Side by Side Comparison of: Makita vs POWERTEC

This belt sander is a beast! The quality is second to none. Makita is known for quality and this sander lives up to their reputation. Heavy, industrial-grade build that will last for years to come. The details:

1) Anyone who has used a belt sander knows how much of a pain it is when the belt walks. Constantly having to recenter the belt is a problem with many sanders on the market today. You will not have that issue with this belt sander. I put the belt on, sanded until the paper was worn to nothing, and it remained in the exact same position the entire time. I went through 5 belts with the exact same results. I love it!

2) The quality of the belt sander is amazing. Heavy industrial-grade materials used to build a super-sealed workhorse of a machine. I've only had the belt sander a short period of time, but having experience with others of lesser quality I can assure you that this will last until you want to upgrade years from now.

3) The tool is heavy. Which doesn't sound great, but it is. You don't have to apply any pressure onto the belt sander for it to work and strip anything you apply it to. This was a welcomed surprise. If you have used a cheap belt sander in the past, you know what I'm talking about. Applying pressure puts extra wear on the motor and you go through belts faster. The life of the tool becomes less than advertised. Having the Makita do the work for you takes less work from you, takes less work from the sander, and ensures a long lasting tool and the most bang for your buck out of the belt.

4) The Makita belts are great as well. I sanded a 40' x 40' area of hardwood floor with 3 belts. I used 2 other belts in my shop sanding both metal and wood items for almost 2 days straight. It became fun, and almost a game to try and wear them down. I am incredibly impressed. Usually I just buy a decent generic belt that fits the sander. But, I'm sticking with the Makita belts for their quality and the fact that they never walk.

5) 5 stars for a tool I know I will have years from now. I'm bookmarking this page so I can come back in the future and edit this comment. I'm sure it will be positive!

I ended up buying this over the Porter Cable equivalent simply for the noise and slightly faster belt speed. I do put this up to difficult tasks, and so far, have been very pleased with how it has performed. I use this for extended times, 20 minutes plus at a time, and have been very satisfied with it's performance. I have read about the heat blowing on your front positioned hand, and it does happen, but hasn't really been an issue for me. The biggest thing is even though I can slightly bog the motor, it can't be bogged to the point of the tool being ineffective. Which was a concern for me. Even under heavy sanding, it still performs. I've only owned for about 6 months, so I can't comment on longevity, but so far I haven't had any trouble. It will certainly take off material, and be able to outlast your arms being able to hang on. The bag does a nice job of collecting dust (I don't hook it up to a vaccum) and is simple to empty. And I appreciate the longer cord that it comes with. If you desire a 4 inch belt sander, I haven't found any reason to buy a different one.

EDIT: I just put a coat of poly on these and it looks fantastic. I included a photo for dramatic effect. In fact i included two more photos. A before and an after if you will. The one with the carpet halfway ripped up is before. The one with the chandler is after.

Original review:
As is pretty much the general consensus, yes, this thing is an absolute beast. Sure it's a bit pricey, but as always goes you get what you pay for. This was up to the task of sanding the floors of the second level of my 1800s house.. which had been exposed to weather (boarded up for years), pet urine (maybe feces too?? they had a very fowl odor in certain spots), paint, drywall mud, several other finishes and stain, carpet backing glue, water damage, termite damage, and god knows what else.. and then covered by carpet for 40 plus years. This thing helped me bring my floors back to life, breathe new life into them. It's amazing and it just keeps on going. I used ceramic belts at 36 grit to rip through the layers, and then sanded smooth with 100 grit and it handled it like a boss. If you are considering this sander, don't think twice just get it. It's a work horse for sure.

Bought this belt sander over a year ago. Principal use has been to prepare sub-flooring for installation of 3/4" oak. That required removal of significant irregularities and this sander certainly ate up the high spots quickly. Have also been using it to prepare the new unfinished oak surface for finishing. Again, it is up to the task. Yeah, I know renting a floor sander would make the job quicker, but I am doing the job in increments and find I can sand with this sander much faster than I could install the flooring in the first place. This machine produces little felt vibration and is well balanced and its ergonomic design let me use it with little fatigue. I'm collecting the dust in a bucket under a dust deputy and am amazed how fast the bucket is filling up. Some of the dust will be mixed with the urethane finish to use as filler in the narrow cracks between boards caused by uneven expansion/contraction of the wood. I use Walkers Game ears for hearing aids and their sound compression feature advertised to reduce muzzle blast works to reduce the 84 dB sound of the sander. It is comfortable to use and quickly smooths out irregularities. I do not use the dust bag. Shop vac pulls almost all the dust into the dust deputy and I have not yet had to clean the filter or empty the vac. It took a while to locate dust hose fittings to fit the dust port but I managed to cobble together a system that works. My principal criticism of Makita and all other dust machine makers is that the dust collection hoses, and hose fittings are not standardized and the actual dimensions of such fittings are almost never given. I would love to see it mandatory that all such product descriptions include an accurate inside diameter and outside diameter of the fitting. Looks to me like this field is an opportunity for pvc pipe fitting manufacturers to expand their market by offering pvc pipe fittings that would fit dust ports on all dust collecting products.

