New Drum Sander Should I be concerned with this?

[Thomas Colson]

Brand new Supermax 16-32. Following set up instructions exactly, get a slight vibration with sandpaper on, barely detectable with no paper on the drum. Reloaded the paper multiple times, same vibration. Tried a new roll of paper (the precut ordered at same time), same vibration. Again, it's slight, but enough to vibrate a piece of wood of the top as its running. No, there is no dust jammed up in the drum. Moved to different parts of shop thinking uneven floor. Nope. Put it on a rubber mat. Nope. Put anti-vibration feet thingies under it. Nope. Same vibration. Yes the paper is loaded correctly. Also, just running with nothing sanding, the motor casing heats up pretty good. Not too hot to touch, but enough to melt butter eventually (no I didn't melt butter!). Waiting to hear back from tech support (which is also a concern), never had a DS before, did I get a lemon? With no paper, I'd classify the vibration as driving with really cheap tires at high speed. You sorta notice it, but it seems normal so you floor it. With the paper on, same cheap tires, but you're like "That doesn't seem right" and your knee jerk reaction is a tire is out of round.

[glenn bradley]

Does the sanded surface show anything of the vibration under a raking light? It is easy to want a new tool to be perfect and we have to be careful not to start chasing our tail. That said, my 19-38 is really smooth with or without paper. The things is spooky quiet to the point where I noticed an audible whine from the belt feed motor after a few weeks use. Tech support had me do a small adjustment to get rid of it. The point being that the machine is so smooth and quiet I could easily here this minor sound.

There is certainly vibration present when the machine is running. I would put it on a par with one of my bandsaws, a drill press or a tablesaw; obviously running but, shaking like a tire that is out of balance? No way. The question is, have you become so attuned to it that 'normal' seems 'abnormal'? My motor housing gets warm after long periods of use. I don't know about melting butter. I can certainly leave my hand on it without feeling like I am performing some rite of manhood :D. Certainly not hot enough that if I were to brush against it I would be startled.

The 19-38 and 16-32 are fairly different in design but, not remarkably so. I am hoping some 16-32 owners will chime in and help level out what is 'normal' for your machine. Keep us posted. Just in case this turns into something problematic I would keep copious notes about dates and your activities/findings. I tend to email myself 'notes' or keep a log so that things are time stamped when interacting with vendors and suppliers.

[Thomas Colson]

No, the few pieces I sanded came out perfect. Checked them by coating with mineral spirits, which shows the most minute sanding inperfections.

[glenn bradley]

OK, that's good then. I would expect any vibration that is significant enough to concern me to leave telltale tracks on the work. Again, let's get some 16-32 owner's input since I don't want to steer your wrong. The last thing you want is a drive shaft breaking a few months down the line causing you to say to yourself "I knew it!". :)

[Thomas Colson]

I can balance a nickle on my Delta Saw and Jet Band Saw, I couldn't even balance a box of nickles on this. My 3rd attempt to get tech support was un successful, may be boxing it up for a return tonight. Again, never owned a DS before, but my gut feeling is a 1300$ tool shouldn't vibrate this much. What makes it really noticeable is the poorly fitting plastic dust cover on top of the drum, really high-pitched rattle caused by the vibration.

[Kyle Iwamoto]

I'm going to say that running with no paper should have NO vibration............
If it's a TEFC motor, they run hot. All the tools that I own with a TEFC run hot. As you say, to melt butter. Personally, when I melt butter I put it in a tin cup then put it on the motor. ;)

[Thomas Colson]

Heard from tech support, they agree the level of vibration doesn't sound right, has me checking a "Spyder" when I get home. He did his best explaining what/where that is, but I ain't gonna lie.....anyone checked their DS "Spyder" and what is there to look for? If I see spider eggs we're gonna have a bigger problem!

[Zachary Hoyt]

I don't know about the spider, but my 19-38 main motor is almost silent and very smooth when running without a load. It's louder with wood going through, and the conveyor belt system is a lot louder than the drum/motor assembly.

[Gary Petersen]

I have a SuperMax 16-32 that's about 2-1/2 years old. I've never noticed any vibration with it. There is a part called a Coupling Spider listed in the exploded view in my manual. It is part 15 in the manual and appears to attach to the motor shaft. Good luck.

[Michael W. Clark]

Spider may refer to part of the drive coupling.

[glenn bradley]

Wait, plastic cover? Mine is decent gauge steel. Sounds like this is much more vibration than I was picturing. The spider coupling is between the motor and what is being driven. Sometimes 2 parts, sometimes 3.

[Thomas Colson]

Yeah, the top dust cover is now plastic. We did some video chat last night, tech support agrees that there is something definitely wrong, they could hear the vibration thru the phone.

[Larry Frank]

The exploded diagram shows the spider as part of the drum drive coupling.

