Thread: Which Multitool Linisher Attachment?

Bryan, I bought it about 3 years ago and it sat for a while before I bought a new Abbot & Ashley grinder to fit it to, I remember the grinder came form Melbourne somewhere. (mind you I have trouble remembering what happened last week at times!!). I "think" that I bought the Multitool from locally.

I remember that I was sort of shocked at how much the visible runout was when I did test it. Mucked about with supplied plastic bushes (these were some of the problem) and some others on hand and with multiple repositions was able to take out some of the wobble. Never got around to indicating the grinder shaft; but will start there when I get back ti working on it. Next thing will be to turf the crap pressed washers and flanges; turn up a new one piece one to cut out any compounding errors. Will also fit a sold sleeve to the drive wheel and turn to correct shaft size in situ. If all that fails will introduce it to my FBH.

We should not have go to these lengths to correct new equipment. I think that at the time some of the purchasers made contact with the company; but nothing really resolved and that is when one chap went the way of taking his to an engineering friend who opened out the shaft hole; pressed in the sleeve and rebored it. Problem solved. IIRC when boring the wheel the shaft hole was noticeably out and this was the problem.

Hopefully Multitool have improved the quality of the later units.

Ken

I bought the linishing machine that was on special for around $420, it just didn't make sense to me to buy just an attachment for $400 when it was only going to be a 3/4 hp grinder powering it, where this one is 2hp.
It was johns thread a while back that steered me away from the multi tool as his had a lot of runout.
This machine runs true and I am totally happy with it. It runs without vibration and it takes the 100 x 1200 belts which you can get in all grades.

Dave

Just another vote for the 915x50, especially the scotchbrite* belts!

*Sorry, 'surface conditioning material'

Originally Posted by jack620

Thanks for all the feedback gents. H&F are closed today, so I'll pop in tomorrow and grab a 915x50 Multitool and some blue belts in various grits.

If you are going in to H & F ,you might ask them if the Australian made logo is current.
Multitools have sold in USA but marketed by someone else over there.ie not the Australian originator.

The unit was designed by the same bloke who designed the Radius Master whom I understand was a toolmaker.There was a local website, a few years back, that gave a factory location in in Orange, from memory.

Its a shame that problems have begun to show now.


With shoddy manufacture creeping in, is it perhaps a logical conclusion to make that production may have been moved overseas? If so, poor quality in lieu of a pricing factor may have crept in.

I have done some internet searches but failed to find if the units are still of local manufacture. Others may have more info on this.

Finally ,thanks to Byran for the info on balancing the tool.Handy to tuck away for another day.

Grahame

Doncha just hate it!!!.
5 mins after I posted the former.
I have just found this .Note that it is 2004


http://www.jwross.com.au/news/docume...2004-08-41.pdf


Too many blasted Multitool knife things about - bloody newcomers pinching names.

Grahame

Originally Posted by jack620

Graeme,
according to the instruction manual & specs, all models now appear to use the same pulley/disc.
Chris

Pity that this is so as the higher belt speed certainly works better on steel,for wood it maybe too fast?
Graeme

If I am correct Jw Ross only supply the product to resellers they do not manufacture it

Originally Posted by China

If I am correct Jw Ross only supply the product to resellers they do not manufacture it

Correct. At least,this was true, at least as of 2004 ( the date is shown in the page when it is Googled- not in the direct link I supplied). Is this still true in 2013 ? Is this the evidence that the Australian made claim is based on? A question now, is who manufactures it?

Aussie makers of Aussie products usually show some sort of contact as a manufacturing site ,telephone no, fax -that sort of thing. I was unable to find a current website for Multitool despite a exhaustive search. Radius Master, the descendant product of the MultiTool was easy to find,but the Multitool designed by the same bloke was not.

Is the Multitool, like some other made in Australia claims, only packaged in Australia from foreign made components ?.

In the light of the defective units beginning to appear, is it possible that the Multitool is now made off shore? I would point to the machinery buyers here on this forum that have had to perform all sorts of preventative maintenance and/or repair upgrades to their Asian imported gear as an example. It looks as though some Mutitool buyers have had to repair their new units without manufacturers assistance, do you see the parallel with the Asian machine buyers?
I would have thought a local manufacturing operation would fix problems pretty rapidly?


It was nearly twenty years back when I got my Multitool and I seem to recall it was around the $150 mark.
The current 2013 base price for a Multitool is now around around $200.Does that price point suggest Aussie made?


The fact that buyers of faulty machines, approaching the manufacturer through J.W. Ross presumably, have encountered a tardiness in gaining a resolution to their problems , should give one pause for thought.
On the other hand it may be entirely possible that the Multitool products are still made here and the defects are indeed, home grown.

Either scenario is less than ideal.



