WEN Oscillating Spindle Sander | $78 | Amazon
I’m gonna level with you, here. Before just now, I’d never seen one of these things in my life. Granted, I don’t spend my weekends woodworking or anything, but I’m not entirely unfamiliar with power tools; I guess I’ve just never had a need that would prompt me to seek out an oscillating spindle sander like this. Is this a good deal? Looking at what you’d normally expect to pay for an oscillating spindle sander, the answer is absolutely. Most of them start at well over $100. Compared to the similar $200 Shop Fox W1831, it’s an absolute steal, while offering generally the same specs, with a 58 oscillation per minute, 2000 RPM spindle powered by a 1/2 horsepower, 3.5 amp motor. It comes with six sanding sleeves—ranging from 1/2-inch to 3-inch diameter—and five rubber drums of varying sizes. Its worktable is cast iron, and it has pre-drilled holes for mounting it to a surface for added stability.
Relative to other spindle sanders, this machine was already a great deal at the $126 price it hovered at for most of this year before it saw an initial drop in September that preceded more cuts that started in the latter half of October, settling in the last week of November on its current low price—the lowest its been by far. At $78, if you’re a woodworker on a budget and you’ve been using your drill press as a makeshift sander, now is probably the time to fix that.