[Thomas Colson]

So after tech support confirming the vibration isn't right....radio silence for several days now, despite a message left. Is this normal for Supermax? I get that there's Rona, but this is my first 1000$+ tool purchase, and the only floor tool in my shop that vibrates this much. Most of my collection is third and fourth hand thus acquired very cheaply, but no one is giving up their drum sander for resale, and having one for 3 days now I know why! I've had issues with my Jet and Delta tools in the past, and was always able to get someone on the phone instantly and the problem resolved within a day.

[glenn bradley]

So after tech support confirming the vibration isn't right....radio silence for several days now, despite a message left. Is this normal for Supermax?

Not in my experience but, Laguna has bought them since the last time I needed anything. Laguna has a sort of biorhythm of customer service; it's good, it's non-existent, it's bad, it's non-existent, it's good, etc. To be fair, I can only imagine the challenges of operating a warehouse type environment during these times. I have started to use phone AND email when interacting with suppliers as sometimes I will get a response from one and sometimes the other. I will say that once I get someone, people have been generally going above and beyond to help me.

Ignoring all that . . . where did you buy it? If it was a local retailer I would just return it for a new one. They can figure it out on their own time. I happened to buy mine directly but, that was years ago so I always interacted with them directly. If I bought it from Woodcraft, Rockler or other local retailer I would deal with them and not be diverted.

When I buy a Grizzly product I am saving large amounts of money over a competitor like Powermatic. In that case if I have to adjust something or replace a part that slipped by QA, I am OK with it . . . I saved $1000 :D. This is not the case on a Supermax. When I pay full pop I expect a little service. If I do not get it I speak with my wallet. I hope this gets quickly resolved for you. I love my 19-38 almost as much as my bandsaw and that's saying something ;).

[Thomas Colson]

How hard is it to replace the drum in these things? Confirmed to be an issue with the drum. My customer service experience continues to not be my expectation for a 1300$ tool. Apparently there are no machines available for warranty replacement, for a very very very very very very long time.

[Thomas Colson]

So here's the conclusion to this. Laguna/Supermax said "Yeah, we're gonna replace it", and never heard from them again except for an email sales invoice for the replacement. Numerous phone calls for explanation go to voice mail, called the 1800 number twice asking for an answer, only to get forwarded to the same voice mail box, which never returns a call. So last thursday I called Woodcraft (where I bought it from) and explained the problem with the sander and the problem with Supermax customer service. Today, tuesday, UPS calls me. They have two drum sanders to deliver......

So this guy in tech support is telling me they have no replacement sanders to send, and "Texas is refusing to answer me". Not to throw the tech under the bus, he's working from home, and I get the impression that Laguna has sorta forgotten about him.

So the person I'm working with at Woodcraft, apparently threw a grenade at Laguna, because as soon as they got off the phone with her, they shipped a replacement. So did Woodcraft. Little curious as to why tech support couldn't accomplish this in 3 weeks....

So I refused the box from Laguna, and took the Woodcraft box home (per woodcraft instruction).

Should have taken the Laguna box! The height adjust handle was broke clean in half, with the other half no where to be found. No problem, I took the handle off the defective machine before I put it back in the box. It was put in the box, broken, at the factory.

So kudos to Woodcraft. They made it right, and did it fast.

I just bought the last Supermax/Laguna tool ever, for the rest of my life. Their tech support doesn't return phone calls, period. I can't imagine if I bought their 4000$ band saw or 2000$ dust collector and needed assistance with this or that. They won't assist you. This was big purchase for me, granted, it's the cheapest machine they make. If they value me as a customer that little, well, I guess I won't be a customer.

However, I will give Woodcraft a bit more of my business from the Amazing Site, as long as prices are close. Straight up good people working at Woodcraft!

So far the replacement isn't vibrating like a Ford Bronco with mis-matched tires.....

[glenn bradley]

Sounds like Laguna's bio rhythm of customer service is heading into a low cycle again :-) They come and go over the years. The folks at Supermax have always been top notch in the past.

[Alan Lightstone]

I gave up on Laguna about 10 years ago due to bad customer service.

Real kudos to Woodcraft. Their local manager had to escalate an issue up to the VP level to get Next Wave Auto@#^%% to replace a messed up unit after they were ignoring me. They got the job done, and earned great loyalty from me, and I'll never buy a CNC unit from that company - they lost a customer.

Customer service matters.

[Robert Hayward]

I can't imagine if I bought their 4000$ band saw or 2000$ dust collector and needed assistance with this or that.

I have one of their dust collectors, a Cflux3. I really like the collector, works perfect for my shop. The remote was sketchy from the beginning and I did not call Laguna. Remote finally quit working altogether, out of warranty by then. I called to order a new one and was shocked at the price of $74.00, if I am remembering correctly, but ordered anyway. My card was charged instantly and it took many phone calls and six weeks to get the remote. Before ordering when I was describing the machine problem to the tech he mentioned several times about how old my machine was so to expect problems. The machine is four years old and used in a hobby shop.

