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I just got my "Christmas Wish Book" from Grizzly. The G1066Z 24" dual-drum sander is calling to me for back and top sanding......it's $100 off of normal price, so basically shipping is free.

Anyone have one already? Are you happy with it? Any issues sanding down to 75 mil thick boards?

All help and advice will be gratefully received. I'd like to know that my money is going to be well spent...

Cheers,
Dave F.

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Cambrian Guitars

"There goes Mister Tic-Tac out the back with some bric-brac from the knick-knack rack"

I used one . It was a good piece . The unit allows 2 grits to be used , and gave a great finish. I moved up to Grizzlies 18 inch belt sander. You will need a dust collector
john hall

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John Hall
blues creek guitars
Authorized CF Martin Repair
Co President of ASIA
You Don't know what you don't know until you know it

Hi Dave,

I had one for many years when I was building furniture and cabinets...it's great for that application...I got into luthierie and found that it had some limitations there and ended up downsizing it along with my entire shop when we moved...now I have a Performax 10-20 which is perfect for my present needs...the Griz will do well for you, the only real drawbacks I ever saw with it were the paper attachments (now they have a hook & loop option tho...), and the dust collection...you need to seal up the openings around the hood and take shallower passes to get good dust extraction and as a bonus you burn less paper...and someone on the OLF (Bruce D maybe?) had a cool posting about a mod to the sander to greatly improve dust extraction...if you don't want to sand down to 2mm thickness, or really short pieces, it's a great machine for the money and I think you'd be happy with it.

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http://www.presnallguitars.com

I had the 16" for several years and used a 24" a bunch before that. Only difference was that the 24" had the hook and loop option and wider area for work. Good machine, particularly for the price. Hassle changing paper and holding on the abrasive as it is taped on. Hook and loop thing should make that better. Dust collection not great, but had it in area where not a big issue. Mine finally bit the dust and had to get a new machine.

I got and like the the 18" open end. It is I guess a 18x36 for all practical purposes. Once got the tracking issues taken care of, not a problem. The built in dust collection is ok at best. It will get almost all of it, but I hook mine up to the main dc unit in addition to the built in thing and virtually no dust. Takes some time like most big tools to get setup and adjusted but not a big deal as service at Griz is really good (or has been for me) I thought of the bigger unit, however, with smaller shop needed less foot print on machine (take up more than one thinks) Also, for guitars 18" is wide enough for me to do joined backs and tops, and not use it so far for anything wider than that or heavy use for other things. I for one think this 18" for price and use is great machine and unless go with a widebelt, which I don't ever see happening, will use this for years. Heavy machine, but not as much as the 16" or the 24" closed dual drum.

Thanks for your helpful replies chaps! I thought this would be a step up from my Performax 16-32, but it doesn't sound like it really is. I'm not really happy with the performance of my Performax - it's just not solid enough and always seems to sand a taper rather than flat, no matter how well I try to set it up parallel (with metal shims).

Perhaps I'd be better off saving my pennies and going with an 18" or 24" belt sander then?

Dave F.

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Cambrian Guitars

"There goes Mister Tic-Tac out the back with some bric-brac from the knick-knack rack"

Hmmmm.....now I'm leaning more towards a SuperMax ShopPro 25 machine (here). What do you think?

Dave F.

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Cambrian Guitars

"There goes Mister Tic-Tac out the back with some bric-brac from the knick-knack rack"

Dave my friend I was going to suggest this yesterday but thought that you are set on a large machine. But I could not agree with Larry more and my 10-20 does do everything that I need to do in guitar building very well, costs less, is reliable, and takes up little space. The dust collection is good too.

Colin went from a 10-20 to a 16-32 and did not like the 16-32 as much as the 10-20 so he is back and happy I believe with a 10-20.

So there is an example of a 16-32 user going smaller in the next machine and benefiting. If this worked for you it would also save you some coin that you could perhaps use for something else for your shop or what ever.

