New edge sander

[Dave Cav]

I just picked up an Acme 4CXL edge sander today. 50" platten, 132" x 4" belt, 1.5 HP.


185387
185386

These are the previous owner's pictures; I haven't taken any of it set up in my shop yet. Anyway, I got it cleaned up and rewired and it seems to work fine. Acme is no longer in business, but we seem to agree over at OWWM that they were bought by Delta in the '80s and the sander(s) added to Delta's line. I'm looking for a manual either for the Acme model, or one of Delta's sanders, if anyone has one handy that they could copy. If anyone has a decent source for belts I would appreciate that info, too. So far the vendors I've found want to sell them by the dozen at around $15 each.

[Mike Cruz]

Depending on the price, I think you may have a gloat there...

Man, I'd love to have that pup in my shop. Can't fit it, though. I'll have to keep searching for his little brother...

Congrats!

[Dave Cav]

Unfortunately, no, I had to pay pretty much market price for it, but they don't come up very often, either, especially the longer ones. This is about the last piece of major equipment I'm going to be able to shoehorn into the shop, but it should earn it's keep.

[J.R. Rutter]

You will love that long platen. I've been getting Sia 1919 paper belts (for a different edge sander) from either Industrial Finishes in Portland or Abrasive Resources online.

[Rick Lizek]

www.industrialabrasives.com
I've gotten abrasives from many places over the last 40 years and IA is the best place. Lowest minimum for custom belts. I do the purchasing for a shop and our guys are very particular on the abrasives they use. That sander is pretty basic. You might eventually need some bearings and those would be best to buy from a bearing supplier. I personally wouldn't worry about the manual as there isn't any special you can't deal with in other ways.

[Dave Cav]

Thanks for the responses. Industrial Abrasives looks especially good since they have a good selection and allow mixing and matching. Fortunately my sander uses 132" belts, which are pretty standard.

I agree that the manual isn't really necessary for operation, but I was hoping it had some information on how to use some of the extra table attachment points my sander has in case I wanted to fabricate end tables, for example. The bearing replacement looks pretty straightforward; I'll probably replace the motor and idler wheel bearings this summer.

[Rick Lizek]

Don't bother replacing bearings until you really need to. I'll bet you can go years before you need to change the bearings! The manual isn't going to tell you anything about the operation of the sander except for the very basics. Pushing the limits will be on your own intuition. There is no such thing as an in depth edge sander manual.

Been in the commercial end of the woodworking trades for 40 years. Most stuff is learned by word of mouth from operator to operator or by trial and error. You are making more of the issue than you need to.