Ryobi EBS1310VK: Discontinued — What to Buy Instead

The EBS1310VK was a corded belt sander in Ryobi’s DIY range, discontinued as that range wound down.

Belt sanders are unforgiving

A belt sander removes material faster than any other hand-held sander, which is the point and also the risk. Left in one place for two seconds it digs a hollow that takes an hour to sand out, and on a veneered surface it goes through to the substrate before you have reacted.

That makes the qualities worth paying for slightly different from other sanders.

Belt tracking. The belt must run true and stay there. A sander whose belt wanders off the rollers mid-cut is dangerous and useless, and cheap machines do this as the tracking adjustment wears.

A flat platen. The plate behind the belt is what contacts the work. If it is not flat, or has worn a groove, the sander cannot produce a flat surface.

Weight in the right place. Enough mass to sit flat without being pressed, balanced so it does not tip at the ends of a stroke.

What to buy

The Makita 9903, linked below, is the standard answer in this class: a 3 x 21 in belt, variable speed, and a reputation for tracking that stays set.

Variable speed matters more than it sounds. Full speed is for stock removal; slower is for levelling a finish or working on softwood where a fast belt burns.

Using one without regret

Keep it moving, always, and keep it moving along the grain. Start the sander before it touches the work and lift it while it is still running.

Let the weight do the work. Pressing down does not speed it up meaningfully and does make it harder to keep flat.

And for flattening a panel, consider whether a hand plane or a drum sander is actually the better tool. Belt sanders excel at removing a lot of material fast from somewhere it does not need to be flat — a scribed edge, a glue squeeze-out line, a door bottom.