24" Wide Belt Sander

[William A Johnston]

I'm starting to do some research on a 24" wide belt sander. I don't have 3 phase but my intention is to purchase a rotary phase converter. I have a 200 amp service entrance and hope I don't need to upgrade to a larger service entrance. I would love to get a 37 or 43 sander but that is not an option due to the foot print. I see the regular brands, Grizzly, Laguna, Oliver, Time Saver and Shop Fox. This will be used in a hobby shop and will be replacing a Woodmaster 2675 drum sander.

I mainly make smaller items such as Jewelry boxes, cutting boards, cheese boards and once in a while build cabinets.

I understand Oliver is a USA company but are there products still made in the USA? I have a number of Grizzly tools and have been pleased with them and there showroom is about 4 hours from my shop.

Does anyone have a 24" single head or dual head sander that can offer some advice on what to look for in a machine and what to stay away from in my search.

I work for a professional cabinet shop but we only do a melamine/laminate cabinets. I have plenty of friends that have shops with wide belts but it is a pain trying to run by and get something sanded due to their hours of operation.

Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

Bill

[Richard Coers]

The current Oliver company is a machine importer located in Kent, Wa. Their location is in a business park, they manufacture nothing. They purchased some level of rights to the old machinery company of Grand Rapids, Mi. and use the history of the company to carefully suggest ideas about the heritage. Other assists were sold to other individuals and companies. When they first started this company, they even used a picture of one old Oliver factory building that was still standing in Grand Rapids on their website as a "reminder" of that heritage. That building burnt to the ground and that picture is no longer used on their website .
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[William A Johnston]

Richard thanks for the info. I looked and looked all over thier website and PDF catalogs and couldn't find anything on where they were made.

A little deciving to me.

Bill

[David Kumm]

I bought a used SCMI 25". SCM also marketed a Minimax but I don't believe they do any longer. The only other Euro 24" that I know of are Kundig or EMC. Both are rare here in US. The Taiwan machines are pretty similar. The better the machining on the drum and conveyor the better. The longer the belt the better, at least 60". Electric eye tracking vs pneumatic is preferable as is a combination head. A calibration head is drum only and a finishing head is platen only. A combo has a drum with a removable platen that is adjustable. the larger the drum the better, and the wider the platen the better. Some machines will have a segmented head for veneer sanding but I'm assuming you just want a good basic machine. 12 hp should be a minimum. A 37" machine if you can fit it in would need a 20 hp motor. Your 200 amp service can handle up to about a30 hp motor if the RPC is large enough.

The Oliver WB look to be decent machines. How quickly to can get parts or service might be the issue. Felder used to source EMC machines, including a 24". I don't know if they do anymore. They make their own but they aren't at the EMC level. Houfek is an Eastern Euro machine but I don't know if it comes in 24"- probably 37". Dave

[John Sincerbeaux]

I have a 24” SAC WB that I purchased used from a one-man shop. It has been a great addition to my shop and certainly a game changer for my woodworking.
It is a 10hp and I run it on my 10hp PP converter.

Just remember to consider the proper size dust collection.

If I was to buy a new WB today I would look closesly at Houfek.

[David Kumm]

I really like the SAC machines. Heavier than SCM but very similar. They usually sell for a bargain. Dave

[Brian Ross]

I have a 37 in, single head , SCM sanya. Bought it used approx 10 years ago. I couldn't be without one. It has a 20 hp main and 1 hp belt drive. I had a 20 hp RPC in my shop but had to buy a second 20 hp RPC due to the high current draw on startup. Each RPC is connected to its own 60 amp breaker on my shop 100 amp single phase panel. Once I get the widebelt running a single RPC will run it.

Brian

[Jim Andrew]

I have the small widebelt Grizzly open end, uses 16x48 belts. Uses air tracking, has a platin, works great for me. Would be nice to have a wider machine sometimes, but most of the time I am happy with it. Great thing is it is only 5hp, and runs on 240.

[William A Johnston]

Jim,

I looked at that machine. My concerns were I do a lot of 18" boards and was concerned about the flip operation and also according to the specs the belt doesn't oscillate and I was wondering if that would leave the linear scratches like my drum sander.

Bill

[Mike Hollingsworth]

Grizzly offers a single phase 24" model.
Oscillation will keep your belts from burning up, but you'll end up with wavy scratches instead of linear. A platen is the answer to that problem.

[David Kumm]

The drum should be steel or hard rubber and the platen should be padded. Dave

[Dave Cav]

What's your budget? Safety Speed Cut makes a nice 36 x 60" single phase with a 10 HP motor and a removable platen. The footprint isn't all that big and working within the limitations of the 10 HP motor you can do quite a bit. I've run full size doors through mine.

[Darrell Bade]

I have the 15" Grizzly, it oscilates. Does a good job by flipping, would take longer though if you was doing a lot of 18" boards.

[Ron Selzer]

I bought a 15" wide belt sander used a couple of years ago, combination machine, platen(use all the time) raise the platen (never use)
40 grit sanding to size, then 60,80,100,120 machine the pieces to size then 120,150,180 before breaking out the random orbital sanders.
Grizzly makes both a 25" and a 37" single phase sanders.
Would not recommend a three phase in your situation unless you get a killer deal on one that allows you to buy the converter and come out ahead.
I have sanded boards wider then 15" on mine and they always end up cupped, worse as they get wider. Not certain what I can do to change this.

edit to add 16" x 54" belts