Help needed with Biessee edge bander

[Bobby Robbinett]

I recently acquired a Biessee ERGHO 3 edge bander in a package deal with another shop that was closing down. Only thing is that I am not too good with tuning up edge banders and I am lost on this one with where to even start. I have power ran to it already, I am just looking for someone in the south east Missouri/ North east Arkansas area that could come by and help me tune it up and get it working again. Biessee is crazy expensive for this type of thing and I know that I will have to shell out some money to get someone out here and I am ok with that. Just don’t want to spend “Biessee” type money. LoL. Do you guys know anyone in this area that is capable of this?

[Erik Loza]

Bobby, my advice, which you are welcome to accept or reject as you like: Sell it and get what you can, now (which might be worth more as scrap). Of all the machines worth investing money to repair, old banders are probably behind old routers, which is pretty low on the list. You cannot imagine how many times I have seen the same story: "It ran great, once. I just need to get the right guy/parts/time to get it back to that". And guess what? I visit that shop a year later and that old bander is still collecting dust. Or, it's a giant 12-foot long machine that once did corner rounding, dual sawblades, radius scraping, etc and now, only capable of reliably running 1mm tape on a good day. Old banders that have fallen into dis-use/dis-repair are boat anchors. Sorry, it's the truth. If someone truly needs a reliable bander, better to buy new (and Biesse are fine). Newer technology, smaller footprint, more machine for the dollar, etc. Again, just my 2-cents.

Erik