Looking for comments on a SuperMax 25/50

[Mike Henderson]

Here is what I did, as u can see, the stand is very similar to yours.

Thanks for posting those pictures, Mike. I'll look closely at my stand tomorrow and see what I want to do.

Mike

[Mike Henderson]

I got an engine hoist from Harbor Freight. I could have rented one, but I didn't know how long I'd need it and the rental was about $50/day. I'll try to sell it as "almost new" on Craigslist. (note, it's not that the mounting would take more than a day, but things come up and my projects get delayed. This morning I had a plumbing problem to deal with but I was finished by about noon. There's always something.)

Anyway, I assembled the engine hoist, which is a project in itself. It's advertised as a 1 ton, but that's only if you have the boom all the way back, which doesn't give you a lot of lift. When you put the boom all the way out, it's down to a rating of 500 pounds, but that's more than the weight of the Supermax so I was very safe.

Here's a picture of the sander just as I started lifting it. I rigged it with some 250 pound rope.
2018-01-24-SuperMax004.jpg

Once I got it high enough, I slid the stand under the sander and slowly lowered the sander to the stand. I had to rotate the sander and the far end touched the stand first, so I stopped the descent and lined up the mounting holes.
2018-01-24-SuperMax005.jpg

Once I got the four mounting bolts in and tightened down, I untied the sander and that was it.
2018-01-24-SuperMax006.jpg

The engine hoist made the job very safe and saved my back (and the back of helpers that I would have needed if we did it manually).

There's more to do to finish assembling the sander but that's for another day.

Mike

[Mike OMelia]

OMG, you are making feel like an idiot for hoisting that thing by myself. Have to admit, your approach was wiser than mine.

[Mike Henderson]

OMG, you are making feel like an idiot for hoisting that thing by myself. Have to admit, your approach was wiser than mine.

When you're an old man, like me, you have to find alternate ways to do certain things. Even with a strong helper, I doubt if I could have safely handled my end. That would be a lot of money if we dropped it. Even worse if it fell on one of our feet

Mike

[Mike Henderson]

I finished setting up the sander today. I installed the conveyor belt unit, the drop down infeed and outfeed tables, and the extension of the conveyor belt. There's a lot of adjustment to do to get it all set up correctly, but I guess that's good because it gives you ways to adjust things if you're having problems with the operation of the unit.

One thing to note is that the conveyor belt is only 22.25 inches wide, although the sander is 25 inches wide. They provide "extension rollers" that are attached to the side of the unit to support the extra almost 3 inches when sanding wide panels. I haven't tried a really wide panel yet so I'll have to wait to see how that extension works. I wonder if that conveyor unit is from their 22/44 drum sander.

In general, everything fit although I had some problems mounting the conveyor extension because the washers were too big around and kept the extension from going down enough. I had to grind a flat spot on the washers to get the extension to align properly.

I haven't really used it yet, except to pass a couple of pieces of wood through it for a test. If I experience any real problems, I'll post them here.

[Let me add that working with Acme Tools was great. I had a number of "chats" with them and they answered my questions and didn't try to push me to buy. They delivered what I expected - when promised - and it was well packed. Plus free shipping and no tax.]

2018-01-24-SuperMax007.jpg

Mike

[Now, I have to sell my Jet 16/32.]

[Dave Zellers]

Looking good Mike. I ordered my 19-38 today.

FYI for anyone following this, the 10% off any single item up to $150, Mike referred to is available to all new web registrants at Acme Tools, good for 15 days from receipt of the coupon. They call it the Welcome discount. Those emails only go out once a week or so, so you might not receive it for a few days after signing up. I had purchased from Acme before but thankfully I hadn't signed up so I did and was eligible for the discount. Woo Hoo! Essentially that covered the extra cost of the in-feed out-feed tables and some sandpaper.
Lastly, the support tables do not show up on their website but they have them- you have to call and they will add them to the order.

Mike- I believe the conveyor is the same for both the 19-38 and the 25-50 sanders. It is a few inches short on the 25-50 and a few inches long on the 19-38.

Can't wait.

[Mike Henderson]

Looking good Mike. I ordered my 19-38 today.

