Startled to find my minimally used Felder feeder failed to grip wood today as I attempted run through the shaper.? What is the current company supplier recommendation for replacement rubber for the Felder F38 feeder?? Replace just tires or hub also??

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I saw a lot of comments on the value of the Aigner thickness stop - outboard fence. ?I am fortunate to have one (discontinued almost impossible to find), but actually, I do not benefit from the read out feature. ?I always have it setup so that with the pressure jaws, I place the wood on the Aigner fence plus 19 mm spacers on each side (one infeed, one outfeed), place the outboard fence up to it and tighten and that is it. ?With a piece of plywood with 2 slots and 2 bolts to screw ?to the top, that would work! ?Actually an advantage of that with a piece of wood not too thick is it would be easier to swing the feeder into place as lower profile.

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Certainly more than one way to do a setup but that works for me. ?

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Happy to give you a demo if you want to come over again some time!

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I will pay more attention to how I setup that outfeed accessory in the future! ?Thanks!

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I messaged him a few ways.? But great idea!

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PK

/g/felderownersgroup/message/117752

I purchased a Balestrini Micron 2 mortising machine 20 months ago.? It was so cheap that I had to give it a go.? It was a mess. It was wired for 440 volts.? That was a simple solve to switch to 240 volt 3ph.? There was a lot of surface rust (some deeper) and the paint was a mess too.

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What does it do?? It has two moving beds that are adjustable for depth and speed that move into the mortising bit on each side.? The beds alternate.? The depth of the mortise is adjustable to 3" and the width is also.? The speed of the oscillation of the bit is also adjustable.? It can do 500+ mortises an hour!? The beds are tiltable as well.?

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I got it to work really well electrically.? The issue is that a previous owner must have worked on the pneumatics and in the process attached the myriad of air lines it the wrong way.? I assume there are multiple lines that are connected to the wrong inputs.

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I have new air blocks and air switch but I know there is an issue because the air switch never gets any pressure.??

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I reached out to SCM (they now own them) to ask for a schematic for the pneumatic lines.? At this point it is crickets from them.? SCM did get me an operators manual and a parts diagram, but no pneumatics.

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Here is the question:

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Does anyone have one, or access to a working one?? I would pay for someone to draw out the schematic of the machine.

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I would love to save this and get it working, but I am near the end...

Some pics from the beginning to now.? There is some surface rust to remove again, probably a 20 minute scrub again.

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PK?

Hi John,?

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The catch with the DGL and EGL is that they are limited in terms of measuring distance. Not a problem for small parts, but can be limiting when cutting stop moulding for doors and taller windows. For longer material, the length compensation option on the outrigger is nice.?

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--

Tom Gensmer
Heritage Home Renewals, LLC
Minneapolis, MN

EGL is great for quick change miter adjustments, smaller parts, but also excellent for having both sides in one setting for complementary angles of miter joints. Also helpful to leave crosscut fence setting at square or minimal setup switching back and forth.

Thanks,

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Could have should haves are definitely all in my head.

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I will do many things differently for sure.

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PK

PK,

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I just saw the video you posted on YouTube. Thanks for sharing this story and I am glad that you were not injured.

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The new shop looks good! ?

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Regards,

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Jacques

I purchased the length compensation option for my K700 outrigger table. I also purchased the Lamb DRO stop ( and two of his ?parallel DRO guides). ?I am contemplating purchasing the EGL for small parts. ?Is this the primary reason others here are getting the EGL for?….other than it is a cool jig?

Hi,

I put this up in 2013 and think it is worth do it again for info on "heavier" maintenance of the wide belt sander:

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May I add some information to this thread? This was published here and on the Yahoo Groups 17inchWidebeltSanders (thank you David Best for adding my write-up to the Files section there with the photos) some time ago, so I'll just add it here to make it easier to find. I would encourage anyone with one of these open arm wide belts to populate that Group. Hopefully David Best will add his recent information from here, above in this thread to the "17inch" group.

One recent problem should be mentioned. My belt would not track and crashed inboard to the right, mangling the belt edge against the belt edge tracking sensor arm. The problem was traced to pinholes in the rubber diaphragm in the actuator that oscillates the belt. Although a spare is available ($30), I followed the advice I got over at the "17inch" group and made a new one from an old inner tube. Works fine now. This was all documented on the "17inch" group.

Here is the information on a major tune up:

"My Jet (now labeled Powermatic, purchased in 2002) 16-17 inch open arm sander needed a serious tune up after running many thousands feet of material through it. I had the technician show me how to do it, including re-facing the contact drum.

The first step was to clean the dust out of the pockets inside where it had collected. Then clean the spring loaded mounting bolts for the fore and aft pressure rollers. Remove as much dust as possible to facilitate inspection.

