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Thread: Baby Super Surfacer Rebuild

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Apr 2021
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    Austin, TX
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    Baby Super Surfacer Rebuild

    Picked this Ryobi SL-250 super surfacer for $100 a few months back. Motor and gear reduction seem to be in good shape. It came with 3 blade/chip breaker combos which was nice.

    IMG-1793.jpg


    Had a bunch of rust so I took it apart, removed most if the rust with citric acid, and polished up the columns on my MIDI lathe.

    IMG-1821.jpg

    IMG-1876.jpg

    Now the $64,000 question - what are the options for a new drive belt? This one is pretty hard and I remember Mark mentioning a new belt was around $1K. Are there any options available for these smaller units? Does Marunaka make a appropriate sized version? Looks like www.rivarenzo.it might have some replacement options.


    I don't think there is any effective reconditioning that can be done. Another option might be some kind of rubber coating but that wouldn't solve the hardened belt problem. Any suggestions would be helpful.

  2. #2
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    Somewhere in the Land of Lincoln
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    Is the belt endless? There are many many types of conveyor belting out there. Just a thought. The belt has to grip the work I'm guessing to power it through. Spit balling here because I have no idea what it actually has to be.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Aug 2013
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    Mark got me a new drive belt for mine, if you want a replaceable knife setup I would order it through Mark also. Mark is fast and effective and very helpful.

    My machine was pretty expensive to get up, running, and modernized but when you start finishing small parts in
    seconds it is worth it immediately. I did about a week’s worth of hand planing in 6 hrs a few weeks ago.
    Bumbling forward into the unknown.

  4. #4
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    Apr 2021
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    Thanks Brian,

    A big Marunaka with auto return is definitely on my bucket list. Your Maka and Marunaka blog/posts have been super helpful.

    If I can get this one up an running I figured I would use it for box/drawer/chair parts.

  5. #5
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    Glad to hear that they have been helpful! The surfacer is fantastic, I ran ash, mahogany and yellow cedar last week, completely tearout free without even minor concern for grain direction.
    Bumbling forward into the unknown.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jul 2007
    Location
    Inkerman, Ontario, Canada
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    The belts are expensive for these machines because the belts are made in one piece, they are not joined/ spliced. Years ago I looked at getting the belts made locally, sent a belt off to a North American manufacturer and was told that they could not make one-piece belts, that It is a specialized process, requiring specific equipment. so I have just purchased them from Japan. Best to just bite the bullet on the belt and get the correct one, the belts last a long time and do a great job.

  7. #7
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    Apr 2021
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    Thanks Mark! Are the belts a standard size or do you need the dimensions for a quote?

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Jul 2007
    Location
    Inkerman, Ontario, Canada
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    Hi Keegan, Not sure that I can help you, you may have to contact Ryobi, I did ask Marunaka once a few years back and if I recall they told me that they only supplied belts for their machines. I will check back on my emails from them and see if I can find it. You may find that Makita, Hitachi and Ryobi belts are probably all the same size for the small machines, so they may be interchangeable, which would make it easier to get one. I will see what I can find out.

  9. #9
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    Nov 2009
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    Peoria, IL
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    You might try a good cleaning with Simple Green, it works on my Makita super surfacer.

  10. #10
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    Apr 2021
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    Austin, TX
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    Thanks Richard. I will give that a try. Did you clean it on the machine or take it off and soak it?

  11. #11
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    Mar 2014
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    Los Angeles
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    Those machines look incredible! - I just checked out some youtube videos.
    They seem to work fantastically well, but I can only imagine they take a huge amount of work to dial in.
    They also strike me as a machine that either works perfectly or not at all.
    And what sort of professional woodworkers use them?

  12. #12
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    Mark, on your last question, it's clear to me that a maker who wants hand planed surfaces but needs time savings for production work is likely the biggest audience for this kind of amazing tool. Brian Holcomb has one and that just reinforces my point of view. Brian just posted a short video in the CNC section that is worth watching...check out the surface of the board near the end of that little video. It's downright shiny from being shaved so cleanly. I'd never even known about these tools until Brian got his and it's nice to see there are several 'Creekers who have them based on this thread!
    --

    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

  13. #13
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    My machine was easy to dial in, once all the previous hack-work was eliminated and I had the replaceable knife setup ready. It’s super easy to use, and honestly pretty easy to setup since the only concern is one knife and it needs to be even across the knife block.

    I had a local machine shop make one of the original knives into a knife holder for replaceable knives and also bought one from Marunaka which is made by Kanefusa. This setup is easy, it’s adjusted very similar to a handplane. The chip breaker setting is perhaps the only area where some confusion could be found but that was easy IMO.

    One note, make sure the tables are very clean and I waxed mine. Any rust or bumps will scratch the work.

    72332049-7DE7-40CC-8BBF-FCFE3A2AF2F9.jpg

    The one made by the local shop is excellent, so I use both interchangeably. The holder has a slot cutout and a few magnets embedded which hold the knife in place while the chip breaker is adjusted.

    Mark, these machines are fairly common in Japan.

    Consider a scenario such a this. Recently I made a slatted door, the slats all fit into grooves. I cut the slats to size/thickness and cut the grooves slightly under size. I took four shavings per slat and got a precision fit. I did this on all the slats (150 of them) and ever single one of them fit exactly the same and the surfaces were perfectly smooth. The wood does not require a finish and my customer did not want one. The cost of consumables is significantly smaller than sanding and frankly the result is superior.

    I’ve been using mine for a few months and it has cut my finishing down time dramatically and improved the result. For the life of me, I don’t understand why these aren’t extremely popular in the US.
    Last edited by Brian Holcombe; 12-28-2021 at 11:59 AM.
    Bumbling forward into the unknown.

  14. #14
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    Nov 2009
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    Peoria, IL
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    Quote Originally Posted by Keegan Shields View Post
    Thanks Richard. I will give that a try. Did you clean it on the machine or take it off and soak it?
    While on the machine.

  15. #15
    I wonder why a spliced belt would not work if an oem part is not available.

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