FYI for anyone following this, the 10% off any single item up to $150, Mike referred to is available to all new web registrants at Acme Tools, good for 15 days from receipt of the coupon. They call it the Welcome discount. Those emails only go out once a week or so, so you might not receive it for a few days after signing up. I had purchased from Acme before but thankfully I hadn't signed up so I did and was eligible for the discount. Woo Hoo! Essentially that covered the extra cost of the in-feed out-feed tables and some sandpaper.
Lastly, the support tables do not show up on their website but they have them- you have to call and they will add them to the order.

Mike- I believe the conveyor is the same for both the 19-38 and the 25-50 sanders. It is a few inches short on the 25-50 and a few inches long on the 19-38.

Can't wait.

Thanks, Dave. Even if someone already registered, I suppose you could use a different email address and register again to get the discount.

Mike

[tom lucas]

I bought the new 16-32 with infeed/outfeed tables and I love it. Not too big but just right for most anything I want to do.

[Dave Zellers]

Mike- A question if you don't mind-


What is the distance from the floor to the top of the conveyor (including the wheels)?

[Mike Henderson]

Mike- 2 questions if you don't mind-

Does the sander arrive on a pallet?

What is the distance from the floor to the top of the conveyor (including the wheels)?

The delivery guy left the pallet but I don't think that was the normal situation. They use pallets to make handling the boxes easier. It was supposed to be a street delivery but the delivery guy put the boxes (and the pallet) just inside my gate. I wasn't home and my wife gave him the helpless spouse routine.

I took the casters off of my Jet 16/32 and put them on the 25/50 so they may not be exactly the same height as what you get. But given that, the top of the conveyor is a bit over 35 inches from the floor, maybe 35.25".

Mike

[Dave Zellers]

The delivery guy left the pallet but I don't think that was the normal situation. They use pallets to make handling the boxes easier. It was supposed to be a street delivery but the delivery guy put the boxes (and the pallet) just inside my gate. I wasn't home and my wife gave him the helpless spouse routine.

I took the casters off of my Jet 16/32 and put them on the 25/50 so they may not be exactly the same height as what you get. But given that, the top of the conveyor is a bit over 35 inches from the floor, maybe 35.25".

Mike

Cool- that will be perfect. Right after I hit send I saw the pallet in your first pic.

[Mike Henderson]

Incidentally, I broke that pallet down and processed the wood through my jointer and planer. It was badly warped but I managed to get some boards out of it. I don't know what I'll use it for, but free wood is free wood. Looks like pine.

Mike

[Cary Falk]

Good to see you are up and running. I somehow managed to get my 25/50 up on the stand by myself. I don't remember exactly how I did it(I must have blacked out in the middle of it) but I am sure it involved a lot of crying and cursing. I wouldn't want to do it again. I think you will love it. My wife has even mentioned a couple of times how much she liked using it over my Grizzly.

[Mike Henderson]

Good to see you are up and running. I somehow managed to get my 25/50 up on the stand by myself. I don't remember exactly how I did it(I must have blacked out in the middle of it) but I am sure it involved a lot of crying and cursing. I wouldn't want to do it again. I think you will love it. My wife has even mentioned a couple of times how much she liked using it over my Grizzly.

Wow, that's some lift. The sander, even without the conveyor assembly must weight 200 pounds. I'm over 70 (won't say how far over 70) and I know I can't lift that much. And it would be an expensive drop.

I put that engine hoist up for sale on Craigslist and it sold in one day. Two guys came in a Prius and bought it. We took the legs off and then they opened the back, put the back seats down and put everything in there. I wouldn't have believed that it would fit.

I have my 16/32 up for sale on Craigslist and am waiting for a guy to come look at it as I type this. Hopefully, we can make a deal. [Update: it sold for my asking price. it was in really good shape.]

Mike

[Mike Henderson]

Just a comment on the use of a drum sander. I ran some pine through the sander and it caused "glazing" on the sandpaper. I was upset because the sandpaper was new and had a lot of life left in it, other than the glazing. I tried several things to get the gunk off the sandpaper - I tried a wire brush, and I tried scraping it off. Neither worked.

But then I had the idea of using a rag with alcohol. That worked great and completely removed the gunk. I suppose it was pine sap and the alcohol dissolve it.

Mike