govtmule Posted September 19, 2011 Report Share Posted September 19, 2011 I scored this for $225 at an auction this weekend. I waited around all damn day for them to get to it so I'm happy I won the bid. Works nice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted September 19, 2011 Report Share Posted September 19, 2011 Outstanding. I'm jealous. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dpm99 Posted September 19, 2011 Report Share Posted September 19, 2011 Nice. I've been outside building mine all day. Yours required much less sweat, and has no splinters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
govtmule Posted September 20, 2011 Author Report Share Posted September 20, 2011 Nice. I've been outside building mine all day. Yours required much less sweat, and has no splinters. Ah, but yours can be whatever width you want it to be. I would love to have a wider one but I guess I'll take what I can get. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
govtmule Posted September 27, 2011 Author Report Share Posted September 27, 2011 Okay after having tested the sander on some scrap and on some real material I've had good and bad results. I took an old scrap that ranged from 1/4" to 5/16" across it's face and the sander took it down to a very uniform 1/8" in short order. Very nice for thinning out fretboard stock. On the bad side though I took a 16" wide, 2" thick body blank that had slipped a bit during glue up and attempted to square it up and take it down to 1 3/4". I broke two belts and haven't got down to the 1 3/4" mark yet. I may be asking too much of this sander, maybe not. The issue is with the portion of the belt that fits into the right most slot on the drum. It has a tiny bit of slack, even when trying to install the belt very tightly. So that little bit of slack gets hit pretty hard when sanding material that wide. Eventually it started to tear the belt and broke in two cases. Maybe the belts are old too, I don't know. They came with the sander. Crappy thing is that the belts need to be at least 90" long to fit into both clips so as soon as one tip rips off the entire belt is useless....at least to the drum sander. I haven't priced the pre-cut belts yet but I think I'm going to cut my own from 3" rolls. Anyone have any advice on keeping the belt tight to avoid tearing up the ends as they go into the slots ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LightninMike Posted September 27, 2011 Report Share Posted September 27, 2011 not knowing what model you have, i found this in a search Adjusting the drum to accommodate wide or narrow stock points out the major difference between the Ryobi and the Performax. Instead of a fine adjustment knob, the Ryobi relies on shims (two 0.010-in. shims are provided) to reset the gap between the drum and conveyor at the open end. The table can be shimmed at the open end of the sander and then brought to parallel with the drum. To achieve a wider gap, remove one or two of the shims and retighten the Allen-head screws. To return the drum and table to parallel, the process is reversed. untill you are used to this specific machine, you might have to go very slow and not take off a lot of material in each pass.... they no longer make it, so there might be a reason for that.... this certainly doesn't mean it is a poor machine in any event Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
govtmule Posted September 27, 2011 Author Report Share Posted September 27, 2011 not knowing what model you have, i found this in a search Adjusting the drum to accommodate wide or narrow stock points out the major difference between the Ryobi and the Performax. Instead of a fine adjustment knob, the Ryobi relies on shims (two 0.010-in. shims are provided) to reset the gap between the drum and conveyor at the open end. The table can be shimmed at the open end of the sander and then brought to parallel with the drum. To achieve a wider gap, remove one or two of the shims and retighten the Allen-head screws. To return the drum and table to parallel, the process is reversed. untill you are used to this specific machine, you might have to go very slow and not take off a lot of material in each pass.... they no longer make it, so there might be a reason for that.... this certainly doesn't mean it is a poor machine in any event I was taking it very slow and only adjusting the depth wheel once every 3 or 4 passes. I think the key is going to be to stay away from the last inside inch of the drum. In most cases that will be very doable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dpm99 Posted September 28, 2011 Report Share Posted September 28, 2011 Is there any way to true that drum? I'm assuming it's rubber or metal or something, right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
govtmule Posted September 28, 2011 Author Report Share Posted September 28, 2011 Is there any way to true that drum? I'm assuming it's rubber or metal or something, right? Looks like it's aluminum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LightninMike Posted September 28, 2011 Report Share Posted September 28, 2011 if you have it adjusted correctly, it should hold without the slop in the belt.... from the post earlier "the Ryobi relies on shims (two 0.010-in. shims are provided) to reset the gap between the drum and conveyor at the open end. The table can be shimmed at the open end of the sander and then brought to parallel with the drum. To achieve a wider gap, remove one or two of the shims and retighten the Allen-head screws. To return the drum and table to parallel, the process is reversed." i don't know if you had done this or not, so forgive me if it was done.... setting up tools that are previously used, and not complete or with instructions can be a real hassle.... my father made his own tools (yes they were awesome) as a part of training he did as a tool and die maker... he would lay out early cad programs for guys to run to make his own stuff.... he always modeled off of other tools and modified what he thought didn't work effectively or well Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LightninMike Posted September 28, 2011 Report Share Posted September 28, 2011 this should help a bit more.... its a pdf of the manual for that unit http://www.cgallery.com/jpthien/ryobi_wds_1600.pdf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
govtmule Posted September 28, 2011 Author Report Share Posted September 28, 2011 this should help a bit more.... its a pdf of the manual for that unit http://www.cgallery.com/jpthien/ryobi_wds_1600.pdf Cool....thanks !! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
govtmule Posted September 29, 2011 Author Report Share Posted September 29, 2011 I discovered the trick tonight. I wasn't pulling the belt clip far enough ahead before inserting the sanding sheet. Now that I know how to correctly load the paper, there is more tension on the paper so it worked a lot better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dpm99 Posted September 29, 2011 Report Share Posted September 29, 2011 Glad to hear that. Congratulations on your new tool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LightninMike Posted September 29, 2011 Report Share Posted September 29, 2011 Glad to help Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.