Anyone know of a 40"+ wide belt sander in Chicagoland area?

[Mike Johnson - Chicago]

I'm contemplating how to finish the dining room table I'm about to start...and wondering if living in the Chicago-land area I can find someone (cabinet maker?) that has one of those monster 54" wide belt sanders.

Certainly would be a nice 'short cut'.

Anyone have any ideas where I may find it?

Thanks in advance,
M.J.

P.S. I have located one, but they want $100/hr (with a minimum 1hr fee). Seems expensive, but that's because I was expecting something more along the lines of $25/hr. Is there such a thing as a going rate for this?

[Charlie Schultz]

Hardwood Connection in Sycamore? (815-895-8733)

[Jamie Buxton]

I have located one, but they want $100/hr (with a minimum 1hr fee). Seems expensive, but that's because I was expecting something more along the lines of $25/hr. Is there such a thing as a going rate for this?

The one shop I know willing to do outside projects like that wants $150/hr with a one hour minimum.

[Pete Lamberty]

Hi Mike, I don't know of any business that does this but I may have an idea that might work. Go to www.cfdainfo.org. It is a group of furniture designers/makers in the Chicagoland area. Many are woodworkers. Click on the list of designers and call some of them on the phone or email them. Ask them if they can do it for you or if they can reccomend someone. They have meetings once a month. They will be meeting tonight. Look on the website for time and directions. You might like to attend and eventually join. I have recently joined the group, but I will not be able to attend tonights meeting. Hope this helps. Pete

[Tyler Howell]

How about the VoTech Schools and JR colleges in your area.:confused:

[Mark J Bachler]

Bernhard Woodworks, Woodhead Rd. Northbrook Ill. Ask for Mark Bernhard, tell him what you want to do. I'm sure they'll say new wood only, nothing with old finish or lots of glue, but they're good people.


Tell em Mark Bachler sent ya.

then run.

[Keith Outten]

Mike,

Just a suggestion but if your goal is to just get the table top flat you could find someone with a CNC ShopBot Router which could do both sides in about 10 minuets each. You could then sand the door with an ROS or portable belt sander. If this seems like a suitable alternative ShopBot has a forum where you should be able to find a ShopBotter in your area.

[Kirk (KC) Constable]

$100/hr isn't unreasonable, especially of they have a couple of their folks there doing the actual work. Even if they make you do the work yourself, they'll have somebody standing there watching...those machines are spendy, and the belts are, too.

Around here, the couple places that do that are charging $75/hr, one hour minimum. Worth every penny, far as I'm concerned.

KC

[Alan Turner]

I found a shop in the Philadelphia area, and was quoted 100/hr. It was for a table commission I never received, so I did not use the service, but it seemed reasonable to me. Unless the shop with this tool were owned by a friend, I would not expect it to permit me to use the tool since it would have no knowledge of my skill. And anhyway, if I do not know a tool, I wouldn't want to learn on a major piece. Cheaper to pay the piper and get it right the first time. I am sure that insurance issues would abound. And those wide belts are not inexpensive.
Alan

[Earl Kelly]

Mike, that's a fair price. Pay it you'll be glad you did. One thing you can do is get some more glue ups to sand to fill out the hour. It shouldn't take more than 30 min. to sand your top.

[Lars Thomas]

Owl Hardwood in Lombard IL has one. I'm not sure that it's 40", but it is pretty big.

[Jamie Buxton]

Mike ---
Woodworkers have been making flat tabletops for years without wide-belt sanders. Accurate stock preparation and careful glue-up can get you a top that needs very little work. When I say very little work, I mean a card scraper to remove glue squeeze-out and lippage, and a ROS to finish-sand it.
Jamie

[mike lucas]

I would expect that for someone to have the kind of money invested in a Widebelt sander large enough to handle a 54" table top, that they should charge big bucks. And $100 is not that bad.;) <O:p</O:p

Your other choice is to spend $20,000+ and have the sander at your disposal when ever you need it. But then you also need to get 3 phase electric installed. And that will not be cheap either.:) <O:p></O:p>

[Mike Johnson - Chicago]

Sorry for the delay...life gets crazy this time of year!

Lots of good suggestions. and I really appreciate the feedback on the pricing. Sometimes it's just hard to know what "fair" is, so hearing that the price I was quote is "normal" definately makes me feel better about it.

As far as eventually using the a wide-belt sander, well it will be determined by the condition of the boards and the resultant glue up. I'd love to end up "just scraping it", but at this point I'm going to plan for all options

Thanks again, everyone, for all the feedback!

Regards,
M.J.