Makita 9031 1-1/8" x 21" Belt Sander

I restore old axe heads, and found this to be perfect for sharpening all of mine. Sometimes you get an axe that a file just can't quite cut, and this speeds up the time.I do also occasionally do sand & finish jobs, and the variable speed function is incredibly useful for railings and such

Expensive, but quality tool allows sanding and grinding on hard to get at surfaces. After hours of use still works perfectly. Very pleased!

Best tool I have purchased yet for marine fiberglass work, recommendation by Boatworks Today. I have tortured this tool for a year and it is awesome

After 6+ months of regular use, this has become one of my favorite tools. The speed adjustment, quality of the tool, the noise level, ergonomics, materials, how easily the belts change, etc. are all absolutely perfect, and well worth the price. For working with wood, metal, and fiberglass (boats), this is an invaluable tool that you won't know how you lived without. Especially if you work with fiberglass boats, the ability to quickly sand an inside radius or feather surfaces quickly and cleanly is a game-changer.There is one significant problem with the design: If you plan to use the dust collection, you will likely have to remove a roll pin and cover, as well as make a male-to-male adapter to get a hose onto the thing. This is assuming you already have the small euro-style shop vac hoses. If you have the typical 7/8"-1.5" shop vac and hoses, you are going to need a mess of adapters. I do not understand why Makita didn't include an adapter or come up with a better design for the dust collection. The dust collection is the main reason I spent 10x on this unit versus the similar generic tool I had been using previously. Makita seems to have designed this tool to take a very small hose that would go *inside* the dust collection port. I have been unable to find a hose that would work for this use.I'm still very happy with the tool overall!

When it comes to tools I prefer to buy quality. Yes the price is expensive compared to other cheap online choices.I bought the Makita 9031 1-1/8" x 21" Belt Sander due to a person using it for years grinding fiberglass on boats and how well it fit in tight places and matched the radius of areas being sanded.I have used mine with the 100 grit belt that came with it to grind on a boat, very pleased with how it works and the quality of the belt.The only thing I had an issue with is the lock botton making the trigger stay on. It is in an easy location to push or bump and that is what I seemed to do more often than I prefer. I was working in awkward positions so after paying more attention to what I doing and how I held the sander I no longer had any problems with it.Very happy how it works, especially for the radius fit.I removed the "helper handle" on the end as it just gets in the way.

This is a great tool, except that the one I received from Amazon is a 100 volt tool made for the Japanese market. Also, the manual with it was in Japanese, not English. I called Makita several times for confirmation, talked to UJC Mart, and to a live person at Amazon. Makita very firmly told me to return the tool that listed on the plate "100 volts." They said it would operate, but not properly. I returned it and bought from a US tool company in Minneapolis. That one clearly says "120 volts" on the plate, and it had a manual in English. Obviously, these are two different tools.. UJC claimed they had sent out a number of the tools just like mine but had not problem. The Amazon person I talked to said their policy regarding such issues as mine triggered an investigation only if two or more people had the same problem. And mine was the first. So please, other customers, complain! The 100 volt tool will likely work for awhile then have problems, according to Makita when I called, but perhaps after the warranty expired. They were highly concerned that the Japanese models were being sold in the US.

THE MANY THINGS YOU CAN DO WITH THIS SANDER I AM DOING FIBERGLASS WORK AND IT IS A GAME CHANGER

Great for teak decks and other fine projects