More questions than answers in the above, or is it just me being overly cynical?. Truly, I do hope I am wrong.

Grahame

When I spoke to them in June 2012, they were evaluating some parts from china. I agree it is very sad to think of a previously well made and well respected local product going down the oriental QC toilet. All I can suggest is, if you have a problem, let them know. Not just so they can help you, but so they can make the right decisions. PA Products, Bathurst, 02 6337 1142, [email protected].

Incidentally my recollections about my analysis of my wobbly wheel were not very accurate (post 23). I see from my emails I wasn't quite as blonde as I thought, but the upshot is much the same.

Increasingly I'm buying products in Oz that have no "made in xxxx" printed on the product, the user manual or the box. I thought it was law that you had to state the country of manufacture? I take the view that if it doesn't have "Made in Australia" printed in huge letters on the box, then it isn't. The H&F website has the little Australian Made kangaroo symbol on the Multitool page, but what does that mean these days? Maybe H&F are falsely displaying the symbol. I will investigate when I go into the store.
Chris

Yeah they might cover themselves with designed in Australia.
Like you said is it is really Australian made it will have it on it as it's a selling point.

Dave

Well; the @$^& courier didn't turn up with the $%^&*( car parts, so I decided to do some checks on the devil machine.

Small stamping on the aligning handle shows PA ????? Sydney. No country of manufacture stamping evident, and the box is loong gone.

Abbot & Ashby 3/4 hp grinder showing 0.001" runout on the shaft.

Belt drive wheel has 0.0055" runout with needle fluctuating about 0.002" (out of round surface??)
Outer end near the flange has 0.012" runout.
The two readings on the belt surface are about 150 degrees apart. Oscillation????
Inner surface of the flange (which is not used for anything) has 0.040" runout.
The outer machined surface of the flange has 0.036" runout. This makes the disk sander useless.

The plastic centre bush is tight and has no play on shaft or wheel.

The finish of the machining is nice; just hopelessly inaccurate.

I did consider grinding the grinder shaft between centres but the 0.001" could even be in the (most likely) cheap bearings. The grinder also appears to be of asian manufacture. I also noticed that a grey 8" grinding wheel on the other end is out of balance.

I also have a 1hp Sumake D/e 8" grinder which dances all over the workshop floor, There is noticeable side runout on the grinding wheels and severe vibration. Wheels have been diamond dressed.

Ken

I can also confirm they are now made in China even though the box states "Made in Australia". I spoke with them and they confirmed this fact. They did mention that they did not want it to be this way but there was no where left in Australia for them to get the castings. Additionally they told me the full history about where they were made and the good quality units made by ADI (if I recall correctly) a while back. The service from the manufacturer was very good.

I was also told that they got a bad batch of aluminum pulleys from China. They were apparently looking at a new much better supplier to diecast the pulleys, but it was months off (going a good 12+ months back).

Unfortunately my Multitool "quality" story is pretty much all bad. The first one I purchased was the 915x100. It was so out of balance (and out of round!) that it was unusable. I was sent balance weights which despite two days of stuffing around did absolutely nothing. I was then sent the smaller one 915x50 (on the opinion of the manufacturer that it was most reliable) which was to be honest nearly as bad. I checked my grinder shaft runnout and it was < 0.01mm. The aluminum multitool drive pulley had runout of >.2mm and up to .5mm. I had balance weights etc. Nothing made a difference. The runnout was massive and the belt still does track correctly (drifts). I get by with it, but it is not a quality unit and I will replace it at some point. All in all it was very disappointing as I had high hopes.

I did read somewhere (can't think of where) that someone had the same issues and had an engineer friend (edit: re-bush the wheel - I thought balance, but it was a re-bushing as confirmed by an earlier post). It was still not perfect from the anecdotal report, but better than it was originally. Food for thought..

EDIT: I also told HAFCO last year that they were no longer made in Australia... still have the Australia Made badge on their site

I don't own a multi-tool linisher, but I can suggest an alternative, why not buy a dedicated linisher, ( a small one anyway ) by the time you buy an 8" bench grinder and then the multi-tool attachment you are up around the cost of a dedicated linisher anyway.

Or better yet, keep an eye on the auctions for something like a Parken Linisher, if you are patient you can pick one up for less than the cost of a multi-tool.



I see that Parken are still around, but I don't know much about their current offerings.

This one is their current 50x1520 image from http://www.parken.com.au


Even the one from H&F is less than the cost of the multi-tool by the time you add in the bench grinder. see L1185 | BS-48 Belt Linisher Sander | machineryhouse.com.au





Regards
Ray

PS.. EDIT: Here's a google image search of past Gray's auction results for linisher
https://www.google.com.au/search?q=l...ih=983#imgrc=_

I notice a lot of multi-tool sales with grinder, that might be a good way to get one of the earlier units.