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Discuss Thermwood 3-axis Machinery, Controller, and Software.

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Rob Davis
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Suggestions or Comments?

Post by Rob Davis »

Since those of you in this forum have equipment, any recommendations on widebelt sanders? We need a new one in a bad way and we have looked at TimeSavers and Butfering (german mach from Altendorf and Mueller Mach) and also Powermatic. Any experience on these out there? Suggestions of other brands? It is like buying a router..... too many choices and you hope to make a good one.
Jeff Norris
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Post by Jeff Norris »

i have a powermatic rb37 and i cant wait to get a butfering from eb mueller in cincinatti, we went to stiles last november and checked out the full line, i have not been very happy with the quality of the powermatic, of course you get what you pay for, my sales guy from mueller called me last week and told me about a special on the 37\" butfering for 13k, i am temped but when i upgrade i will get a 42 or 52. if your interested in a powermatic i'll make you a \"deal\" on mine.
Perry Pravettone
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Post by Perry Pravettone »

Hi Rob,

We have a Cemco 36’’ duel head sander and it works great. We've had it about 10 years with very little problems and would not hesitate to by another one. I think the next time I would buy 48’’ model.

Good Luck,
Perry
Rob Davis
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Post by Rob Davis »

Thanks for the input. No, Jeff, I am not intersted in buying a machine you don't like..... Not all of us Hoosiers are gullible! We also got the flyer on the anniversary deal for Butfering. Plus, SCMI has a good price on theirs but we aren't sure we like the machine. We are leaning toward TimeSaver, to be honest. Price is not the issue with us, it is reliability and performance. You have to pay for quality.
Jeff Norris
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Post by Jeff Norris »

hey rob just to fill you in a little more, i went to vegas and grand rapids last ear and checked out these machines very closely, scm makes great machines, but they come from italy, they like to tell you about all the parts they have in stock for repairs, but i can tell you from first hand experience that getting a tech out and parts can take some time, i was thourghly impress with stiles, they have like ten times the parts inventory of scm and have techs in every state. the time saver people like to tell you that their machines are amercan made, when in fact most of the parts come from the same plant in tiwan that the powermatics,jets,and others come from. dont get me wrong the timesaver is a great machine as well, all that being said our powermatic is a good sander, i just bought one for the wrong game, when i upgrade i will be spending somwhere around 40k which is why i will go with stiles, they definatly can back up their service claims, i dont mean to sound like a stiles salesman, if you asked me for my opinion on a cnc router i would sound like a salesman for thermwood, there are plenty of good cnc machines but thermwood excells at customer service. who is your sales guy from mueller?
Rob Davis
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Post by Rob Davis »

Jeff, check your private message inbox for my reply.
Nick M Singer
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Post by Nick M Singer »

Probably the best widebelt on the market is the Heesemann. Big price tag though, but you get what you pay for I suppose!
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