Powermatic, OES9138, Oscillating Edge Sander, 3HP, 1PH, 230V

I am a professional woodworker of 47 years. I was a woodworking machinery technician for Baer Supply Company. Additionally, over the years, I have rebuilt and reconditioned numerous machines from the ground up. I purchased the Powermatic OES9138 Edge Sander in February of 2021. It appears the negative issues that were pointed out in the Amazon reviews have been resolved. Also note that those two 2013 and 2014 reviews were based on the first iteration of the machine. Since then, they have made changes to the machine and that there are two different manuals available, one for the older model and one for the new one. The biggest complaint was evidently a problem with the bottom of the base that is bolted to the black feet. The black feet are now made from wide 3” x 1/8” flat stock. Where the machine is bolted to the black feet and where the round hard rubber levelers are installed in the bottom of the black feet, the metal plate is doubled to ¼”. The weight of the machine is carried by the machine corners and bottom edges, not the right-angle metal flap at the bottom of the base. It sits very solidly. A few clarifications: 1. In Powermatic's promotional material and the instruction manual, it’s states that the oscillation is ¼”. I measured it to be almost 3/8”. The oscillation is unique in that the drive motor does not go up and down, but rather back and forth to create the oscillation. This makes for a much smoother and quieter oscillation. 2. The platen is heavily ribbed cast iron and the two tables are heavily ribbed aluminum. I put a 50" machinist straight edge on the front table and it was within. 002 flatness across both diagonals. 3. Not shown on Powermatic’s website or mentioned in their promotional material is that the bottom of the base acts as a storage cabinet. It has a locking latched door on the back and is large enough to store abrasive belts. I was happy to see this for when I was looking at the machine I thought the base was totally enclosed and what a waste of storage good storage space. A few small negatives: A. The supplied 120# belt is so-so. It’s a nice heavy-duty cloth back belt, but the seam was so bad it was unusable. I expected as much and order a dozen belts from my regular supplier. B. I’ve learned from experience to go over a new machine and check the tightness of every nut, bolt and screw. There were two sets of screws that weren’t properly tightened. It should not have left the factory like that. C. The threaded rod end that controls the tracking post was uneven and course. I removed it and ground a soft crown on it. This too should not have left the factory like this. Even with these minor issues, I've given the machine 5 stars. Is this Oakley, Max, or old Oliver quality? No, but neither is it $10,000. After all is said and done this machine does what it’s supposed to do, and does it with aplomb, precision and without any vibration. I recommend it to any woodworker. There are a number of different machinery companies that make very similar machines. I went with the Powermatic because the couple of times I had issues were their machines, they honored the warranty without questions and shipped the required part out immediately. Also note that on a few of the competitors’ websites, their specifications are loosey-goosey. One says the oscillation is ¾” when asked to double check it, it was actually ¼”. Other states that the tables are cast iron, and this seems near rather implausible. The net weight of their machine is 75 pounds less than the Powermatic. If both tables were cast iron, it would add at least another 150 pounds to the weight coming in closer to 900 to 950 pounds. Moral, ask a lot of questions and then ask them to put a magnet on the tables