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Santa visited my shop today

4593 Views 38 Replies 10 Participants Last post by  Gus Dering
He came by and promised to come back with his big sled real soon and drop of this.

Machine tool Machine Metal lathe Lathe Tool
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Gus, the Brandt banders are pretty decent entry level banders. Are you dealing with Stiles for the purchase?

How heavy are you into 3mm banding? The reason I ask is that although sold as such these machines lack hogging motors which really stresses out the profile trimmers.If you are primarily only doing 1mm or HPL you don't need to worry about it.

After santa is done at your shop you can send him my way.....as long as he is in the gift giving mood.
We love this machine. All our banding has been getting done on a Brandt. Thats all they make is banders and that says something to me. It has all the right stuff, in a nutshell.

We don't mess with 3 mill tape.

The local rep is a Stiles distributor, yes Stiles

I am more jazzed about this than I was for the cnc.:thumbsup:
Really? That should wear off in a few weeks :laughing:

A few tips for your new baby (ignore the ones you already know)

Dust extraction is more critical on edgebanders than any other machine I have used. PVC trimmings get everywhere and can mess with your set-ups. Try to have your operator blow out under the hood before,during and after use.

You machine will use insert tooling for the profile motors and make sure it is changed as soon as it starts to fade. Dull tooling will kill the motors quite quickly. Rebuilds are $600-1500 depending on where you get them.

Glue pot rebuilds are also big $$ so don't let it get too full of burnt glue. I would recommend changing the glue about once every few months depending on usage. You can do this by putting a clean piece of wood into the gluepot (3/4 x2 x12) when it is hot and you are done using it. (try to keep it at least half full before you do this)Allow the glue to cool.The next time you use it let the glue pot heater warm up enough to pull the stick out. It will come out like a big nasty glue popsicle. Refill and go.

Glue pots should also be boiled out with peanut oil every so often to give them a really good cleaning. The reason being is that a dirty gluepot puts a lot of stress on the the heating element and can cause premature failure.

There are many types of glue pellets out there but I would recommend a German brand named Jowat. Think of it as Festool glue for edgebanders.

I can't really tell from the pic but it looks like your machine will have a bottom drive track with idler wheels on top.Make sure you take the idler wheels off and lubricate them every so often. I have seen them dry out and lock up which will jam the work piece and cause all of your track pads on the drive track to be scalped off. Huge PITA

I have quite a few more tips for you but I feel like I am rambling. Just let me know if you have any ???
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One more thing Gus, and this is a big one. Buy your high temperature grease from Stiles. They will totally bend you over on the price but there is a reason, nothing else works.

I think I last paid about $80.00 for a cartidge of it but believe me it is a small price to pay versus a locked up glue pot repair. I believe it is made by Homag.

If you cheap out and buy the Hi-temp at the local auto parts store you will be sorry. The Homag edgebander tech from Germany will be laughing all the way to the bank. His name is Hans, tell him I said hi......seriously
Happy to help Gus,I wish I was getting a new toy for Christmas. I asked for a new iron like Leo's but money is kind of tight around here, I'll just have to keep using my wife's curling iron until next year :santa:
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