New remote is three months old and being problematic already. Have to push the button three or four times to get the machine to stop. Not going to bother with Laguna again and have already bought the parts to make a homemade 220v on/off switch with remote.

When I bought my SuperMax 16/32 the box arrived without a stand. I called and asked if the stand would come in a separate box. No, it is in the box with the sander, look again. Sorry but it would be difficult to overlook a four leg metal stand in that box. It took a few phone calls to finally get a stand shipped to me.

The sander and dust collector are really nice tools. Would be nice if a different company owned them.

[Larry Frank]

Sad to read about this. I love my 16/32 as it is a well built tool. When I bought it, I had excellent customer service.

I find that customer support from all companies is hit and miss with the COVID causing all kinds of personnel issues.

[Bruce King]

I ordered a Jet 18-36 but they shipped a 16-32, it was wrapped up so didn’t notice the numbers on the box, then on the opposite side when lifting out of the box so didn’t see the numbers for awhile. Going to send it back but turned it on and sort of looked and wondered if everything was working because it was so quiet. It has the coupling too that isolates slight alignment error and slight motor vibrations away from the drum and vice versa.

[ED Budzinski]

I ordered a Jet 18-36 but they shipped a 16-32, it was wrapped up so didn’t notice the numbers on the box, then on the opposite side when lifting out of the box so didn’t see the numbers for awhile. Going to send it back but turned it on and sort of looked and wondered if everything was working because it was so quiet. It has the coupling too that isolates slight alignment error and slight motor vibrations away from the drum and vice versa.
Working as a Machine Tool Repairman for 45 Plus years a Spider coupling is a Cushing to remove metal to metal contact , However the two coupling half's need to be aligned with precision. We always used a 6" steel precision ruler . If an air gap is seen on top or side of the coupling the gap needs to be adjusted out across the length of the two coupling pieces . Shimming may be necessary if no adjustment is present . Hope this helps anyone with a vibration issue with motor couplings .

[Randy Heinemann]

Just set my Supermax 16-32 up this weekend. No vibration with or without sandpaper.

As for Supermax/Laguna support . . . Before I bought my sander I contacted them at least twice with questions about the 16-32 and 19-38 sander and their specs. I called and left a message on a Friday afternoon and got a call back on Monday or Tuesday. The second question was an email and also got a quick response. However, neither of these were warranty issues since I hadn't yet bought the sander.

From other feedback I've seen on the internet, the responses have been mixed; some quick and adequate responses from Laguna and some not. It's unclear whether, when calling the Supermax phone number you are getting a general Laguna department or a separate Supermax specific staff.

[Charlie Jones]

I have a 16-32 and. a Laguna 14-12 bandsaw. Both have been excellent machines with the exception of the chintzy digital readout on the 16-32. It isn’t anywhere near accurate but I never use it anyway.

[Alan Schaffter]

Oh the stories I could tell about Laguna- not from a customer standpoint, but as a designer/consultant. They contacted me about designing widget for them. What I came up with beat the specs of anything similar on the market. I shipped them a very rough prototype with all the qualifiers, which I built on my nickel. They weren't interested in specs, they just wanted something that 'looked sexy.' Oh, and they didn't want to license my design nor pay me anything near what is was worth. I'm glad I hadn't signed a contract yet nor taken any money up front, because I was able to walk away (run as fast as I could).

[mark kosse]

Just for reference for people in the future considering laguna products. The sandpaper clip on a supermax dru sander failed. I called many times and finally got a rep. 8.00 for the part, plus 8.00 for shipping. Not too bad. They email me a receipt and shipping conformation. That was Feb 15. A month later, no part, no tracking number, no response. Multiple calls and emails, nothing. I don't make a living anymore at this but if I did... Sander is OOC because of this 8.00 part.

Lets face it, CS everywhere is pretty much down but this is a bought and paid for part.

[Alex Zeller]

I have an old woodmaster drum sander that's hook and loop. The previous owner just used fiberglass strapping tap to hold the ends down so I've continued to do the same. It may not work well with an open end sander though.

[glenn bradley]

However, neither of these were warranty issues since I hadn't yet bought the sander.

Makes one recall the joke about visiting Hell . .. once as a "prospect" and then as a "client". :D

[George Yetka]

I just got my 19 last month and it steady as can be. I did however tear a belt 2 passes in. The supermax's have been backordered all year, due to corona and people spending more time at home playing/side hustling. They ship with paper on the drum I would assume they power them up before shipping them out. So either they rush them out the door due to back orders or shipping damage.

Is the paper tight?

Why do they make the motor so hard to attach paper?