Upgrading The Shop Tools

[RestorationAD]

I don't want to drag this off-topic but hey. I've been weighing up the pros and cons of adding something like their V2 Venturi press to the rear right underside of my Roubo bench. It would be fantastic to hook up a compressed air line for bagging on the bench or vacuum workholding jigs. Shame that the Mac valve needs to be powered. Can a vacuum bagging system be simpler than that, ie. by using a Venturi, manual air valves, a reservoir and a vacuum gauge? Just having an air line spur would be sweet and compact.

http://www.joewoodworker.com has lots of great info on that. I just don't know if I feel like mucking with building my own.

[demonx]

After our conversation about Radial vs Sliding Mitre for the fret slotting setup, I was in a local store today picking up some other stuff and asked the guy to keep out an eye for a decent radial, he said he had one out the back that keeps getting in his way.

It's now mine. Dewalt, size is a bit overkill for fret slots, but it's a way better rig. I pick it up tomorrow as he has to put a new power lead on it, the existing one is split, but I was still able to test etc.

So if that locks in your Radial Vs Sliding Mitre concerns, I have put my money where my mouth is!

[RestorationAD]

Great score Allan! Thanks for the share.

I am positive I am either fixing my radial arm saw or getting a replacement. I have spent too much time making all the jigs and things for it.

[RestorationAD]

Just scored a used JDS Air-Tech 2000 with remote control (basically a JDS Air-Tech 750-ER) on cl for $200 bucks. No more dust in the shop!!! Man this is gonna be awesome.

It makes me so happy that I am thinking about replacing the old Central Machines Dust Collector with a JDS Canister unit. What would I gain? It would be blue for one thing. 1 micron filtration would be another. I doubt it is really any better than the CM DC but the canister mod for the CM will cost me about $200 and a bunch of time so I am not sure it is worth the trouble.

[RestorationAD]

I also see a Tormek in my future.

[Prostheta]

I love Tormeks. You won't look back. Or stop polishing your tools.

[demonx]

Talk to us about your bandsaw

Now you've had it for a while, are you still happy with it?

Any issues/complaints/regrets?

Would you buy that one again or go with a different one if you git to do it over?

[RestorationAD]

Ok. SO good news. The old Craftsman Radial arm saw is tuned up and running straight. Phew. I hated to replace it.

As for the Laguna.

MOnster. I can not explain how awesome that saw is. Now for the record I have 2 band saws and only use the Laguna for resawing. While using the Laguna as your everyday saw would probably be fine I can't report on it yet. As an everyday saw changing the blades might be a pain. Tuning the saw is a bit of a pain. I really do not like the guides and they are proprietary so I have to get replacements from Laguna. The blade tension unit is good except for the little lever that indicates how much force is on the blade. It came unhooked and is basically useless. But I use the flutter method to tighten blades so it doesn't matter.

I leave the big 1" Carbide tip Resaw King blade in it all the time. I have not had to tune the saw since I set it up the first time. It still cuts perfectly straight. The fence is always square. The thing is built like a tank.

Things I might change.

Add a fence extension. The stock fence is not quite tall enough to resaw 8" pieces. I do anyway but it would be better with a 6" extension. This is easy because the fence has t-slots in it.

Add a zero clearance insert. The aluminum one flexes. Then the screws vibrate loose (there are 4 of them one on each corner). Then the wood catches on the edge as you feed it. Then the blade leaves a burn mark. Rather than remembering to adjust it every pass I am going to cut some out on the CNC out of Garolite XX and be done with it.

Remember to hook up the dust collection. It has 2 collection ports and I never hook them both up. The cabinet fills up and it takes me 30 minutes to clean it out.

Still do not regret buying it.

[Prostheta]

I hate that. I was using the huge thickness sander to thin out the two LP bodies on Friday and forgot to turn the extraction system on. Cue the entire workshop being engulfed in fine Khaya dust. Not my best moment.

[RestorationAD]

ok. it is done. It took a call to the bank because I exceeded my per day spending limit.

I am now the proud owner of a SuperMax 19-38 Drum sander ($1399 + tax). And a Tormek T-7. And a 1944 WW2 Stanley #5 plane (I am collecting old tools). And some other miscellaneous crap including several cans of Mohawk lacquer and $100 worth of harbor freight clamps and junk.

The Tormek was on sale at $579.00 and I couldn't leave it. That is cheaper than anywhere I have seen online. Plus it is always important to support the local guys when you can.

I didn't have time to put them together today... it took 4 hours to buy them and 2 hours making room for them.

[RestorationAD]

BTW the guy at the store had put his Jet 22-44 on cl because he is replacing it with a SuperMax 19-38. The machine is that good.

On wednesday I am going to get my JDS air filtration system. The guy selling it has a full shop and is selling all the big items because he is moving. I am taking a pile of cash just in case there are good things to be had.

[demonx]

Hopefully you pick up some good scores at this moving sale. A bloke I work with goes to lots if these and gets some great stuff at redicilous prices.

Thanks for the comments on the bandsaw, in a couple months I plan to buy a second one for resaw purposes and the laguna keeps popping up as an option.

I know what you mean about seeing something that is too good to pass on, I was at the tool shop the other day and there's a twin drum sander that's been on my mind ever since, I just cannot justify the purchase for another couple months (have other financial needs to meet until then) but I can't stop thinking about it!

