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If you have already ordered it, I wouldn't worry about it. Eventually you will find a use for it. If you "scrounge" any wood it can be useful to remove the weathered outer layers to find the good wood underneath (and discover any nails that would have nicked the blades of a planer) 36 grit is very coarse, but if you wind up with a piece of wood that is too thin to resaw and make two pieces, but too thick to work with, it can be a quick way to bring it down to a thickness that is manageable with the finer grits.
36 grit is also good for gluing on push blocks for machine tools (jointer, tablesaw, etc.) and antislip strips on the floor.

I have used it for thinning down some very thick stock and it worked pretty good. Make sure to stop well before your target as the scratches are very deep.

Don't be confused by the shiney new username, it's just good'ol Pat Macaluso!

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Pat

I put about 25 spruce tops through and about 10-12 back and side sets, mostly
Ovangkol and mahogany (2 sets of IRW).
Still going strong (Klingspor). Just clean with a crepe block after doing Rosewood.

Thanks

It's coming tomorrow, yay!

I took the Martin factory tour yesterday. Fantastic tour, and it's only 30 minutes from my daughter's house. I can pick up there seconds without shipping anytime I visit.

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Hutch

Get the heck off the couch and go build a guitar!!!!

do you have space on your breaker box? Great time to learn about electricity! if you can drop a 50 or 100 amp breaker in for a sub panel (you can probably disconnect the 15 amp circuit for the garage to free up a slot) you’ll be in business.


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So I got it all set up along with my dust-deputy and shop vac. Worked great out of the box and the DD collected all the dust. Until... I needed to adjust the parallelism and while doing this, I got a board jammed in the machine. It didn't trip my 15A breaker, it just stalled and I shut it off and raised the drum to remove the board. When I tried it again, without wood, the conveyor wouldn't run while the drum was spinning but worked fine otherwise. I tried turning the drum on and of and this kind got it working but not every time. The last time I started it, pieces of the drum drive coupling went clanking around and fell to the table below when I turned it off. Now it was obvious what was wrong. Two chunks of coupling material and the rubber spider was destroyed.

I would think this expensive machine would have protected itself better. When the wood got stuck it should have shut itself off or something. I sure hope when I replace the coupling they're sending me that it solves the conveyor issue as well. I have my doubts. As I said the conveyor works fine as long as the drum is not spinning. Maybe I'll take coupler off and try to run the motor and conveyor tonight. If they both run together than I'll know it was coupler causing the problem.

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Hutch

Get the heck off the couch and go build a guitar!!!!

Bummer. Sorry that happened.

I have the “sand smart” controller on mine. It’s supposed to help with this situation. Luckily I’ve never had to test if it works. It’s a PITA, but I always wind the drum way up and slowly lower it over the piece until it starts to make contact, then go from there.


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Too late now, but with any adjustments to the bed alignment (newer single lever/dial adjusted machines) or older motor-end adjustments of drum/conveyor alignment, it's a good idea to run the drum elevation back up a turn or two and put a test piece through to check alignment. I am surprised the Intelli-Sand circuity did not slow the feed rate down enough to avoid overloading the drum coupling, but we've seen issues on a few older 16-32 sanders with damaged or worn couplers that students found offered for sale...inexpensive repair, but still a weak point in an otherwise reliable design. I suspect that the design is intended to sacrifice a $40 part versus destroying something more expensive in the event of a jam.

On customer service...some aggressiveness in pursuing a remedy seems warranted, given the linked statement re: Laguna's acquisition of Supermax Tools.

https://www.supermaxtools.com/news-and-events/supermax-tools-acquired-laguna-tools/

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For the times they are a changin'

- Bob Dylan

I was tinkering with the alignment. I had adjusted the outboard side by running and aboard through and lightly touching down. Then I wanted to see how much if anything would come off from the inboard side at the same setting. Apparently, it was way off, thus the jam. this will never happen again as ill do the alignment with the machine off in the future.

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Hutch

Get the heck off the couch and go build a guitar!!!!

Ok I'm back in business. I thicknesses a top and 2 rosewood backs. Everything is nice and parallel and the 15A circuit is plenty. I won't bother upgrading it. I suppose if I wanted to push it to its limit,then I would need that. Building instruments won't push it.

Once again I want to say, the Dust deputy and a decent amp shop vac is all that is needed in a basement shop. I love it, it works better than my old dust collector. No dust in the air that I can see.

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Hutch

Get the heck off the couch and go build a guitar!!!!

"I suppose if I wanted to push it to its limit,then I would need that."

Small drum sanders are not abrasive planers. The only thing "pushing it" will do is clog belts and break the machine. Many of us take light quick passes and do a couple of them before lowering the drum another eighth of a crank. Slow and steady rather than fast (and furious at the belts clogging and the machine breaking down)
Compared to a planer the sander is quite slow, compared to hand sanding, fast and uniform.

Good to hear that your setbacks were only temporary in nature, and remedied without extraordinary measures or undue headaches.

We have a meme in the shop that references the old Time-Life series of heavily illustrated subject-specific books...the multi-volume sets that were purchased and paid for in monthly increments. A few months after starting, I was complaining about the number of mistakes I had made on what - in retrospect - was a very simple job. Mr. Morelli was over for the day, and opined that my mistakes were "...strictly Volume 1 stuff."

Huh?

