Grizzly 1071 , Laguna SS 24/T spindle Sander

[Joe Tuminello]

I work in a school shop at a community college. We are looking to replace our Max spindle sander with a Grizzly 1071, or a Laguna SS/24T .

While the Grizzly costs less, it seems to have problems with spindles gettiing stuck. Since we will have multiple users ( 25 per class) working on different projects, I’m not sure this problem is acceptable. Also the dust collection is reportedly useless.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=T6nGrTJgz4Q

I dont know know anything about the more expensive Launa, but looking at photos it seems more robust.
there are no reviews on this machine.


Any thoughts on of either of these machines appreciated.

[glenn bradley]

There was a thread once upon a time about how the first response in a thread is nearly always weak or useless. I'm here to fill that role

I assume breathing life into the Max has been decided against since these are sought out by Old Arn aficionados as the ones to have. I see the Griz in the background of a lot of guitar shop videos and pictures. This makes me think it must not be all bad. The asymmetric placement of the spindle on the Laguna is interesting and looks useful (more table for the footprint). I'll be watching for owner's responses for better info.

[Kevin McCluney]

I own the Shop Fox version of this sander (it has a larger table than the Grizzly model). The dust collection can be improved by building an enclosure under the table and by making slotted/perforated table inserts (I used MDF). I've never had a spindle jam. Having read about it I sprayed the spindle threads with a dry lube. To tighten/loosen a spindle I use two wrenches from underneath the table (not above as in the video link), though I replaced the stamped steel ones provided with 'normal' long-handled open end wrenches. It helps to tighten the two nuts on the spindle receiver so that they're aligned (in the video you can see that the two nuts aren't aligned, making using a wrench more difficult). The sander works great; I assume the Grizzly is similar.

[Joe Tuminello]

There was a thread once upon a time about how the first response in a thread is nearly always weak or useless. I'm here to fill that role

I assume breathing life into the Max has been decided against since these are sought out by Old Arn aficionados as the ones to have. I see the Griz in the background of a lot of guitar shop videos and pictures. This makes me think it must not be all bad. The asymmetric placement of the spindle on the Laguna is interesting and looks useful (more table for the footprint). I'll be watching for owner's responses for better info.

I haven’t given up on the Max yet. Problem is it is near impossible to replace the sandpaper on the rubber drums. Most sleeves available are too small, only some barely fit. Last time I had to refrigerate a 3 inch drum for weeks and use talcum powder to beat the paper on a couple of inches a time till the drum expend,then back in the freezer, it took days. The instructors don’t want to deal with it. It’s hard on the hands.

My pholosphy on school equipment is to get the heaviest duty possible budget in mind because multiple users will find a way to abuse everything.

[Van Huskey]

First, the YT video is the only report of the spindles sticking I recall ever seeing, so you have to take it with a grain of salt despite the video evidence, that spindle system was actually used by State in the later years, or I am 90% sure it was State. This brings me to my second point (again at 90% confidence I am repeating the situation correctly) if you have one of the later State sanders (I think there were three spindle types) the Grizzly spindles will fit, if this is the case (verify at OWWM) then you might simply be able to buy the Grizzly spindles, if it is one of the earlier types the spindles are rare and more or less unobtanium.

As you probably know Grizzly is more or less a copy of the State with a sheet metal base. The Laguna (and the Delta version) are more or less a copy of the Kindt Collins tiliting spindle sander, the tilting spindle verses table is the big difference and if you (they) do much sanding at an angle it is a no-brainer. The Delta can actually be found cheaper.

Since it is also within the price range of the Grizzly and Laguna you might want to look at the Jet, the redesigned Jet has a different spindle connection and has a accordion dust baffle and a 5 year warranty (however this may revert to one year in a school environment like it does in a commercial environment, or it used to).


EDIT if you are getting to the point of giving up on the State why not try to sand down the offending spindles...

[Joe Tuminello]

First, the YT video is the only report of the spindles sticking I recall ever seeing, so you have to take it with a grain of salt despite the video evidence, that spindle system was actually used by State in the later years, or I am 90% sure it was State. This brings me to my second point (again at 90% confidence I am repeating the situation correctly) if you have one of the later State sanders (I think there were three spindle types) the Grizzly spindles will fit, if this is the case (verify at OWWM) then you might simply be able to buy the Grizzly spindles, if it is one of the earlier types the spindles are rare and more or less unobtanium.

As you probably know Grizzly is more or less a copy of the State with a sheet metal base. The Laguna (and the Delta version) are more or less a copy of the Kindt Collins tiliting spindle sander, the tilting spindle verses table is the big difference and if you (they) do much sanding at an angle it is a no-brainer. The Delta can actually be found cheaper.

Since it is also within the price range of the Grizzly and Laguna you might want to look at the Jet, the redesigned Jet has a different spindle connection and has a accordion dust baffle and a 5 year warranty (however this may revert to one year in a school environment like it does in a commercial environment, or it used to).


EDIT if you are getting to the point of giving up on the State why not try to sand down the offending spindles...

This is the first I’ve heard of the Max, which was built in San Jose CA, being associated with State. However it does sound like we are talking about the same machine. Outs has a threaded end on the spindle rod which has a Morse taper. As far as sanding the rubber drums , I considered that but how can that be accomplished without distorting the shape of the drum?

[Van Huskey]

This is the first I’ve heard of the Max, which was built in San Jose CA, being associated with State. However it does sound like we are talking about the same machine. Outs has a threaded end on the spindle rod which has a Morse taper. As far as sanding the rubber drums , I considered that but how can that be accomplished without distorting the shape of the drum?

