wide belt sander options..

[timbly]

Hi
we’ve reached the point were a wide belt sander is a necessity. For various reasons we've decided to go for a new 'starter' unit and have narrowed it down to 2 machines which are pretty much matched on price but differ slightly on features;
SCM 1S vs Felder FW950 Classic
Both are singe head Combi machines. Both have their own version of anti-dubbing. The SCM has 15hp main motor with 2 feed speeds while the Felder is 10hp with variable feed speed. We’re basically a 1 man shop making bespoke kitchens and associated freestanding furniture.
Does anybody have any experience with either of these machines or any other thoughts which might help us choose between them?
We also considered the Boere Sandonomic 950c but were quoted 3 grand more for a similar spec. (anti-dubbing, variable feed speed, 15hp).
Any thoughts appreciated.
Tim

[mark270981]

As you've probably guessed I am a fan of felder. I've seen this sander in action and it works a dream.

I guess you could with finding out from the reps how often they have breakdowns on the machines? They have to tell you the correct stats.

[timbly]

Thanks Mark
Like you i like felder gear - we've got their panel saw, P/T, and dust extraction.. Fitting a kitchen next week up nearer to Felder HQ and will try and pop in for a look. I guess the only worry with the Felder is the 10hp as opposed to the option to upgrade to 15hp on all rivals. Not too sure if this will be a problem - i guess if 10hp wasn't enough they wouldn't make it that way..?
Tim

[mark270981]

I am guessing it depends what you are putting through it?

We had a wide belt sander that sanded 2mm off across 900mm solid oak worktops and that was a 15hp motor.

I suspect a 10hp will be more than suffcient to sand off 1mm on doors or end panels. I think they have one in action btw in the showroom. (i'd do a deal on the demo machine if I were you)

[timbly]

Mark - Thanks for the heads up..

[senior]

We had a wide belt sander that sanded 2mm off across 900mm solid oak worktops and that was a 15hp motor.

What paper do you use, I have 40 grit sia paper as my coarsest and no way could I sand 2mm off a 900mm oak worktop, machine would keep going but the thing would catch fire before it came out the other end.

[mark270981]

I've no Idea???? Never had an issue with oak and over heating, we didn't take 2mm off on a regular basis never had a need to, however when we first got the machine we wanted to test its capabilities.

Maybe you should stop buying cheap paper off ebay?

[PABLO123]

All I would say is buy a twin headed one if you can afford it, it makes a big difference
hope this helps
Paul

[timbly]

Thanks for all the advice. Twin head not really an option at the moment unless we go 2nd hand. Been looking for a while and the used market seems pretty slow. There are big old Boere’s and fairly old SCM’s out there but don’t really want a huge beast or to go too old.. Don’t like the idea of paying 8-10 grand for a 10 year old machine when we can buy new for roughly the same. If things go well we’d look to upgrade in the future so resale value is worthy of consideration. We just missed a used twin head 2013 Felder the other week at a great price but too busy working to go and see it before it went.. ho hum! Will look at the new 950 Felder next week and if i’m honest I’m leaning in that direction.

The other issue is we need to upgrade the dust extraction and am getting confusing and conflicting advice. P&J say we’ll be ok with a multi filter bagging unit (3500-4000 m3/hour-ish)whereas most of the others say we’ll need an enclosed cabinet style to run the wide belt. At the moment we run the workshop off a Felder AF22 and realise that won’t be suitable for the wide belt. We want to run all machines through one unit but will only rarely be using 2 machines at the same time. The machines going to through the system will be panel saw, P/T, spindle and wide belt. We’ve considered units from Felder (RL160), Inventair and P&J.
I guess the other option is to buy a separate smaller extraction unit to use solely for the WB. That way we'd keep the fine dust separate. We currently lose our waste to a local farmer but not sure if he'd appreciate the fine dust mix..
Again thoughts / advice much appreciated.
Tim

[PABLO123]

There are plenty of good second hand machines out there, Give John or Chris a ring at JMJ Woodworking always very helpful.
they have quite a few used ones in at the moment
Paul

[timbly]

Update..
Ended up getting a used 2012 SCM Sandya 300 RCS 1100.
Needs a little fettling but excellent bit of kit - twin head. Will make life just that little bit easier..!



Thanks for all the advice
Tim

[lynx]

Did you get that from Blyth?

I've been looking at exactly the same model.

[timbly]

Hi Lynx
Nope - off Ebay.. Blyth do seem to get a lot of scm gear..
Really nice machine - wish we'd been able to get one sooner. I think the extra spend on twin head + anti dubbing will prove worth it..
Tim

[lynx]

Good to hear your getting on with it. Looking for something to reduce the time cutting back the Polyester coats ready for top coat, plus sanding our veneered panels out of the press. What extractor are you running it on?

[timbly]

Hi Lynx
We're using this PJB200-4-3-IE2-I (pic taken in previous owners workshop) - bought used from P&J;



Haven't used in anger on veneers yet.. We gave it a try but there was some 'sand through' and edge rounding.. We've got an engineer coming in next week to fine tune + tell us how best to use and then we'll really know what it can do regarding veneers. Before we bought SCM were pretty helpful (I guess they didn't know we were buying used..) and we went to see one running in a near'ish shop. It was a big spend for us so we wanted to be sure it could do what we wanted. We're not thinking of using it to sand between coats so not sure how it would cope or whether you'd need to get the electronic sectional pad..
I'll let you know how we get on.
Tim

[mark270981]

Looks awesome - I love machines so much!

To sand between coats surely you need a denibbing machine?

[lynx]

Tim. Thanks for the info. On the look out myself at the moment but have a good price on a new one.

Mark, the sanding between coats is more for Polyester, cutting it back ready for wetlook top coat. It takes ages cutting it back by hand and you still
get a slight ripple in the finished panels, so was hoping one of the SCM models can allow use to speed this process up.

[mark270981]

Never tried that technique to be fair, so didn't realise, my apologies.

[lynx]

It's very, very, time consuming. Inevitable on curved work but need to try and speed up the flat panel process. Not so bad on tight grained timbers, as you can add thinners for it to flow better, but Oak/Ash are killings due to the deep grain.