Replies

1. 
   hammer1 | May 11, 2006 08:02am | #1

   If you are talking about sanding 36" entrance doors and doing more than one, you will want a commercial widebelt sander. There are many different brands, levels and types. None are inexpensive and they will require three phase electricity, good dust collection and a fair volume of compressed air.

   http://www.exfactory.com/equipment.asp?catid=SX&page=&brand=&code=&UFOBREGION=

   Beat it to fit / Paint it to match

2. 
   ring | May 12, 2006 02:13pm | #2

   Sanding 36" doors is definitely commercial grade stuff.  I have an SCMI sander we use for doors, (kitchen cabinet doors mostly).  But you have to have the volume of production necessary to make it worthwhile.  I doubt you'll find anything under $20,000 that's worth even looking at.  Used sanders are very problematic - more so than a lot of other woodworking machinery.  They have a lot of very delicate tracking and roller mechanisms that start to show their age, and a sander that is not perfectly accurate is pure frustration.  Tuning up a bandsaw or jointer is relatively easy by comparison.   This is one machine that is usually out of reach for anything but commercial shops.

   DR

1. 
   TRidge | May 12, 2006 06:08pm | #3

   Thank you for your replies, Ken

2. 
   RickL | May 12, 2006 06:46pm | #5

   Location is a big thing when talking about machines and costs. I noticed you are not in the states. Widebelts are a lot cheaper here it appears. A friend bought an new SCMI 42" widebelt 2 years ago for $14,000. Single head with platen. It appears folks take a lot for granted when talking about what's available for machines. There's a lot of machines that are only available in certain parts of the world opr at least only advertised in certain parts of the world. I'm not sure how feasible it is to even get some  of these specialty machines. Our Shop does timber framing as well and there is a housing router machine that is only available in Japan and they won't let them out of the country anymore. People used to go to Japan directly to buy them.

   So I think folks should state where they are from in regards to many tool and machine purchases and questions. People tend to think of things in their own locality and not so much on a global level. 

1. 
   ring | May 13, 2006 02:05am | #6

   You're absolutely right about our geographical perspectives.  And I don't always condition my reactions to questions, especially regarding costs.  So it's important to check someone's profile to see "where he's coming from". 

   That said, I hold to my 2 basic points that these sanders are priced out of range for most non-commercial users, and that they are among the most problematic of machines to buy used.

   DR

3. 
   RickL | May 12, 2006 06:45pm | #4

   http://www.speedsander.com/

   This is Timesaver's small shop widebelt sander that is reasonably priced for a 36" machine and available in single phase. It was around $7,000 when it first came out.

   http://safetyspeedcut.com/products_sanders_3760.htm

   This used to be made by Halsty before SSC bought them out. There's import sanders available that will do the job and are reasonably priced if you do the research. I'm not terribly impressed with the Woodmaster. I've been using and maintaining machines such as  widebelts for 35 years and the shop I'm in now picked up a mint 36" Woodmaster and it tends to round the  edges. We do mostly timberframing so don't need a widebelt that much and for critical work there's several shops around with them.

1. 
   TRidge | May 13, 2006 03:39am | #7

   Thank you for responding to my question. Ken