Official Luthiers Forum!

I finally got to try out my 18" Grizzly wide belt sander. Wow what an incredible machine. It's about 10 times faster than my Perfomax 22-44 sander. Well I don't know that for sure but it sure is a heck of lot faster. I sanded a some HRW sets yesterday and it sure works great. I need to do a bit of fine tuning plus the electric eye that keeps the belt alligned gets coated with sawdust and then won't work properly. I need to run a small air line and direct the flow on the sensor. So far I am really enjoying the new shop. New HVAC system keeps the shop warm and relative humidity at a pretty constant 45%
Here are a few pic's of the Grizzly and some of the billets waiting to be re-sawn.

Me and my son Pete





some sets waiting for pictures



Billets waiting for re-saw



Workbench in shipping station





fretboards, bridge blanks, head plates etc.

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Beautiful and unusual tone woods at a reasonable price.
http://www.rctonewoods.com/RCT_Store
The Zootman
1109 Military Rd.
Kenmore, NY 14217
(716) 874-1498

Drool......!

Great looking shop Bob!  Congrats on the new sander.  I look forward, as do all the other OLFers, to the pics of all that zoot.

Steve

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Steve Walden
Aspiring Builder,
Bartlesville, OK

Congratulations...Very nice, Bob...Looks like a lot of progress has been made since Thankgsgiving. Can't wait to see it in person again.

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JJ
Napa, CA
http://www.DonohueGuitars.com

Looks good Bob! If you are working in T-shirts the HVAC must be working wonderfully. I was doing some sanding out in my garage shop yesterday with a wool cap and heavy coat on... .. I'm jealous.

Your shop looks well organized and I'm sure that it's going to be very productive.. (I'm counting on it. )

Have a great and prosperous New Year and keep the ZOOT coming.

Best Regards,
Peter

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Peter

Bob
   Really nice shop. I would be like a blind dog in a butcher shop were I to visit your digs. Man that shelf of wood looks fine.

John

Very cool Bob.  Now you are in the heavy industry club.
Terry

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It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

What a great wide-belt sander you have there Bob!!And the new place looks really nice.Very well organized and planned out. Thanks for sharing the pics. Have a prosperous and Happy New Year Zootman !

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Anderson Guitars
Clearwater,Fl. 33755

That is really nice Bob. Make sure you don't loose sight of your feet though - Oh, I guess that's what the reflectors are for on your shoes. 

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Once you have a wide belt, you never go back!

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Hank Mauel

congrats my friend. well deserve prosperity, your a good man.

Thanks for posting, Bob, and congratulations on the new shop. The 18" Griz is on the shopping list for my new shop (when it gets built).   I hadn't heard anyone mention the dust on the alignment sensor before. Have others had this problem (Sylvan, Tim)? It shouldn't be necessary to run another compressed air line to make the machine stay aligned. Please let us know how that works out and if you have any other issues, Bob.

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Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.

When I die I wanna go to your place Uncle Bob......

The new shop looks fantastic!!!  That is about as much zoot as I have ever seen in one place too.

Great job Bob and I'll be visiting in a couple of months - when all the work is finished.....

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Ann Arbor Guitars

        

 

 

               Beautiful Bob, Beautiful.

I have the Grizzly 18" and it is indeed an incredible machine and has
improved the quality of my binding work - I make all my own purfling
and if the thickness isn't exactly the same, you notice it at the joints.
This is no longer an issue thanks to this machine.

In regards to the sensor, I have had no trouble at all and I have used my
machine extensively - however, I have a 3hp cyclone directly attached to
the machine and the duct distance is only about 10ft -- so my dust
collections is pretty darn good. At the very worst, every hour or so of
sanding - just open the door and wipe off the sensor.

You can certainly get by with much less than this machine -- but this is
one tool I have absolutely no regrets getting.

Looks great, Bob!

I'll be ordering soon!

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now known around here as Pat Foster
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

Bob -
I have never had to clean my sensor! Are you sure you have enough dust
collection on the machine?

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Sylvan
http://www.wellsguitars.com

Sylvan I'm beginning to wonder if that is indeed the problem. I thought I had e lot of suction but I do see a lot of sawdust inside the machine. I have 2 Jet Model 1100 DC's y'ed together into a 6
" main run and then 5" drops to each machine. It handles all my planer shavings with no problem. I think Tim McKnight had a problem too and recommended using those anti-static sheets to wipe the sensors. Maybe I need a dedicated DC?

_________________
Beautiful and unusual tone woods at a reasonable price.
http://www.rctonewoods.com/RCT_Store
The Zootman
1109 Military Rd.
Kenmore, NY 14217
(716) 874-1498

Hi Bob,

In my experience the problem presents itself when the air is really dry and the static electricity is high. I tried grounding the machine but that did not work, tried grounding the electric eye and reflector and it made no difference either. Grizzly said to wipe the eye and reflector off with clothes dryer fabric care sheets like Bounce and that helps a tad bit but is a royal pain in the hind end. So I ran a small 1/4" air line and split off with two copper tubings pointing at the eye and reflector. I then hooked this up to a manual push button valve and hit them with a blast of air every pass and this works fine. This was all with a 4" dust collector connected to the machine.

Enter the Clear-Vue 5HP cyclone separator and new 6" ductwork. I have not had any issues with dust accumulating on the eye, reflector or ANYWHERE inside the sander. So, I attribute the problem with not enough suction and a too small of a 4" port opening. Cut it out to 6" and try that and see if that helps.

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tim...
http://www.mcknightguitars.com

Tim thanks so much for the advice. I'm going to make the opening bigger and see if that works.

_________________
Beautiful and unusual tone woods at a reasonable price.
http://www.rctonewoods.com/RCT_Store
The Zootman
1109 Military Rd.
Kenmore, NY 14217
(716) 874-1498

Bob,
I can't remember squat (it happens I tell ya) if I cut the opening larger or if it was larger underneath the 4" boot??? I am thinking that the opening was larger so I just zip screwed a 6" take off in place of the 4" one. I have modified so many tools lately I can't remember (sorry). All I know is it works much better now. It even holds the side door closed without the skate key.

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tim...
http://www.mcknightguitars.com

   Hi bob
     The eye will get some dust from static . be sure you have a good ground. I have a 3hp cyclone collector and grizzly is to have a fix for this.     

Here are a few pics of my shop and sander. I have found this to be one of the most used pieces in my shop.

I finely got to see some pic's of your shop. Very nice John.

Fixed the Grizzly wide belt sander problem with some 1/4" air lines pointed at the sensors and a shut-off valve. It works good but I definitely see a Cyclone DC coming to the Zoot Shed in the near future. It's still an awesome piece of equipment.

_________________
Beautiful and unusual tone woods at a reasonable price.
http://www.rctonewoods.com/RCT_Store
The Zootman
1109 Military Rd.
Kenmore, NY 14217
(716) 874-1498

    Iused 6 inch PVC pipe and took off for the tools with 4 inch. The static charge is the biggie
   By the way stop in when you are in the area
john