I simply mixed up Max with State in my post. It is also possible I am mixing them up when it comes to the later spindles interchanging with Grizzly but worth a shot asking on OWWM or at least searching I am 99% sure there are posts both there and here that discuss this.

As for sanding the spindles my approach would be to set up a right angle jig to hold the sandpaper and use the sander itself to do the work and keep the spindle surface square with the table.

[Mikail Khan]

I have had the Grizzly for about 7-8 years. Can't recall ever having a spindle stuck.

I built an above able dust collection hood. Used magswitch clamps to attach it to the table and allow for easy repositioning

MK

[Bill McNiel]

FWIW - I bought a used Grizzly about 4 or 5 years ago and use it a fair amount as I seem to design curves into most everything I build. I have never had a spindle "stick" or any other issues with the machine. I use a portable dust hood in addition to the dust port on the machine and get Ok, not great, dust collection.

Regards - Bill

[Shiraz Balolia]

I actually have one in my home shop and have never had a spindle stick. After reading this I contacted our service techs and that has not been an issue that has come up, or we would addressed it.

If the spindle is getting stuck in the machine, it may most likely be that the export grease was never completely removed and the spindle completely cleaned at initial installation. Just a guess, but we have never had that as a complaint on the machine. By the way, the Shop Fox has a bigger table as mentioned by another poster and just as good a machine as the G1071. Thanks.

[Ben Rivel]

Another Shop Fox version owner here and I havent dealt with the spindles getting stuck because I keep the threads lightly oiled. I did have to replace the garbage wrenches it came with. I ended up modifying some very nice larger ones to fit next to each other and work. And the dust collection has been fine for me without any mods. I have it hooked up to my 3HP Oneida V-3000. When I was reading about it before I bought it I was thinking I was going to have to modify the dust collection but so far I havent felt the need to. There simple isnt that much dust if any left behind while using.

[Rick Potter]

I have the floor model Jet that is about 10 years old. When I got it used I had a lot of trouble getting the spindle out, and found a little bit of rust, and some slight gouging on the taper of several spindles. I cleaned them all up as well as I could, but still have occasional problems with spindles sticking.

Probably all problems were caused by previous owner. I think he tightened them up waay too much.

Dust collection on this model is also poor unless you make an under table surround.

[Phillip Gregory]

The Grizzly G1071 as well as nearly all of the other Asian floor model spindle sanders are closely based off of the Max VS/OVS. I have a Max OVS and the Grizzly G1071 is identical to it except for the table, inserts, trunnions, and cabinet. All of the innards and sanding drums/spindles are identical,I used a G1071 spindle to replace my OVS's buggered up spindle and it was a direct drop-in replacement. It would be tough to stick a spindle as you can use a wrench to hold the machine's spindle still while you use another wrench to remove the sanding drum's spindle. Make sure you have both nuts and the dust shield on the machine spindle, though.

The dust collection on mine is fine. You just need to either use an insert with perforations or use one that is somewhat larger in hole diameter than the sanding drum is so the dust gets sucked downwards instead of sprayed tangentially from the drum. I have a 3 hp dust collector with 6" runs, so YMMV based on what you use to collect the dust. A shop vac is not going to cut it.

The Max is a beast. Mine weighs about 400 pounds, even with the aluminum gear case. Rebuild it and if needed, get Grizzly's sanding drum spindles as they are a direct drop-in fit. Rebuilding a Max entails replacing two motor bearings, one oil seal, two spindle bearings, and three quarts of 40 weight non-detergent oil (or 85W gear GL-1/GL-4 gear oil, your favorite ISO 240 other oil). Do that and it's good for another 3-4 decades.

[Van Huskey]

The information about which sanders the Grizzly spindles fit with thanks to Phillip Gregory in this thread: https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread....spindle-sander

I recently bought one of these sanders and wanted to post "for the record" as I had to do a lot of research to find out the answer to the questions you asked.

There are four different spindle profiles for the MAX VS sanders.

1. The oldest ones made from 1966-1968 (200 made) use a standard Morse #2 taper with no threads on the distal end.
2. The 2nd profile was made between 3/1968 and 5/1969 (103 units made) and used the standard #2 Morse taper with the threads on the distal end, but with the threads cut off.
3. The 3rd profile was made between 5/1969 and 3/1980 and used the standard MT2 with the threads on the distal end. 1768 of these units were made.
4. The 4th profile was made from 3/1980 to sometime in the 1980s It is the short MT2 with the threads at the distal end, and there were 1034 of these units made.
5. The last profile was made from the 1980s on and is a short MT2 with undercut threads. This is also the thread pattern used on the MAX OVS as well as the clones, which include the Grizzly G1071 and at least some Jet models.

The sander I bought had bunged up threads on the top of the spindle (the part in the sander where the taper on the drum arbor fits into.) It had lost its jam nuts over the years and one of the POs had used Vise-Grips to immobilize the spindle to change drums, wrecking the threads. I did some measuring and found out that the Grizzly G1071's spindle, drums, and oscillating assembly are identical or near-identical to the MAX's and I put a G1071's spindle in my machine. They changed the spanner nut, drive key, and drive key set screws very slightly, but with the appropriate newer parts from Grizzly, the spindle assembly is a drop in replacement for the short MT2/threaded spindle MAX units as my original drums fit perfectly into the Grizzly spindle.

My sander was painted a turquoise color with a liberal amount of white spray paint overspray. Apparently it was painted red before that and appears to left the factory painted an olive green color.

Grizzly parts are well stocked and not very expensive. The 4x9" sanding drum is $75 and the entire spindle assembly including spindle, jam nuts, dust cover, bearings, drive key, oscillating worm gear, set screws, and drive key with bearings is about a hundred bucks.