Don't know if any one out there has had a similar experience to this, would be interesting to know.
I purchased a Hafco DS_1632A wide drum sander not long ago.I realised this machine was at the lower end of the market and expected to apply some "modifications" from the start.This as opposed to building my own.
At $700 odd + transport it was well within my means. purchased from Hare and Forbes Brisbane. I've had dealings with them before,no problems.
First inspection, the machine looked reasonably well made for the cost,However,on further investigation before use, I found that the motor/drum mount/slide had a gap either side of 6mm, causing the slide to skew and making it impossible to get down to the 2.50mm I wanted. so I replaced the steel slide bars with 6mm wider ones, that gave a much smoother action, but still, the rough castings required some filing here and there, until I got my 2.50mm (and less) thickness.
First run was soft wood, 200x300x8mm, no problem there. Small adjustments, on the appropriate side, got the conveyor belt aligned,and leveling out the drum no problem.
I had a piece of timber I needed to sand finish one side.2,000x300x50mm. raised up the drum to 50mm and proceeded to take a light skim off the plank of cedar with the conveyor set at the slowest speed, no problem until I was sanding some harp sound boards the next day, I noticed a lump under the conveyor belt. Thinking it was sawdust I removed the belt and found the drive roller had disintigrated. Hare and Forbes sent to Taiwan for a new one, meanwhile I found that the conveyor belt adjuster slide blocks had broken, even though they had not been stressed. They were made of sub-standard cast iron and drilled so as to leave a minute ammount of metal ,which is where they failed. I had steel replacements made by a mate at no cost to me,much better! I also will recover the spare drive roller I have with better quality rubber, cost about $180 but worth it for the future.
Now I was off and running, at least for a few days. when, BANG!! something blew. Dismantle the belt drive mechanism and motor and there it is, a short! Previously I had occasion to push the mains cable grommet back into its hole from whence it had somehow slipped. Little did I suspect that I had inadvertantly pushed the cable onto the stator in the conveyor motor, no insulated shield to prevent this, bit of bad designing. I got away with just a shorted out PC board. had that fixed, both motors OK thank goodness. cost me $120.
The all up eventual cost to me was just over $900 but now I have a great little machine that's been running like a dream for months now, Don't know what I ever did without it.
Would I buy the same machine again/ probably, I'll let you know in 12 months time