Poor Man Lam Grinder

[heartlandbowyer]

Galen, the deer got hit hard with EHD this year, the game and parks had around 6500 reported so I'll bet it was at least 5 times that high. I found dead deer everywhere I hunted this year. The mature does got hit the hardest where I hunt hopefully there were still enough running around for good breeding.

[BenBow]

Cory my new sander seems to have a lot of vibration does yours?

[heartlandbowyer]

Galen, try taking the belt off and see if the vibration goes away, mine doesn't vibrate to bad. Did you rubber pads come off the bottom of the sander?

[BenBow]

Cory it has the pads and I've had it 2 days now. But yesterday it appeared to be running pretty smooth then the nut that holds the sander on the shaft flew off. I put it back on and tightened it by hand and it kept coming loose. It ran pretty smooth when the nut was loose but when it was tight it shook quite a bit. Think I'll take it back and see what they say.

[heartlandbowyer]

Galen, yep I'd definitely take it back, sound like maybe something in the belt carrier or motor went outta wack. Its brand new I wouldn't think you'd have any problem exchanging it. Its a pretty good sander, out trad club has three of them and we abuse the heck out of them at our annual selfbow build

Good luck,
Cory

[monterey]

Cory, have a brand new Ridgid sitting in the garage waiting to be made into a lam grinder.  Also waiting for temps to get at least above 25deg  :eek:  

A question I have is about the feather board.  Am I seeing that it is spring loaded??

[Sam Harper]

That's actually fancier than how Bob Sarrels used to do it.

[heartlandbowyer]

Mike, yeah it's spring loaded helps keep a little pressure on the lam as I slide it in. More than anything it keeps my fingers out of the danger zone. It doesn't do to bad of a job either, I've already ground more than enough lams to pay for the sander.
I'm sure it doesn't work near as good as a nice drum sander but it will do until I make that investment.

It takes a few lams to get er figured out but after that it's easy sailing. Even push pull feed is the most important thing for decent lams. I also use a sled for all of my lams, parallel included. Just take your time and you will have good lams and glue lines.

Cory

[BenBow]

I posted this before but here's what I ended up with on my Ridgid.
I picked up this Ridgid sander & made an adjustable fence for it. Works great. I put a dial indicator on it which is pretty accurate for adjusting the thickness. Made the base out of mdf with a layer of aluminum glued to the top. Did a little shimming to get things squared up so it does a pretty good job.
I added additional mounting holes to accommodate larger pieces.

       
       
       

[LittleBen]

My setup is a little different, it's a small horizontal drum (3"x3") instead of the edge sander, but I also find it suprisingly useful.

The things I find that make the biggest differences are a slow steady feed rate, running the lam through multiple times at a given setting (4-6 runs at final setting to reach precise thickness) and the quality of the sled and feed ramp(or fence). If you use a perfectly true sled and fence, you will get perfectly true lams.

[Buemaker]

This is what I have, no motorized feedsystem though.
 
 
 
 

[Buemaker]

 
 
 

[Buemaker]

 

[Roy from Pa]

I guess it's ok, Bue:)

[BenBow]

Nice setup Bue

[BenBow]

I built this one that I use also. The ridgid just takes wood off faster.
   Saw powered sander

[beachbowhunter]

You guys are a bunch of freaking inventors! Impressive work guys.  I took the easy route an got a store-bought drum sander    :D