holytek good or bad

teakwood · July 30, 2016, 08:30:03 AM

Does anybody have experience with holytek woodworking machinery? How are they? Quality?
I am looking at buying a sliding table saw and maybe a sander, found a company who has 30machines sitting around, most are holytek.

Den Socling · July 30, 2016, 09:42:37 AM

I know nothing about the brand but the fact that the company kept buying the same brand says something.

longtime lurker · July 30, 2016, 06:33:37 PM

Good.

Commercial grade Taiwanese machinery, well built, very good value for money: I see a lot of their sanders and edge banders in particular around in shops here.

teakwood · July 31, 2016, 12:08:54 PM

thanks guys, really appreciated. I did a extended google search but didn't came up with a lot of info, also tried to find prices. didn't find any. i need to compare them to the sellers price. I have no idea on how much would be fair to pay for those machines. On the drum sander i couldn't find nothing, its like they dont exist, just found lots of info for wide belt sander, which would be excellent but way out of my price range. does anybody has experience with any tip of drum sander?? are they good for something? Now i sand all mi furnitures by hand, with a 4" belt electrical hand sander. :( :( very time consuming

petefrom bearswamp · August 01, 2016, 10:05:20 AM

snipe can be a problem with drum sanders , but I used, at the suggestion of a fellow, sacrificial strips longer than the pieces being sanded on either side.

teakwood · August 01, 2016, 04:22:32 PM

Hold on for a sec, i didnt really understand it. What do you mean with snipe? the first edge gets round when the board hits the drum? Are those drums spring pressured down, or are they at a exact height? Like calibrate sanding on a widebelt sander?

acewoodturner · August 02, 2016, 12:48:17 PM

I have a 2 drum, drum sander pretty similar to the one in the photo. Its branded KUFO which I believe is an American company and its made in Taiwan. I like it and it gets a lot of use in my workshop - I am a cabinet maker with an Alaskan sawmill and a Sauno kiln. I have never had snipe with it and the leading edges of any timber has never been rounded over. My main use for it is for making my timber strips for my laser engraver for business cards which are 2.25mm thick (sorry dont know what that is in old imperial measurements) and for this use it is perfect.

Mike

teakwood · August 02, 2016, 09:43:28 PM

thanks for the reply ace

Can you explain to me a little bit more about the drum sander. I also work in mm's. If i want a 20mm thick board after sanding, do i have to make it 20.2mm with the planer and then the first drum (100 grit?) takes it down to 20.1mm and the second drum (120 grit?) takes it down to 20mm? Or how does that work? Is the table adjustable or the drums? How precise is a drum sander?

Is that sander in the photo a two drum sander or a single one?
They're asking 5000$ for both machines in this photo. What do you guys think about the price? Those two are the missing machines in my workshop to make my life easier.
Sorry for so many questions, but they are 250 km away and i like to gadder most info i can before actually go there and inspect them personally. Thanks guys

petefrom bearswamp · August 03, 2016, 07:30:30 AM

the one I had was a single drum, maybe this is not a problem with double drum machines.
Snipe occured on mine when the board left the infeed roller and there was only pressure on the outfeed roller and drum itself causing a slight dip in the sanded portion.

acewoodturner · August 04, 2016, 02:30:27 PM

You can calibrate the drums so that plank of wood is an even thickess across its width by means of tightening the bolts on the drums. My drum sander is very accurate and I go by measuring the thickness with digital calipers rather than the scale on the sander. It would be possible to get a digital scale dro for it though. My first drum I have 100 grit paper on and the second one I use 120 grit. There's not much use in using any finer as it tends to get very hot and burns the timber surface if you try to take off too much in one pass. I tend to measure the thickness of the timber and then inch the table up slowly till I start removing timber. My planer thicknesser is 12" wide max and I sometimes stick boards of greater width through it.
One thing to remember is that the the wider the timber is, the less you can take off in each pass. It also goes without saying that you need a powerful dust extractor as well or the fine dust will gather on the boards and possibly lead to burn marks on the boards. Do not do resinous woods either as the resin soon clogs up the abrasive paper. I tried doug fir once and soon regretted it!

