Robland K26

[brian c miller]

Any one have any experiance with this machine. I am sepefically interusted in the jointer / planner portion to replace a 8" Delta Jointer.

There is one for sale locally and the mover want an arm and a leg to move my jointer (see moving a jointer from SC to PA thread).

The machine looks older but in decent shape... it has the mortiser attachment, sliding table saw, shaper, and 10" jointer / planer.

THanks,
BCM

[ian maybury]

The K26 Brian was so far as I know a predecessor of the LX 310 (12in planer thicknesser) model combination machine sold in the US.

I had an LX 260 (10in P/T) machine with 3HP motors but no morticer for about 10 years from the late 90's and upgraded in the past few years to Hammer separates. Not sure if it's true, but the basic design of my machine seems to have been an evolution of the K 26 - with relatively minor changes. (but check this out, I could be wrong) The basic design seems to have been around for a long time, and evolved only slowly - it could even go back to the 60s. Mine was built with the solidity of an older style machine.

They had/have a pretty loyal following. e.g. http://www.roltru.com/x31.htm My take on the LX 260 (which wasn't sold in the US - the LX 310 was pretty much identical though apart from the wider planer) was:

1. Very solidly built and smooth running for this class of machine - probably a reflection of the age of the design. Lots of cast iron and stiff sheet metal -a dead solid platform.
2. Because of this very accurate and precise - it held settings very well. Nice flat tables in cast iron.
4. No frills. No tilting or reversing of the spindle - but a rock solid three knife planer thicknesser.
5. Slightly oddball layout - like a planer collided with a saw and they fused. With the result that the planer infeed table projects out into the space where there otherwise could have been a much greater capacity rip fence. You can rip on the jointer fence which is pretty solid, but it's a bit fiddly. Also the jointer and the saw tables were not accurately levelled to each other on my example. (they could have been) You lose the fence setting if you need to joint and then rip again.
6. The rip fence is very short and flexible (a light extrusion) - not at all in keeping with the solid construction of the rest of the machine.
7. The sliding table carries a pretty solid cross cut fence, and works pretty well - but requires making a fixture/a lot of fiddling to align it - open the mounting bolts and everything just flops since it's all slotted and with no jacking screws for adjustments.
8. The saw blade height adjustment is a little fiddly if you don't use a height gauge of some sort (but perfectly capable if you do) - there's a single lever that raises and lowers the blade, and you have to hold the blade at the right height while twisting the handle of the lever to lock it. Which is why it's easier if the blade is pressing up under a fixed surface at the right height.
9. Dust collection is OK on a 1HP bagger, but not it's strong point. Tends to get blocked if larger off cuts get down by the blade - the stock insert has pretty large clearance, and the internal hoses are small diameter. (maybe 3in?)
10. Because of the layout it's best suited to working with smaller and shorter pieces - the saw anyway. It's not the sort of machine you would throw an 8x4 up on to - not without a lot of help and/or having completed a major extension table building programme.... :)

Probably by these days a pretty cost effective way into some quite decent capability if you're prepared to out some time into it. There's probably quite a lot of much flashier stuff being sold these days that hasn't got half the basic build quality. Spares availability could be patchy, think there's a new regime at the factory these days.

There's probably others with views too....

ian

[brian c miller]

Thanks,

How hard is it to use the jointer over the saw???

[ian maybury]

Presuming we're talking the same layout on both machines (the LX 260 I had, and K26) the jointer is no problem. Just use it when you want - it's on a separate motor so you just select it and switch on.

Switching to the thicknesser is equally easy. The same as any normal European style combined planer/thicknesser. Just flip the tables up into the vertical and re-position the dust chute and it's ready to go. The height adjustment is on a handwheel and it has a lock. It might be necessary to move the jointer fence over to one side first - can't quite remember. Mine was always dead reliable on stock feeding, height adjustment etc. It has the usual smooth and toothed metal feed rolls which are engaged by dropping a lever.

Unless I'm misunderstanding the only way the planer is likely to conflict with the saw and/or the spindle would be if you had a work piece or a set up on one or the other that was big enough to extend from one table to the other. Plus the electrics permit only one tool/function to be selected and run at a time.

[brian c miller]

I was thinking that to use the jointer fence that you would need to be stading on the bale saw side and reach over the saw to make the pass. Is that not the case?

Thanks,
BCM

[brian c miller]

I ment that it looks like the table saw and jointer both feed from the same direction.

This would mean that in order to push the stock against the fence you'd have to reach over the saw? It seem like it would be a strech.

245943

Am I looking at this the wrong way?

[ian maybury]

So far as I remember (think i'm losing it) Brian the jointer infeed on my LX 260 was at the end furthest from the camera in your picture. The thicknesser works in the opposite direction, it's fed from the near end. Take care though. The jointer fence in your K26 picture seems to be mounted off the RHS/outboard side of the jointer which might just suggest reverse rotation of the cutters compared to the later machine.

On the LX 260/310 the jointer fence was mounted on the inboard side of the jointer - off a bracket engaging in a hole in the saw table. The LX 260/310 manual is here, there's lots of picture so it should be clear: http://robland.com/pdf/manuals/XSDB310/X260%20-%20X310%20-%20XSDB310%20-%20XTZ%20-%20English%20-%20Manual.pdf

ian

[brian c miller]

maybe thats the other saw fence