Just a thought.

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Ann Arbor Guitars

I have the Jet 16/32 and love it - sands flat and dust collection is great with my festool/dust deputy vac system...

I guess its all in the adjustment...

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Mitch

Interesting thought, thanks Hesh. I have a woodworking buddy locally who has a 10-20.....he's more of a tool collector than woodworker though, so I can probably persuade him to let me borrow his for a week to see how I get on with it.

The 16-32 I have is the first generation version. It's not designed and built so well as the later models. The gantry (for lack of being able to think of a better word for it) is nowhere near as stiff. I have no trouble aligning it with no pressure on the drum, but as soon as wood is passed through the machine, the gantry deflects upwards at the open end. On a joined guitar top or bottom, using two passes, this results in a ridge/peak somewhere in the middle of the wood no matter how slight a cut I use (less than 1/128" at a time - still does it!). No amount of adjustment seems to be able to correct it - the gantry/mounting method simply isn't stiff enough.

I know people who have later versions of the 16-32 that do not have this issue at all.

I guess a newer 10-20 has virtually zero deflection by virtue of it a) being shorter, thus stiffer and b) being better desinged/built than my old one.

I'll talk to my pal, see if I can borrow his, and report back later....I'm in no rush to part with my $$$ until I know I'm doing the right thing.

Cheers,
Dave F.

P.S. I already have a buyer for my 16-32.....so I'm committed to getting a new machine - just not sure which one yet!

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Cambrian Guitars

"There goes Mister Tic-Tac out the back with some bric-brac from the knick-knack rack"

Update: I borrowed my buddy's 10-20 and did some comparison sands. It's a little bit better than the 16-32, but not a whole lot! The buyer for my 16-32 evaporated, so I guess I'll just have to soldier on with it for a while yet. It's not terrible, but does leave snipe ridges at each end on its way out of each sanding operation. I have to spend time with a scraper and/or orbital sander to remove them, but usually they are outside of the guitar pattern, so not a real big problem.

Here's a shot showing my buddy's 10-20. You can see my 16-32 in the background (with stuff all over it):



Cheers,
Dave F.

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Cambrian Guitars

"There goes Mister Tic-Tac out the back with some bric-brac from the knick-knack rack"

New Update: I spent a great deal of time messing around with a dial guage measuring the setup of my 16-32 sander. I was able to convince myself that the gantry design was stable enough, and that the problem was actually in the way the sliding plate assembly that has the main motor bolted to it was fixed. I spent quite a bit of time adjusting nuts and bolts and was able to make the sliding motor plate much more stable, yet still able to wind up or down with ease using the height setting handle. It seems the main culprit was that the nuts holding the plate to it's fixed partner were simply too loose (so the gantry could move - angle up - depending on the sanding load!), and, the main fixed portion of the machine was not bolted onto the base vertically, severely limiting the usefulness of the small angle adjuster knob at the back of the machine. After I got the whole thing straight and stable, I spent a bunch more time with a height block (high precision brass T-square) setting the angle of the gantry so that the two ends of the drum were within 0.001" of each other.

When I finished, I was half expecting the sander to be a little bit improved, but not a whole lot. I was wrong. It was like night and day! With this thing properly set up, I can now sand both ways on glued-up soundboards without any sign of "wedging" like I was getting before. After just a few passes through the machine, my test soundboard was looking very smooth and clean - ready for finish sanding/scraping!

So, I think I've cracked one of my biggest workshop problems (apart from the "insufficient user IQ" problem, which, sadly, isn't fixable!). Ask me if I'm happy about it? You betcha! Saved myself a bunch of money by not buying a different machine.....and my soundboards and backs are going to be much easier to make from now on.

Cheers,
Dave F.

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Cambrian Guitars

"There goes Mister Tic-Tac out the back with some bric-brac from the knick-knack rack"

Dave, there is an article on Joe Woodworker about setting up the 16/32. Its worth the read at least.

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Aoibeann