I used a Makita 9404 4x24 8.8 amp belt sander for 13 years. It was one of my favorite tools. I used and abused that sander and it never disappointed. Then one day, the brushes in the motor started arcing. I got some replacements and within a week they were arcing. So I realized the worst, my sander was going to the great sandpile in the sky. The issue now is that I need a new sander. My brother has a Porter Cable 4x24 12 amp sander so I borrowed it to check it out. Wow, was it heavy! I also noticed that compared to my 8.8 amp Makita 9404, the 9404 had a lot more power. So, easy decision, no Porter Cable for me. So I looked at the Makita 9403 because of the larger motor and I bought it. I was amazed at the increase of power over both of the 9404 and the Porter Cable sanders. It is heavier than the 9404, but the added power is more than worth the difference. I also like the swivel top mounted dust outlet. I use hoses and vacuums on all of my sanders so the swivel top mount is great at helping keep the hose out of your way. Of all the different brand sanders I have had, Makita has the best dust extraction of them all. Even without a vacuum they will keep your project clean and clear of dust. From 600 to 24 grit this sander gets the job done!

great belts for your sander

What I needed

nice

works as fine as any belt I've ever used in 36 years

Good belts at a great price. Worked very well on my old craftsman belt sander. No issues whatsoever.

a

A step backward for Makita. My 30 year old 4x24 had a flat top which could be placed on my workbench upside-down and be stable; not so with this new design. They moved the dust outlet and also the power cord resulting in not being able to sit flat upside-down. However, it's still a bad ass 4x24.

the plastic dust vent snapped off the first day when it got knocked by another tool. I fixed it by taking the side of the sander off and glueing it back together with ABS plumbing glue. This is one tool that needs its own case.

This is a BIG heavy belt sander with wild power. I had an old 3 inch sander and it is a toy compared to this.

Quiet and it collects lots of dust, easy to use. The Makita sanding belt that it came with broke very soon after buying it, but that's not a big deal, those are disposable anyway. It does seem to leave some divits in your work but what belt sander doesn't!

This review is largely based on sanding down a large deck with stairs. My previous 3 x 21 Ryobi died part way through. Although I got 15 years of frequent service out of the Ryobi, I took this as an opportunity to upgrade. While I really like the higher power, larger capacity, somewhat quiter operation, and great dust pickup of this Makita, there are some aspects that I'll miss. First is the ability to easily flip it over on a workbench, creating a quick stationary bench sander. The irregular top surface of the Makita really complicates being able to do this (needs some sort of adapter or clamp system?). Also, while the forward handle is in a great place for control in most open situations, it is too far forward for safety in confined areas. For instance, there were a couple of times the sander grabbed hard (40 grit sandpaper on redwood stairs) and lanched itself into the wall or railing. If the handle were set back another inch or two, it wouldn't have been my hand taking the impact. BTW, this uses 120V power (not 220V as the Amazon info states) and has a standard plug. I'm overall happy, but not elated, with this purchase.

Works fine like it should.

worked perfect for my ridged sander

What I expected

Good quality, Great price. I own a cabinet shop and order these often.

Good paper, but when it gets too hot the adhesive gives out.

Runs great but continually plugs up and won't fill the bag when using 50-60 grit belts on pine deck boards. I had the same problem w/a 4" Porter Cable belt sander.

Some of the cards have ripped at the corners after not a lot of use

The reason for the 3 stars is the metal flap that the belt slides over and contacts the wood wasn't flat. It left dish marks all over the wood I was sanding. I remedied it with a 4" wide piece of cloth back granite over the metal flap. It smoothed it nicely.

Belt sander has great power, doesn't bog down or struggle and tracks very well with no fighting. Huge fan of the noise level, very quiet and a pleasure to use. I was greatly surprised by the noise level, can't say it enough, and as a whole very satisfied with the unit all in all. I gave it three stars simply because of the item shipped to me. Was as described but clearly was an open box item. The power cord was not coiled and there were a couple scuffs on the side of the unit and had sawdust all over it. The item still functions perfectly and everything was included but i wish Amazon did a better job of singling out open box items as opposed to unopened, new, items. So as a whole i give the transaction three stars but the item itself deserves five.

