Stumped by my supermax 19-38 - UPDATE

[Tom DiBiasio]

I have had my supermax for about 6 months and have never been confident it is running parrellel across the entire width of the drum. I have read and re-read and re-reread the steps in the manual for testing and adjusting the machine.... I am clear on the adjustment part but for the life of me can not figure out what the heck they are suggesting to do for the test!!! Can anyone help a fellow creeker clear my brain fog on this test? Or if there is another reliable test that is different than what is suggested in the manual that would be helpful as well.... I'm sure there is a KISS approach I'm just not thinking of?

Oh and btw I did contact Laguna support twice and got bounced around to several different people and to make the story short and not to bad mouth a highly respected tool company, I have not been able to get someone to offer any support. To be fair, Part of the problem is timing as the support line is closed by the time I get home at night and able to call them while in my shop...I have asked several times if they could simple send a little more detailed procedure via email but nothing yet so I thought to ask our community here for help.

im also struggling to align the infeed/outfeed tables as well but for that part I understand at least "how" to do it but I can not seem to get them right. They seem to looses adjustment when I fold them up and down....

thanks for for any insight or help you can give me with this machine.

TomD

[glenn bradley]

First let's set some ground rules ;-) The accuracy of the machine is driven somewhat by the size of your abrasive particles and their consistency. This is why I passed on the DRO although I use them on my planer and tablesaw so, I'm a fan. I skipped the manual's method as I have a dial indicator and base. I remove the abrasive as the manual suggests, raise the drum to very near its maximum and slide a dial indicator and base underneath. I find this much easier than holding the feed rollers out of the way and trying to check something a fraction of an inch off the conveyor belt.

A $10 Harbor Freight dial indicator and something reasonably stable to connect it to will do you. I stick mine on a 1-2-3 block but, a heavy piece of timber milled true would work. Here I am using it on a planer but, same principle.

Rotocator-poor-mans.jpg

One of the joys of this machine is the controlled bed adjustment. You can check the alignment and then adjust the screw to change the bed; no lifting, tapping, moving too far or awkward positions required. Be sure your "Fast Lever" adjuster is in the up (or non effective) position.

[Bradley Gray]

Find a piece of planed wood, or plywood about a foot long and rip 2 pieces an inch or so wide (none of these numbers matter)

With the cover off, place one of your blocks under each end of the drum. Adjust the height of the drum so that one of the blocks barely touches the drum. Adjust the height of the whole drum and the height of the unsupported end so the drum contact with the strips is even.

[George Bokros]

Oh and btw I did contact Laguna support twice and got bounced around to several different people and to make the story short and not to bad mouth a highly respected tool company, I have not been able to get someone to offer any support. TomD

Why would you contact Laguna. SuperMax is not made by Laguna as far as I know.

https://www.supermaxtools.com/http://

[Tom DiBiasio]

https://lagunatools.com/company/pres...upermax-tools/

[Bradley Gray]

Interesting. Not sure the merge makes me happy - supermax support has always been great.

[Wade Lippman]

I found the instructions confusing also. So I just adjusted it until I got both sides just barely sanding a piece of wood. Maybe I am missing something, but it seems to be adequate.

[Don Jarvie]

Are you getting tapered pieces, ie, one side thicker than the other? I have the same machine and just used it. So far the pieces are the same thickness. If I start getting cock eyed pieces I’ll fix it. Knock on wood so far so good.

[Larry Frank]

I bought a 16/32 a few months ago. I had a question and got great help. They even called back a couple of hours later to make certain everything worked out.

I ended up getting the tables and drum set properly and it works great.

[glenn bradley]

Oh and btw I did contact Laguna support twice and got bounced around to several different people and to make the story short and not to bad mouth a highly respected tool company, I have not been able to get someone to offer any support.

Just to keep things in perspective, Laguna has had a hot and cold relationship with customer service over the years. They do, whatever they do, and get so bad that you can't even get someone to respond at all, helpful or not. Then something happens, they call in a consultant or read a "retail 101" book or something and the support is great for a period. Then the cycle repeats.

[Nick Decker]

Glenn, good tip on the dial indicator. I've just been using two 1-2-3 blocks, one on either end of the drum, adjust until the friction feels the same. Then draw some lines on a piece of Baltic Birch and send it through to make sure they're getting erased evenly.

As usual, Laguna seems to have a love/hate relationship with supporting their customers.

[Tom DiBiasio]

First Off I want to THANK everyone for their replies - I spent a few hours this morning adjusting the conveyor using the two board with pencil mark approach, the two dial indicators I have would not properly fit under the drum and still work and since I already own two I did not really want to buy a third just for this alignment. I also took the time to adjust the infeed and outfeed tables while I was in the adjusting mood.

Well I am even more baffled now then I was before - really this is turning into an expensive nightmare of a tool purchase!! Let me explain - I am trying to create a large end grain cutting board for an xmas gift for my FIL - the size of the initial long grain blank is 18" W by 40" L. With the boards edge glued and cured I set out to sand them smooth with my newly adjusted drum sander. While sanding I felt a sense of relief that i finally got this expensive machine working right and smiled as I just kissed away the little bits of glue and uneven boards on my blank. After getting both sides smooth I set out to my mft and track saw to cut up the blank into 1.5" strips. After getting them all cut size I built a simple 90 Degree gluing and clamping jig with some plywood as a base and hard wood fences. I was surprise the strips when put on edge did not seem to lay up too well when and I thought they must just need a little persuasion with a clamp or two. Well to my further surprise there were TONS of gaps right in the middle of the field and with moderate clamping pressure they did not seem to close up. So I went and grabbed a few of the big boy parallel clamps and when I cranked on that I heard a crack and several of the strips broke the glue joint in the middle of the strip. After a few choice words I set out to figure out what then hell happened and I was fully stumped I pulled out my micrometer and measured the thickness of the strips and found out that they were damn near equal at the end but way thinner in the middle. See pics below for clarity:
IMG_3836.jpgIMG_3837 (1).jpgIMG_3834.jpgIMG_3833.jpgIMG_3835.jpg

So now I am left to wonder if the drum sander some how "gouged" out the middle of the blank? Maybe my adjustments to the infeed and outfeed tables had some adverse effect? Oh and not to mention that my HW cutting board blank is now firewood !!!! Im at a loss for were to go from here... This PTO day I planned to spend in my shop making good progress on a few projects is turning into a frustration beyond belief.

[Steve Eure]

Just curious here. Are your infeed and outfeed tables parallel to the conveyor bed? I know on a planer sometimes you need to barely elevate the ends to control snipe. I would think that may not be necessary on a sander. If they are elevated, the snipe you are getting could be caused by that. Just a thought.

[Bradley Gray]

If you plan a re-do, consider re-sanding the 1 1/2" strips cross grain before glue-up. You can run a few at a time. Sanders like yours are amazing time savers but struggle at near max capacity. 18" of hardwood is tough.

You could skip sanding the 18" blank and just sand the strips. I would use 80 grit.

[Don Jarvie]

Two things to keep in mind. First is the sander acts like a planer so the bottom needs to be flat in order for the top to be flat and the same thickness. If the bottom on the rollers had some gaps it will be reflective of the top. Second, you should cut the strips on a table saw to get the best cut. If the track saw is a little off it will show up on the strips.

It could be the case the sander is fine but the track saw could be the issue.