New Drum Sander Should I be concerned with this?

[Thomas Colson]

Brand new Supermax 16-32. Following set up instructions exactly, get a slight vibration with sandpaper on, barely detectable with no paper on the drum. Reloaded the paper multiple times, same vibration. Tried a new roll of paper (the precut ordered at same time), same vibration. Again, it's slight, but enough to vibrate a piece of wood of the top as its running. No, there is no dust jammed up in the drum. Moved to different parts of shop thinking uneven floor. Nope. Put it on a rubber mat. Nope. Put anti-vibration feet thingies under it. Nope. Same vibration. Yes the paper is loaded correctly. Also, just running with nothing sanding, the motor casing heats up pretty good. Not too hot to touch, but enough to melt butter eventually (no I didn't melt butter!). Waiting to hear back from tech support (which is also a concern), never had a DS before, did I get a lemon? With no paper, I'd classify the vibration as driving with really cheap tires at high speed. You sorta notice it, but it seems normal so you floor it. With the paper on, same cheap tires, but you're like "That doesn't seem right" and your knee jerk reaction is a tire is out of round.

[glenn bradley]

Does the sanded surface show anything of the vibration under a raking light? It is easy to want a new tool to be perfect and we have to be careful not to start chasing our tail. That said, my 19-38 is really smooth with or without paper. The things is spooky quiet to the point where I noticed an audible whine from the belt feed motor after a few weeks use. Tech support had me do a small adjustment to get rid of it. The point being that the machine is so smooth and quiet I could easily here this minor sound.

There is certainly vibration present when the machine is running. I would put it on a par with one of my bandsaws, a drill press or a tablesaw; obviously running but, shaking like a tire that is out of balance? No way. The question is, have you become so attuned to it that 'normal' seems 'abnormal'? My motor housing gets warm after long periods of use. I don't know about melting butter. I can certainly leave my hand on it without feeling like I am performing some rite of manhood . Certainly not hot enough that if I were to brush against it I would be startled.

The 19-38 and 16-32 are fairly different in design but, not remarkably so. I am hoping some 16-32 owners will chime in and help level out what is 'normal' for your machine. Keep us posted. Just in case this turns into something problematic I would keep copious notes about dates and your activities/findings. I tend to email myself 'notes' or keep a log so that things are time stamped when interacting with vendors and suppliers.

[Thomas Colson]

No, the few pieces I sanded came out perfect. Checked them by coating with mineral spirits, which shows the most minute sanding inperfections.

[glenn bradley]

OK, that's good then. I would expect any vibration that is significant enough to concern me to leave telltale tracks on the work. Again, let's get some 16-32 owner's input since I don't want to steer your wrong. The last thing you want is a drive shaft breaking a few months down the line causing you to say to yourself "I knew it!".

[Thomas Colson]

I can balance a nickle on my Delta Saw and Jet Band Saw, I couldn't even balance a box of nickles on this. My 3rd attempt to get tech support was un successful, may be boxing it up for a return tonight. Again, never owned a DS before, but my gut feeling is a 1300$ tool shouldn't vibrate this much. What makes it really noticeable is the poorly fitting plastic dust cover on top of the drum, really high-pitched rattle caused by the vibration.

[Kyle Iwamoto]

I'm going to say that running with no paper should have NO vibration............
If it's a TEFC motor, they run hot. All the tools that I own with a TEFC run hot. As you say, to melt butter. Personally, when I melt butter I put it in a tin cup then put it on the motor.

[Thomas Colson]

Heard from tech support, they agree the level of vibration doesn't sound right, has me checking a "Spyder" when I get home. He did his best explaining what/where that is, but I ain't gonna lie.....anyone checked their DS "Spyder" and what is there to look for? If I see spider eggs we're gonna have a bigger problem!

[Zachary Hoyt]

I don't know about the spider, but my 19-38 main motor is almost silent and very smooth when running without a load. It's louder with wood going through, and the conveyor belt system is a lot louder than the drum/motor assembly.

[Gary Petersen]

I have a SuperMax 16-32 that's about 2-1/2 years old. I've never noticed any vibration with it. There is a part called a Coupling Spider listed in the exploded view in my manual. It is part 15 in the manual and appears to attach to the motor shaft. Good luck.

[Michael W. Clark]

Spider may refer to part of the drive coupling.

[glenn bradley]

Wait, plastic cover? Mine is decent gauge steel. Sounds like this is much more vibration than I was picturing. The spider coupling is between the motor and what is being driven. Sometimes 2 parts, sometimes 3.

[Thomas Colson]

Yeah, the top dust cover is now plastic. We did some video chat last night, tech support agrees that there is something definitely wrong, they could hear the vibration thru the phone.

[Larry Frank]

The exploded diagram shows the spider as part of the drum drive coupling.

[Thomas Colson]

So after tech support confirming the vibration isn't right....radio silence for several days now, despite a message left. Is this normal for Supermax? I get that there's Rona, but this is my first 1000$+ tool purchase, and the only floor tool in my shop that vibrates this much. Most of my collection is third and fourth hand thus acquired very cheaply, but no one is giving up their drum sander for resale, and having one for 3 days now I know why! I've had issues with my Jet and Delta tools in the past, and was always able to get someone on the phone instantly and the problem resolved within a day.

[glenn bradley]

So after tech support confirming the vibration isn't right....radio silence for several days now, despite a message left. Is this normal for Supermax?

Not in my experience but, Laguna has bought them since the last time I needed anything. Laguna has a sort of biorhythm of customer service; it's good, it's non-existent, it's bad, it's non-existent, it's good, etc. To be fair, I can only imagine the challenges of operating a warehouse type environment during these times. I have started to use phone AND email when interacting with suppliers as sometimes I will get a response from one and sometimes the other. I will say that once I get someone, people have been generally going above and beyond to help me.

Ignoring all that . . . where did you buy it? If it was a local retailer I would just return it for a new one. They can figure it out on their own time. I happened to buy mine directly but, that was years ago so I always interacted with them directly. If I bought it from Woodcraft, Rockler or other local retailer I would deal with them and not be diverted.

When I buy a Grizzly product I am saving large amounts of money over a competitor like Powermatic. In that case if I have to adjust something or replace a part that slipped by QA, I am OK with it . . . I saved $1000 . This is not the case on a Supermax. When I pay full pop I expect a little service. If I do not get it I speak with my wallet. I hope this gets quickly resolved for you. I love my 19-38 almost as much as my bandsaw and that's saying something .