter is not removable .... more precisely, you can remove it, but for this you need to unscrew four screws, which is not always convenient. This adapter is very thin and seems to break easily. Could have included at least one spare adapter in the kit. Well, now my headache is to buy a tool case ... and this is not an easy task. The cardboard box is so thin that you can touch it with two fingers ... I did not expect this from Makita. Because of this, I just can not rate the purchase at the highest score. Otherwise, everything is super. Durable, long and soft cable. Fairly decent price for belts. I definitely recommend buying, if the nuances mentioned above are not important to you. And as far as I understand - only one year warranty .... even the worst brands give such a warranty. I can only wish to keep High quality even in small details and not fall below their own level.

Worth every penny.

Im a floor guy. I use this guy a lot. The belt has NEVER even started to go off the track. Plenty of power. Even only using the bag, it leaves practically ZERO dust. Ive used a LOT of different belt sanders, green, orange, yellow, you name it. This one knocks the socks off of all of them. Buy once cry once.

smooth sailing

I've had a Bosch belt sander since 1975 and the pinion gear went. I decide to purchase this belt sander, I have a lot of new 4x24 belts and didn't want a 3 inch. I always felt Mikita was a good brand so I ordered one. I took the sander out of the box set it down on some boards I glued up and in seconds it was smooth. I couldn't believe how quiet this sander was. I was so impressed. it seams to be more compact then my old sander and it really runs smooth.