Congrats on the new drum sander, hope its everything you need it to be

[RestorationAD]

Hopefully you pick up some good scores at this moving sale. A bloke I work with goes to lots if these and gets some great stuff at redicilous prices.

Thanks for the comments on the bandsaw, in a couple months I plan to buy a second one for resaw purposes and the laguna keeps popping up as an option.

I know what you mean about seeing something that is too good to pass on, I was at the tool shop the other day and there's a twin drum sander that's been on my mind ever since, I just cannot justify the purchase for another couple months (have other financial needs to meet until then) but I can't stop thinking about it!

Congrats on the new drum sander, hope its everything you need it to be

Quick notes on Drum Sander. Dual heads are only useful if you can finish a piece in one pass. The idea is to follow up 80 with 120 and get one pass finish sand. If you use a drum sander like I do to profile figured wood without tear out then dual heads are useless.

Also several guys have told me oscillating drum sanders are useless for most work as well.

Finally EVERYONE I know that owns a Laguna SUV would not buy any other bandsaw. I do not recommend any other Laguna tools other than the SUV Bandsaw.

[demonx]

I dissagree on the twin drum being useless - I understand the diffrent grade principal, but I sometimes run a piece through my single drum twice without adjusting the height as it seems to work better that way, having a double drum does this all the time.

If you are referring to spindle (bobbin) sanders when you say oscillating drums are useless, then I dissagree, I use mine for a couple important jobs, its very handy

Mine is same as this but the older green version and it lives on a steel stand I made up:

This is the drum sander I'm looking at (same as Perry's, just diffrent badge on it)

In reguards to the bandsaw, a lot of reviews I've read do complain about the difficultry of changing the blade and the bench and a couple other things as well like switch needing replacement, missing parts and having to buy things to make it usable. Wiring issues if you live in non 220/240v zone. None of that deters me if its as good as everyone says. If you're cutting veneer on it when I struggle to cut fingerboard blanks on mine, then its pretty good. When I say struggle, it means if I had a good saw, I could get three for the two im getting at the moment

[RestorationAD]

I was speaking to the oscillating drum sander being overkill. Too each his own. Budget is the controlling factor here. Unlimited budget means unlimited tools. Budget wise an oscillating or dual head drum sander is overkill for my shop. The unit you are looking at looks awesome if you have the space/budget.

The CNC makes the oscillating spindle sander obsolete. I barely ever fire the new General Machines unit I own.

I do cut veneer like it is nothing and I do save a fingerboard per board. I used to get 2 fingerboards per board. Now I get three and a headstock veneer. For tops I used to be lucky to get 2 3/8" tops. Now I get 2 3/8" tops and a headstock/control plate veneer.

[demonx]

Thanks Brett, I assure you budget is a concern here also, if I buy this it'll be a credit card job and deal with it later.

I called the shop where this sander is sitting and asked him to get the price down for me. I also asked if he can get me the Laguna saw and he said he probably can and could make the call. I told him not to look into that yet as it'll be months away but said i'm keen on the sander.

Now to start working out how to move the sander as it's 180kg (about 400 pounds) - he has a forklift to load it into my ute, I just hope that my brother and I can lift it out without dropping it!

Mental note - if I win tatts, buy a forklift!

[rhoads56]

I couldnt move the sander on my own. It took three of us to get it off the truck. Two to drag it over to where it needed to sit, using a little flat trolley.

[curtisa]

I feel your pain. I just bought myself a new 6" jointer over the weekend. Getting it into the vehicle was a snap as the shop had a set of electric forks. Getting it out of the car once back at home was a challenge to say the least. The packed weight was over 120 kilos! Had to break apart the chipboard packing crate and remove as much as possible off the unit while still inside the the car before I could drag it out onto a trolley.

Edited August 19, 2013 by curtisa

[RestorationAD]

I just cleaned this thing 2 weeks ago. Must remember to turn on dust collection before cutting.





SuperMax 19-38 box #1, 2, 3 and the Tormek T-7. Everything is going to get sanded and sharpened.

[RestorationAD]

Rare wood handled WW2 Era No. 5 Stanley along with a late 40s No. 14 a newer Stanley No. 4 1/2 and what I think to be a 50s era Stanley block plane.

[RestorationAD]

The No 14 is a Millers Falls from late 40s. Basically identical to a Stanley No 5.

[Prostheta]

After you've trued up the sole and mouth of those planes, pay specific attention to the chip breaker's mating surface. There's nothing more annoying than making paper-thin shavings from a beautifully-honed iron only to have them chunk up between the iron and the breaker. I burnish the leading edge of mine over from the top like you would a scraper to close it up.

[RestorationAD]

[RestorationAD]

The Caswell unit arrived with a really nice crack in its base. I was bummed. However Caswell is shipping me a new base today so I am now excited.

Hopefully the base arrives in short order.

[pauliemc]

the tormek is a nice addition. I have one like it a while now & havent had a blunt chisel since. great for plane blades.

im looking to get an attachment that can do 10 inch planer knives for it, kinda gettin tird of sending them out to get refaced.

You can never have too many hand planes, Id be lost without my bailey No6