Wavy lines on timesaver

[petriej]

I have a Ramco Timesaver that was purchased used and did not come with any sort of operators manual. I have checked everything over and it works very well in terms of belt aligner, conveyer, etc. The problem that I run into is that sometimes I get wavy lines (ridgelike) in the finish of material (mostly Al) that I run through.

Any suggestions or does/don'ts for these type of machines.

Thank you,


J

[ger21]

Could be a damaged roller, or bad belts. Are the lines always in the same location on the machine?

[petriej]

The belts are new. The lines don't appear all of the time, just occasionally. The waves form parallel to the roller as the piece feeds through. Do I need more pressure, less pressure? Any ideas?

Thanks,

J

[keebler303]

does this machine have a platen between the rollers? are you using it? is it in good condition, graphite sheet in good shape? How about trying a finer grit?

Matt

[petriej]

Please describe platen. I only undertand platen in terms of vacuum bagging. It doesn't matter what grit. I have new and old belts up to 320 grit. They all do it SOME of the time.

Thanks,

J

[junkxp]

i'm not really sure if i have this right but i think he is talking about the pressure pad that sits in the middle of the rollers and backs the belt.

how big of parts are you running through it?
I only have wood exp. but have seen lines created by long parts boucing as the go through, unsupprted heavy parts and other things that cause the table to move.

[ger21]

Yes, the platen is the flat piece between the rollers. You want it set just below the rollers so the sanding is done by the platen, not the rollers.

[keebler303]

Yes, the platen is the flat piece between the rollers. You want it set just below the rollers so the sanding is done by the platen, not the rollers.

Right, the platen is stationary so it gives a better finish. Any eccentricity in the rollers will show in your boards. Any kind of vibration working its way through he drive system can also affect the finish. The platen is generally lowered for the finish pass to get a nicer finish and kept up for roughing so it does not get worn out. Also the graphite sheet on the platen which the belt rides on must be in good shape. When people don't check it or leave the platen down all the time, the belt will eventually eat through it.

Another possibility, which may be more likely, is conveyor slippage. If the roller is not adjusted properly or the conveyor is older and not so "grippy", it can slip on the rollers. This causes the piece to stall for a split second under the pressure of the roller and will leave a line. This would be much less likely to occur on light cuts than heavier ones.


Matt

[petriej]

Another possibility, which may be more likely, is conveyor slippage. If the roller is not adjusted properly or the conveyor is older and not so "grippy", it can slip on the rollers. This causes the piece to stall for a split second under the pressure of the roller and will leave a line. This would be much less likely to occur on light cuts than heavier ones.


Matt

I think that you may be on to something. The conveyor belt does not grip at all. In fact I have to give the pieces a little nudge to get them doing under the first roller. If not, they just ride along on top of the conveyor.


Your thoughts??

[keebler303]

Replacing the conveyor may be the best option, but would be pretty expensive. I might try to somehow condition the conveyor. You may have slip between the conveyor and drive roller as well as between the workpiece and the conveyor.(both sides of the conveyor may be slipping) If it is slipping on the drive rollers, you can tighten up the roller so it is tighter on the conveyor, this will reduce slip between the drive and conveyor. If it would not screw up your material, you could try some type of belt dressing or other grippy coating. If you don't want to do that, maybe you could take a skim cut off of the conveyor with the sander. I'm not sure if you can raise it that high or if it would work but if you took off the top layer of rubber, it may expose some stickier fresh rubber underneath. Realize that you could screw up the whole machine by doing this but its your call on what you want to do.

Matt