Inspect the contact drum for gouges, grooves and glazing and decide if a dressing will be sufficient to restore operation, or replacement is needed. Inspect the tracking and tensioning mechanisms for abnormal wear or damage.

Inspect the platen for even wear and ease of vertical travel. Platen should not contact belt when it is moved fully upward. If necessary remove the platen and carefully grind edges to a small radius to help move it up and off the belt.

Inspect the pressure rollers for damage. Use a pry bar to make sure they will move up and then spring back down. If needed, remove the mechanism, clean and polish the shafts for easy travel. Do not lubricate them as they will pick up sawdust and get stuck in the up position.

Clean the feed belt, check for even wear, re-tension as needed, and check tracking.

Use a dial indicator first check the alignment of the idler drum to the platen. A heavy piece of steel plate the width of the belt is helpful in establishing a reference plane for supporting the indicator. The indication should be within 0.004 to 0.006 closer at the open arm side. Adjusting the belt bed is done at the mounting bolts to the telescoping column. Loosen the hex head bolts slightly and make adjustments with the jacking screws.

Check the alignment of the pressure rollers and the platen track to the belt bed. The rollers are adjustable at the mounting bolts. Platen track adjustment is adjusted at the outboard end.

Next step is resurfacing the contact drum. Take a new 60 grit belt and contact cement it down onto a piece of MDF or good plywood to make a drum dresser. The dresser will pass under the contact drum with the glued-on belt running 90 degrees to the contact drum. It is necessary to make the dresser wider than the contact drum so the side to side oscillations of the drum are accommodated by the dresser. In my case the dresser is about 20 inches wide and 16 inches (originally the belt width) wide. Use an angle grinder to put a slight 45 degree bevel to the fore and aft edge of the dresser. This will help the contact drum get on top of the dresser surface and not peel off the glued down belt.

Bring the belt with the ply sanding panel up to the drum. Adjust the height with the contact drum to just kiss the dressing panel. Run the dresser through with out the drum turning to check for any high spots on the dresser.

Raise the feed belt mechanism one turn and send the dresser through. Be prepared to do an emergency stop if the front edge of the abrasive on the dresser begins to peel off.

You might want to rub some white chalk marks on the contact drum to see where the drum and dresser start making contact. Continue passing the dresser panel under the contact drum until no sound of grinding is herd. Proceed with shallow cuts until the drum has an even finish on it. Go slowly so the drum does not get hot and after you get close, pass the dresser through a few times without moving the platen up until very little, if any material is taken off.

After achieving a uniform appearance on the drum, stop taking anymore material off of the contact drum. Perfect clean-up is not required; some gouges and deep scratches are acceptable and will not impact performance. Back of one-quarter turn and run the dresser thru. Continue backing off a quarter turn until no contact is made. Take as little off a possible to extend the life of the drum.

To set the height of the feed belt to find "true zero" independent of the platen height, raise the platen to clear the belt, then with the feed belt moving (and the sander drum not turning), slowly raise the feed belt height until the sanding belt just catches on the wood being feed through under the contact/drive roller. The front and rear pressure rollers should be turning and pressing the test piece of wood down onto the belt so that the test piece can not be stopped when you try to stop it on the OUTPUT side (never try to hold it back on the infeed side as you may find your fingers pinched under the wood, heading into the machine!). Too much pressure from the rollers may cause the work to spring up after clearing the front pressure roller, resulting in "snipe". Too little pressure and the work will stall and not feed when sanding. To set the platen height, run the test piece into the machine and stop it when it is under the input pressure roller, contact drum and output pressure roller, then rotate the platen adjustment until the platen just touches the belt, then add a "little bit" more. This gives you two points of contact with the sanding belt; first at the contact drum to remove most of the material, then at the platen to do the final sanding. Too much pressure on the platen may cause the machine to stall while the contact drum is still turning. This is a quick way to ruin a very expensive contact drum.

Notes taken during machine tune up by factory technician, spring 2002
-Bob Johnson"

Thank you all. ?It is amazing the knowledge and experience this group has. I will move forward with the accurate product. ?Thank you

A couple more photos.

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Here is mine. It involves cutting a blank (which are obtainable from Felder), removing the thin remaining insert sliver, and adding an aluminium L-section to the side of the insert. Note that this can only be used when the blade is vertical.

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The Northstate and Powermatic 1632 WB machines are identical except for the paint and badging. ?

John,

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My friend and brother both have one of these sanders and both came with DRO's from Powermatic.? They are Accurate Technologies brand.

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Not the cheapest, but I put one on a double drum sander I had and I liked it.

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PK