Thread: Carbatec wds 400

Originally Posted by Osage

does anyone else think this sander is a piece of ? I mean soon as u have something 300odd mm wide u can barely take off more than a bee's dick before the trip switch kicks in what a piece of crap ,typical Carbatec ,sorry but just had to vent a bit arrghhhh

What you're experiencing is very different performance to what I saw for the same machine being demonstrated. The demo saw wide boards (about 12 inches) fed through and taking a lot more material off than just a "bee's dick", with no sign of any overload switch cutting in. Have you spoken to Carbatec? It sounds like your unit may be faulty.

RoyG

Yeah I've seen stu's shed Demo it and yep it seems to plow through no dramas could be I've got a dud but talking to crapatec is a waste of time as its out of warranty so next option is to get a mate who fixes tools for a living to over ride the trip switch and see what happens ? If blows up so be it I'll just get a better machine ,it just pisses me off that there is machinery being sold that is absolutely crap but states that it's great to use I'm starting to think that you are much better off spending the extra dollars and going for more high end machinery like powermatic, Laguna etc ,just wish there was a brand that produced the goods , time and time again ,for example I was ready to buy the festool droppy until I read it's useless on thicker material the motor seems to struggle ,ok that's my whinge thanks for listening cheers Andrew 👍

Charles at Carbatec, Melb, is the man to speak to although he may have retired completely. He was their repair man and helped me with the adjustment of my WDS 400. It would be worth a call to see if he is still working part-time.

Originally Posted by Osage

I'm starting to think that you are much better off spending the extra dollars and going for more high end machinery

In other news, sky is blue and water is wet.

What timber are you running? I can't imagine a 1hp sander is going to take much off at 300 wide in hardwood, regardless of how cheap or expensive it is.

380 mm wide merbau is what I've run through so far it just seems like it trips way to easy and cheers chesand I'll try and get In touch with Charles

380 wide merbau is a big ask for 1hp, no amount of adjustment will get it to take a heavier cut.

what grit paper are you using?
and how big is the bee in the story, since some bees are bigger than others. ie. how much are you actually trying to take off?
is your merbau nice and dry? i have always found dry timber to sand much easier than wet and sticky timber.

i would imagine that such a tiny 1hp motor would barely be capable of removing a measurable amount. making the machine no good for sizing timber, but just good for creating a scratch pattern and possibly flattening out machining marks. i had been tossing up about getting one of these types of machines (seems like an easy and relatively cheap option), but the problems you are having is one of the many problems I would expect to have. and as such, i turned to the dark side and picked up a couple of very cheap hand planes the other day, just to knock down the machining marks and allow me to start with 240grit paper in the random orbital.

I bought the Hafco equivelent and am very disappointed

wish i'd put the money into upgrading my thicknesser

I've 120 grit in it and the timber is dry and be lucky to be taking off half a mill if that

Remember it is a sander and not meant to be a thicknesser. A thicknesser would be lucky to take that much off on that timber.

Originally Posted by Chesand

Remember it is a sander and not meant to be a thicknesser. A thicknesser would be lucky to take that much off on that timber.

A cheap thicknesser would be lucky, a real thicknesser wouldn't have a problem. Ditto for a real sander.

I know most people don't have the space/money for industrial machinery, but if you have to buy cheap (for whatever reason) don't expect a lot of performance.

If it were me and no other remedy is forthcoming, I'd bite the bullet and upgrade the motor to a 2HP or even bigger. It can't be too hard to do.

Stewie

Originally Posted by elanjacobs

A cheap thicknesser would be lucky, a real thicknesser wouldn't have a problem. Ditto for a real sander..

I was referring to the average 300mm thicknesser that we hobbyists have.

Might be a bit obvious...but have you cleaned the sandpaper on the drum? I recon you probably have but still worth asking...one never knows