Mike

teakwood · August 04, 2016, 07:57:24 PM

Thanks mike. found a data sheet of the drumsander. holytek drum sander has double drum and five downpressure roller, so i think that snip wont be a problem. found some prices on similar machines, on the 25" double sander its about 2500$ for shopfox, grizzly, and other similar brands. although it seems that holytek is a lot better and heavier built, more like powermatic, who are around 4000-4500$. How much did you pay?
I gluejoint a lot of cabinetwalls and sideboards together to 20", after that i need to sand them plan, so i actually dont need to remove much wood just straighten and glue residents removel and finish sanding for barnish. My dust collector is 2 hp so i dont think that i will have any problem with that.
This sander has a 5hp single phase motor and a 1/4hp infeed motor, just one infeed speed though 12'/min, will that be a problem?

acewoodturner · August 07, 2016, 03:20:17 AM

The motor sizes are the same as my Kufo drum sander. Looks like you do pretty much the same as me with your work. I use a cabinet scraper first to remove as much squeezed out dried glue as posible. I make my panel pieces about a miilimetre over thick to start with and then take that off the glued up panel via the drum sander. It does a really good job and if you dont try to take off too much in a single pass the abrasive paper can last for quite a while. You can also lift the lid and switch it on to run a big rubber block on the drums to clean them occasionally as well.

Mike

teakwood · August 07, 2016, 08:58:57 AM

How many passes do you have to sand before that one mm is gone?

teakwood · August 08, 2016, 06:01:31 PM

Here you can see what kind of woodwork i do

https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php/topic,90910.0.html

acewoodturner · August 10, 2016, 05:20:01 AM

Very nice work. Love the different timbers that you have available. The only downside about using oily timbers with a drum sander though is that the sanding belts soon become clogged and start to burn. I have noticed this with some reclaimed Burmese teak which I reclaimed. Just have to take it a bit slower than with non oily woods.

Mike

teakwood · August 10, 2016, 08:23:15 PM

Thanks mike, i will see. Went to look at the machine, inspected it and finally bought it. The carpet is a little rough, can have a new one made for 250$, so i will see if the old one holds up first. I could bring the price down from 2500$ to 2100$, so i am very happy with that. The second roller (rubber) has some wear on it, like burnt out lines, can that be addressed in a lathe or something? Any thoughts? Or does it even matter? The push down rollers are a little uneven because of wear but i dont think thats gone be a problem. tomorrow i will inspect and dismantle the machine and make some minor adjustments. They glued the sand paper on the first Cylinder

, will try to clean that of.

Really a robust and heavy built machine, that 5hp motor is a beast!
If i use 100 and 120grit how much deeper must the second roller be?
You said something about holding a rubberblock on the sandpaper to clean it? What kind of rubber? Will tire rubber work?

acewoodturner · August 11, 2016, 05:37:14 AM

I don't know what the dollar price is in Sterling but if you are happy with it then its a good price. My first roller is a rubber coated one and the second one is steel. I also have a couple of dents in my push down rollers, must be from when the previous owner sanded a narrow piece and tried to take off too much in one pass. Doesn't affect the operation at all. Taking off the glued up sandpaper sounds like an amateur was using it instead of using the clips, what a pita.
The second roller is about 0.1mm or so lower than the first one. If you email KUFO they will send you a pdf manual for their drum sanders. They sound almost identical and they will have the adjustments in it. Unfortunately my pdf got deleted and I cant find my print out just now.
The rubber block I got came from Axminster Power Tools. If you go onto their website you can easily find it. I am sure that you can purchase similar over your way. I have used other lumps of rubber as well so I don't suppose the make up of it is critical.
As a by the way, I won a square chisel morticer on Ebay on Saturday. Its a Multico M1 and 240v. Must be about 40 years old and looks in good condition. The clamping handle for the wood needs some tlc. It cost me £95 which is a bargain. I was the only one bidding and I got it for the starting price. It arrives today on a pallet from about 300 miles away. The pallet delivery was £120 which is cheaper than the diesel for my van and a couple of meals thrown in. All in all a good day!

teakwood · August 11, 2016, 10:05:29 PM

Mike, on page 11 you can find the different heights on the rollers.

google: powermatic dual drum sander pdf

Did 5 hours of readjusting and repairs on the sander today, the bed wasn't leveled