Makita 9403 belt sander is an excellent product but my machine arrived with a few issues that buyers should look for. The plastic slide that holds the dust bag (part no. 1225629) closed came broken in several places and the screw M6X25 (part no. 251815-0) used in aligning the sand belt also came bent (due to poor packaging). I was able to align the belt using a channel lock on the screw but I should have returned the sanders if it weren't for the fact that I need the sander for a home project that coming weekend no time to return it and get a new one in its place. I decide to order a new screw for the sander at $9 with shipping and a made myself a new clip for the dust bag from stuff around the house. The sander overall is a quality product but just watch out for these potential issues. This is the reason for my rating.

Junk, purchased in June 2015. Would always emit a burning odor after moderate use. Completely dead this morning, so I give it one star for every year that it worked. I'm going to give the 8.8 amp variable speed a try.

Opened the box, took the sander out, looked at the sander for 1 minute, put the sander back in the box - and filled out a return request.

The 9403 clearly had been used before. Belt was dirty and the sander was full of dust. Also the packaging had clear signs of having been reassembled.

So this is not so much a comment on the tool as it is a comment on Amazon, and this is not the first time this has happened with Amazon. What gives? What kind of policy does Amazon have when it comes to dealing with returned merchandise? Somehow it can find its way back into the retail channel as new goods. Clearly that should not be happening. Maybe Amazon should take a look at some of the ISO standards for quality control and go for certification in the relevant area - the prep for certification would be helpful.

Also, while I am at it, am I the only one who finds Amazon packaging to be a bit too light? Typically Amazon uses a 1 ply box, sometimes Kraft taped, but often thin gauge plastic taped. And generally some AIRplus made by STOROpack gets thrown in the box. But unless the AIRplus occupy the top, bottom and all four sides they do no good. The Makita 9403 is a heavy tool. The Makita box it comes in is not a shipping box. For shipment it should be packaged in a manner that protects the tool on all six sides. If Amazon does not like "peanuts" - and who does - there are other cost effective ways to package that are hassle free.

So 2 stars for getting a used tool and for packaging. Will reorder and hope the next one is new (unused).

In the first 10 seconds of use the dust bag elbow broke off. I called the customer service number and they told me I could take it to the service center to get it fixed "If it were still under warninty". She was less then friendly and less then helpfull. Save yourself the hassle and don't buy this item!

I just received the belt sander. There was a slight oil stain in the bottom of the box, fine saw dust on the body, and metal scratch marks on the metal base on the bottom of the sander. Hard to say, but some packaging might have been missing as well. Used. I don't understand how this can happen but if I had to guess I'd put this on Makita rather than Amazon who doesn't sell used versions of this product. Anyway, I just got off the phone and will be sending it back. Inspect yours carefully when you get it.

Note on Amazon return. I filled out an inquiry then had Amazon call me for help which they did immediately. After that I explained the problem and within minutes I they issued me a return slip and will be paying for the shipping. Also, they are rushing me a new sander by tomorrow. While I'm disappointed something like this could happen, and I'm not happy about the time I wasted, kudos to Amazon for making the return policy so quick and hassle free.

This review has nothing to do with the performance of the belt sander as I didn't even plug it in before sending it back.

These are 3.875" belts!!

Many of the belts were overlapped on the seam causing a jumping of the sander with each pass

You did not show the voltage. I wanted 230 volts and the sander was 110 volts so I have had to purchase a new motor for it. You should list the voltage of items you have for sale.

The worst Belt sander I have ever used. Wish I had not purchased it. Kept it too long to return it as I was hoping it was operator error but after several hours realized, No, it is just a very poorly built sander. It leaves pock marks and I can not figure out how it is doing it. I am a professional and have used belt sanders for almost 40 years. My PC 503, after 20 some years gave up and parts are no longer available thus was looking for a good durable machine but alas this is not the one. Leaves a very uneven surface that after use takes forever to get smooth again. Stay away from this one!

When you spend this kind of money, you don't expect "returned goods" to be sold as new. There was actual dust in/on the machine and even sawdust in the bag! Are you kidding me?!?!

We got less than 3 months out of this belt sander.I am sooooo disappointed in all the major brands of tools these days.Porter cable has turned to junk and gone plastic and cheap,so I tried Makita and this is what I get.No other brands make a full size 4"x24" belt sander so, I might as well go to a crappy Harbor Freight sander and just keep replacing it when it breaks.What happened to good,strong,old fashioned,American made, power tools???
Thanks China!
Discouraged and disgusted,
M&M Kitchen and Bath

Works great but the front handle is uncomfortable when scribing. Using the sander in the vertical position. Holding the work peices with one hand and sanding with the other is difficult cause you can hang on to it.

I'm on my second belt in a matter of 10 minutes, taking finish off a floor. The first one lost a rectangular piece about 1/2" wide by 4" long. Just disappeared. The second belt which lasted all of less than a minute, lost a 1-1/2 inch strip all the way around. Just came apart. Don't waste your money on this garbage.