"Wait until you get into the advanced (foul)-ups." he said. "There's a volume in the 'Expert' series that covers mistakes that you'd have to be T.J. Thompson to have the opportunity to make, and Frank Ford to fix."

I have to admit that the humor was lost on me at the time.

On your dust collection solution, if I could suggest one thing, it would be to review your vacuum system specifications for the cubic foot per minute flow to expect at the tool, as the easiest material to collect - even at very low flow rates - is the least harmful, and the most harmful requires the highest flow rates. From what I have found in researching the topic, 650 CFM is the minimum needed at the machine to have a reasonable degree of success in capturing most of the harmful dust generated from sanding.

The ability to see the material being collected is no guarantee of success, as the smallest particle which can be seen (usually highlighted in a beam of bright, direct light) is about 20 times larger than the largest particles of the really dangerous stuff. In other words, the dust that goes beyond nuisance level is both more difficult to collect and invisible to the naked eye.

Finally, I have very much enjoyed the posts detailing your first projects, and hope that you continue to document your journey.

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For the times they are a changin'

- Bob Dylan

Amen. I was concerned to read that your test for whether you were capturing all of the dust was whether you could see it. The big dust is a nuisance, and you seem to be capturing that OK. The very small dust is what will really cause you harm. It is worth looking into whether that is being captured or being spit into the air.

Would https://www.homedepot.com/p/WEN-3-Speed-Remote-Controlled-Air-Filtration-System-300-350-400-CFM-3410/205465910?cm_mmc=Shopping%7CG%7CBase%7CD29A%7CMulti%7CNA%7CPLA%7CMajor-Appliances%7CSpecial-Buys%7c71700000032418849%7c58700003842365800%7c92700030987191770&gclid=CjwKCAiA5qTfBRAoEiwAwQy-6ezGjEM-3EgDQE7KOIBSKdgF_AMKSV95qLvDaxcATA92DiSE2Y0XvBoCdjAQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds help?

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Hutch

Get the heck off the couch and go build a guitar!!!!

It might help some, depending on how good your filters are. But, when you are sucking up and filtering the ambient air to rid it of the really tiny dust, you are conceding that the dust has escaped the tool creating it and has gotten into the air that you breath. The best way to protect your health is to either not generate fine dust at all, or not generate as much. The next best way is to capture it at the tool that creates it before it gets into the ambient air.

If you want to get "scared straight," read the stuff on the internet written by a guy named Bill Pentz.

No thanks, life is scary enough as it is. I don't make dust everyday, I'm a hobbyist. Like everything else in life, everything in moderation and a good dust mask wouldn't hurt.

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Hutch

Get the heck off the couch and go build a guitar!!!!

To make it easier - http://billpentz.com/woodworking/cyclon ... #index.cfm

It's definitely worth a read. In this case, ignorance is not .

From the home page of the site:
"most small shop workers who vent their dust collection systems inside get more fine dust exposure in a few hours woodworking than large facility workers get in months of full time work. "

Hope that helps.

Brad

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Don, I think you got set up with one of the clear-vue cyclones, is that right? Did you vent yours outside? If so, what did you decide on for an air return?

I'm specifically thinking about this: "Exhausting outside requires opening a door or window to provide makeup air to avoid pulling deadly carbon monoxide backward through our vents and flues for our heaters and fired appliances."

http://billpentz.com/woodworking/cyclon ... fm#Filters

Brad

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OK, so I read it. Now I don't want to do anymore woodworking.

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Hutch

Get the heck off the couch and go build a guitar!!!!

Brad--

No, I run my air back into the shop and filter it with the Wynn filters that ClearVue sells. The ClearVue moves a LOT of air! While my heating system is electric, and therefore not a danger in the same way that gas heaters would be, I would rather filter the air than waste the energy spent on heating, cooling, and controlling the RH in that air. I don't run the ClearVue for hours at a time; it is more like minutes at a time. So, I probably could spit the air outside and be OK for return air. But I'm comfortable with my current setup.

"OK, so I read it. Now I don't want to do anymore woodworking."

Don't worry about the fine dust - the finish you use (solvent or waterbourne) will get you first.

When I first started looking into it more closely a few months back I figured I would probably be dead by now. It's still a work in progress for me, but I'm taking the steps in the right direction.

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I've decided to move this out of the basement and into the garage and only use it with the garage door open. Now the problem is how to move it up the stairs in one piece. It's freakin heavy. I have a good hand truck so maybe if I can enlist some help from one of my son in-laws on their next visit.

My wife is just getting over bronchitis and I can't help thinking I may have caused it. I guess the basement will be for assembly only.

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Hutch

Get the heck off the couch and go build a guitar!!!!

Yeah, that is a sobering read! I decided to have an indoor and a "outdoor" shop in the garage where I do most of my heavy dust making. I added a window on each side for cross ventilation and I'm still planning to hook up a regular dust extractor that is vented outside.

I have a 12 inch Disc Sander inside with a custom hood that I built hooked up to a Festool vac with a HEPA filter that I mostly use for small parts. I also have a beefy Austin Air 400 CFM HEPA air filter (that my concerned mom bought me LOL) in the room that I turn on whenever I'm hand sanding.

New username, same ole Pat Macaluso!

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Pat

Hutch--

I wouldn't want you (or anyone) to give up building guitars or other woodworking; I just want all of us to be healthy while we do it. I hope your garage plan makes that work out for you. Personally, I would separate the sander from its base to get it up the stairs. That's a lot of weight to be hauling up stairs all at once.