, the drums were out of adjustments too and after 2 hours with the chisel and brakecleaner i had the alum drum nice and cleaned of the glue, what a pita, Set the second roller 0.15mm deeper, tomorrow i will try to make the sandpaper fit, there are no holding clamps left, so i think i will use some hoseclamps

acewoodturner · August 13, 2016, 03:34:01 AM

After all that work when you get it going fine you will sure have a big smile on your face. There's nothing better than bringing back to life an old machine and having it earn its keep. Even better when you consider the money you save and the satisfaction that you have saved it from the scrap yard.
My morticer arrived yesterday and all I had to do was free up the sliding ways with a bit of elbow grease as I reckon it had spent 20 years in a damp garage unused. The motor sounds sweet and I put a longer cable on it as it only had a 3' one on it. All I have to do now is get some bushes made for the sizes if chisels I wish to use and I can do that on my mates metal turning lathe at the cost of £10 for a length of bright mild steel and a couple of hours work. Good result for both of us!

teakwood · August 13, 2016, 08:13:13 AM

I will be satisfied when it finally works. I think i can reduce my sanding time by 80% with that machine.
That machine wouldn't have gone to the junk yard! Its pretty new, 2004. Costa Rica is still a third world country so nothing goes to the junk, everything hold its value. That was the only sander with those characteristics who i could find in the whole country, so i would have payed more for it. Sometimes is cheaper to by in the states were a large amount of machines are available and the prices are cheap, but then you have to pay for freight and tax here.

I put a 100 and 120 grit on it, to try out. their kinda expensive also. 50$ for the two sandpapers. Still not done, because i am rearranging my workshop to fit the new machine, had to destroy a concrete ramp and install all the new tubes for the dust collection system.

Mike, why dont you fill out your profile with your age and where you live, it helps a lot sometimes to know those things. can you post a picture of you new buy?

teakwood · August 30, 2016, 08:01:29 AM

Hi Mike

How exact is the sanding thickness of you sander? I have used the machine sometimes already, still has some flaws. I have a thickness difference over the length of the board up to 0.4mm and thats just unexaptable. I measured the infeed belt and it seems to me that it has different heights, its really old and stretched. So i ordered a new one, send mi back an other 200$ but i need that machine to work perfectly. I have lots of work right now so i will have a return on the investments made.
Also did notice that my sandpapers (100/120) are too rough, the second one (120) leaves to much scratches in the wood. My brother is a professional cabinetmaker in Switzerland and he told me that they are always skip one number between the sanding belts, so 80/120, 100/150, 120/180. So i will try 100/150

teakwood · August 31, 2016, 08:54:45 PM

Did the infeed belt change, took me almost a day with all the adjustments after instaling the new one. not fun to take out the table without an other person. But now its all set up, super result, i am really happy. thickness difference within 0.1 mm over length and width!! Did try out 100/150 grit combo and it works a lot better, even could go to 100/180 but will outworn the installed sandpaper first.
Oh boy does that machine ease my work! ;D ;D. Sanded 12 cabinetwalls 18"x 50" in 15 minutes, before it took me 1.5 hours to do it with a handheld 4" sander.

A new 20" spiral cutterhead for my planer and a plano glue press are on the way down from Florida. they will also fasten my worktime and save me money in the long run.

Happy working! :D :D

acewoodturner · September 01, 2016, 03:08:36 PM

Sounds like a good result. 0.1mm isn't too bad considering its wood and not steel. I have also got the plano glue press and my only spare wall was just outside my toilet so that's where it is. Another good bit of kit and saves some floor space as well. I am not going down the spiral head cutter as I have a 4 blade tersa cutter on my Sedgwick planer thicknesser which can plane up to 12" wide boards. That was another ebay bargain which just needed cleaned up and worked perfectly.

teakwood · September 01, 2016, 10:57:45 PM

My shop isnt too big. Around 35m2. so that plano press will save me another 1.5m2 of floor space, the wall space i have, so i ordered 2 plano presses with a total of 5 clamps.
How do you like yours? Will it glue the boards even together?
I hope to eliminate the wood biscuits and the time of the process they bring. If that works, the press will pay its self within a year.
The spiral head was long needed, every time 60$ to sharp the straight knifes and then over 2 hours to set the blades and still dont have them 100% accurate finally decided to go for that 1000$ purchase

acewoodturner · September 02, 2016, 04:11:08 AM

If your boards are dead flat its great to work with. If there is any slight curve in them there isnt enough sideways pressure tio flatten them out. I still use biscuits on all my panels anyway. I got a lamello classic bj recently and its very accurarate. I previously used an Elu/dewalt one and it was rubbish and now lurks in the back of my cupboard. My workshop is 950 square fet and a large part of it is taken up by my kiln and spraybooth and a huge amount of kiln dried timber so I am pushed for space as well so the plano clamps are pretty good as a space saver.