Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Bob Harrison on March 15, 2010 at 5:12am

Roger,
I have never used this modle Jet sander, but I have found Jet machines to be very good. Also check out the Grizzly brand machines I think they are very good as well if not a hair better.

Cheers
Bob

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Permalink Reply by Dave Breault on March 16, 2010 at 4:34am

I don't think you would be going too far wrong with a Jet machine of any kind. I'd go for it.

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Permalink Reply by Mungo Park on March 16, 2010 at 7:52am

Here are a few you might look at:
http://grizzly.com/products/4-HP-220V-3-Phase-Metalworking-Belt-San...
Or some at the bottom of this page:
http://www.grizzly.com/products/searchresults.aspx?q=belt+sander&am...

Not that their is much wrong with a Jet.
Cheers Ron

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Permalink Reply by Lewis Lee on March 17, 2010 at 12:06am

I've used all kinds of belt sanders, from hand-held to 10 ft stroke sanders. The one thing I know for sure is that you WILL at some point have one grab the piece out of your hands and you'll grind off a knuckle or two if you are not very careful. The smaller the piece the more likely it is to happen.

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Permalink Reply by Roger Martin on March 17, 2010 at 3:43pm

Yes Lewis I have experienced that several times in the past. And every time it was after hours and hours working in the shop trying not to get behind and being much too tired to even be out there.
I get so tired sometimes I find I'm talking to myself while working to keep alert.I cant NOT work when I'm tired or I wont have enough product for the next week to keep my shelves close to full.
Customers want a good selection and they hate to feel like their choices are limited to "left overs".
So my choices are work when tired, or not have stock to sell.
I get it done although I'm not always sure how many I built until I stop to count them sometimes.Which is the next day sometimes, lol

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Permalink Reply by Lewis Lee on March 17, 2010 at 7:38pm

I hear ya. My area of expertise is CNC routers; I've operated a wide variety over the years -- from the old Morbidelli g-code machines to Homag/Weeke processing centers with WoodWOP parametric programs imported from Autocad and Pro Engineer. I'm not sure if a CNC machine fits your bill, but the increase in productivity can be staggering. For instance: In 1995 I was working for a custom office furniture manufacturer. The company had 30 people doing veneered pivot doors, doing the bullnose and chamfers with small machines, then finishing the lock mortise and pivot pockets by hand. They were averaging 80 doors a day. After commissioning a single Homag gantry router I was able to average 200 doors a day by myself. The smallest radius I could do was 1.5 mm so I had to keep one man to square out lockplate corners. Granted, this was a large industrial machine worth $150 K, but there are quite a few small shop solutions out there -- from DIY machines at buildyourcnc.com, to small table router manufacturers like larkencnc.com. A basic table won't cost you much more than what you would pay for the belt sander, and has a great many more potential applications.

But this doesn't help you with your immediate problem, and can have a pretty steep learning curve, so it might be something to consider for the future. A hand-held Fladder sander might help you reduce finish sanding and lacquer sanding times, but it won't work for shaping. I've used Fladder sanders on spindles and trim and they do a good job prepping for stain; they can get into the places a belt sander can't. The belt sander you linked has an adjustable stop so sanding fret boards and such should be safer and faster, but you'll still have to free-hand a radius.

I don't know. It sounds like you are at max capacity and anything I could suggest would only be incremental. Perhaps you are doing enough business that it's time to consider hiring a helper. I wish I could be more help.

Peace

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Permalink Reply by Bob Harrison on March 18, 2010 at 4:58am

Lewis,
I would like to purchase the K2 brand cnc router made here in so cal ,these look like a diy type. These are for doing the types of work you just discribed. A 24 x 48 basic Namm show machine would cost about $6000.00. These guys make a model suited for the luither. And yes I still would like to have a cast iron cnc Bridgport type mill as well. A person can make some really good parts fast with these things and not need a lot of sanding.
Cheers
Bob

Lewis Lee said:

I hear ya. My area of expertise is CNC routers; I've operated a wide variety over the years -- from the old Morbidelli g-code machines to Homag/Weeke processing centers with WoodWOP parametric programs imported from Autocad and Pro Engineer. I'm not sure if a CNC machine fits your bill, but the increase in productivity can be staggering. For instance: In 1995 I was working for a custom office furniture manufacturer. The company had 30 people doing veneered pivot doors, doing the bullnose and chamfers with small machines, then finishing the lock mortise and pivot pockets by hand. They were averaging 80 doors a day. After commissioning a single Homag gantry router I was able to average 200 doors a day by myself. The smallest radius I could do was 1.5 mm so I had to keep one man to square out lockplate corners. Granted, this was a large industrial machine worth $150 K, but there are quite a few small shop solutions out there -- from DIY machines at buildyourcnc.com, to small table router manufacturers like larkencnc.com. A basic table won't cost you much more than what you would pay for the belt sander, and has a great many more potential applications.

But this doesn't help you with your immediate problem, and can have a pretty steep learning curve, so it might be something to consider for the future. A hand-held Fladder sander might help you reduce finish sanding and lacquer sanding times, but it won't work for shaping. I've used Fladder sanders on spindles and trim and they do a good job prepping for stain; they can get into the places a belt sander can't. The belt sander you linked has an adjustable stop so sanding fret boards and such should be safer and faster, but you'll still have to free-hand a radius.

I don't know. It sounds like you are at max capacity and anything I could suggest would only be incremental. Perhaps you are doing enough business that it's time to consider hiring a helper. I wish I could be more help.

Peace

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Permalink Reply by Bill Ludeman on March 18, 2010 at 12:05pm

Roger - check out the Grizzly industrial web site. Here is the address to a sander I lust after.
http://www.grizzly.com/products/Edge-Sander-w-Wrap-Around-Table/G0512
It has some great features and they have both cheaper and more expensive edge sanders. Also Home Depot has a Ridgid edge sander for two hundred bucks thats really good just not very long. I owned one and it was great. Hope this helps - Bill

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Permalink Reply by Bob Harrison on March 18, 2010 at 12:26pm

I think everybody should order the Grizzly catalog. The owner of the company is a luither, gunsmith, machinist and has a lot of intrestets. He sells guitar parts,wood and all types of stuff that we all like.

I purchased his low speed 6 x 48 belt sander with the 12 inch disc for grinding steel for about $500. This thing is a metal removing monster. I have used it every day since 2000.

Cheers
Bob

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