Meet the Equalizer

[mbcabinetmaker]

This is the latest addition to my shop. (Sorry Mark 7 you will just have to wait a while longer)




[ATTACH]11445[/ATTACH]

This is the Castle Equalizer edge bander. It has a true glue pot but is all manual with the exception of an end trimming knife. I have long ago excluded all the hot air banders from my wish list in Lu of a true glue pot model. I have looked at this bander at several Woodworking shows. It is a simple machine which I can just squeeze into my budget.





[ATTACH]11446[/ATTACH]

The little wheel is the glue roller. You can see the edge tape protruding between the glue roller and the Guillotine trimming knife.






[ATTACH]11447[/ATTACH]

This is the glue pellets. From Snow Bunnies I think.

[mbcabinetmaker]

[attach]11448[/attach]




[attach]11449[/attach]


The glue pellets are self feed into the heated glue pot as needed by the machine. You simply start pushing the board over the glue pot and it picks up the tape. When the side of the board makes contact it pushes the white switch in and when you clear with the end of the board the switch pops back out and activates the trimming knife. Well It is supposed to anyway. I am having a warranty issue with that.



[attach]11450[/attach]


[attach]11451[/attach]

Trimming is easy and straight forward with many manual trimmers on the market. I actually prefer a Case XX for the PVC tape.



As stated I am having some warranty problems with this machine but Castle is a good company and I am sure they will resolve them. I purchase it from a dealer in Charlotte and the company is in California. If I have to I can always sic mickyD on them.


You can watch a cool video here: http://www.castleusa.com/edgebanding.html

[joedw00]

Pretty neat machine, I'm sure you will get a lot of use out of it in your work.

[8iowa]

If you're into high volume work with plywood you gotta have something like that.

I don't use plywood that much anymore, so when the need arises I use the 7/8" x 50' edge banding from Woodcraft, and use a $3 (garage sale) clothes iron to apply the banding to the edge. By-the-way, Woodcraft also has a great edge band trimmer that is much faster and neater than using a Stanley knife.

[ss50th]

[quote="mbcabinetmaker"]

If I have to I can always sic mickyD on them.

I can't speak for Mickyd but it would be a short 500+ mile trip to Petaluma from San Diego.
Maybe he'll stop by my place on the way and explain why since yesterday I am finding metal filings on my quill teeth.

[dusty]

[quote="ss50th"][quote="mbcabinetmaker"]

If I have to I can always sic mickyD on them.]
Metal filings on your quill teeth? Not a good sign!

What have you been doing lately that involves a lot of quill movement?

Or have you been doing some metal work with the quill extended? I did that a short while ago (not the quill but the headstock lock) and jammed the headstock lock so tight that I had to remove it completely. I found aluminum shavings in the threads of the lock screw and wedges.

Nice machine Mark. I'm looking forward to viewing the next project with banded edges.

[ss50th]

Metal filings on your quill teeth? Not a good sign!

What have you been doing lately that involves a lot of quill movement?

Or have you been doing some metal work with the quill extended? I did that a short while ago (not the quill but the headstock lock) and jammed the headstock lock so tight that I had to remove it completely. I found aluminum shavings in the threads of the lock screw and wedges.

Nice machine Mark. I'm looking forward to viewing the next project with banded edges.

Thanks for your reply here. I need to investigate it more thoroughly. Removed filings from gear as well as quill. Reinserted the quill and more filings. I don't want to hijack this thread so if I can't determine what is wrong I'll begin a new one. Thanks again.