Photo Index - Oliver Machinery Co. - 382-DD Double disc sander.

Machinery Photo Index

Manufactured/Badged by:
Oliver Machinery Co.
Grand Rapids, MI

Machine Specifications
Machine Class:	Wood Working Machinery
Machine Type:	Sander
Machine Size:	20"
Submitted By:	Dick Streff

Machine Specifications
Description/Model:	382-DD Double disc sander.
Date of Manufacturer:	1956
Serial Number:	86900 (View SN Registry Entry)
Last Updated	6/1/2007 9:55:09 PM

Comments:

I bought this poor, sad looking sander from a Craigslist ad in Kansas City, MO. It wasn't very well identified in the ad copy and the price was right so I headed down from Omaha one Saturday morning to have a look see.

I was a bit taken aback when I actually inspected the machine in person. It was dirty and ugly. It had served time the last couple decades in a fiberglass plant. Not the best environment for fine tools. The sanding discs currently on the machine are somewhere between 50 grit and road gravel grade. The seller demonstrated their effectiveness by jamming the end of a six foot tubafor into them. Such an ignominious life for a noble patternmakers tool.There are a couple areas of minor damage to the table mechanisms. One of the disc shrouds has been remade entirely from fiberglass. And the discs came to full speed painfully slow when the machine was powered up. Not just kinda slow. I mean real slow. And it was missing both the miter guage and the funky combination circle/duplication/angle guage dealy bob. I was so bummed with the whole thing I turned around and came back home to Omaha without it.

Well, non-buyers remorse got to eating at me after awhile. It is totally out of character for me to pass on a piece of Oliver machinery no matter what the condition. So I finally called the seller back and arranged to pick up the machine a couple days later. After my second six hour round trip I got the machine safely unloaded at home and dug into the electrical mess that was enclosed inside the combination starter. At some point in the life of the machine it has been converted from 440v to 220v. Not very skillfully, either. There is a 440v/110v control transformer inside that is no longer hooked to anything. But instead of changing the 110v starter coil some electrical wizard has grounded one side of it to the machine. Yikes.That is the second OWWM machine I've bought like that in the past couple years. I upgraded the leads from the starter to the motor to 12g and it seems to have helped the startup time a bit. With a stopwatch and clamp on amp meter I seem to be hitting full speed in about 30 seconds. Not terrific but maybe that is the best it will ever be. There is a fair bit of inertial energy to overcome in spinning up two 1/2" by 20" steel discs.

I did learn a nifty tidbit from the machines past from the seller, though. Apparently one of the shop employees was doing an after hours "gov't job" on a piece of aluminum and somehow managed to lose a thumb in the process. Not sure how one accomplishes that with a disc sander without diligent effort but.....

edit 6/1/07:
I finished the refurb of this sander this week. I am very happy with the results. It is one of the most satisfying machines I've ever given the once over. My heart doesn't usually go pitter-patter over sanding machines but this one is an exception.

I made a couple repairs to the machine. I replaced the fabbed up fiberglass disc shroud with one made out of 11g steel just like the original. It is nearly indistinguishable from the factory unit. I also fixed a small bit of damage to the pivot point on one side of the table. Bearings were replaced for pair of fresh sealed units. I also ditched the crappy electrical setup that had been foisted upon the machine and put on a vintage Allen-Bradley starter and Furnas push buttons. The rest of the work is mostly cosmetic, typical paint and bodywork. The machine had four distinct paint jobs in its lifetime. Two grays and the nasty blue on top of it all. I repainted in the proper blue-gray the machine had left the factory in Grand Rapids with.

Cleaned up and adjusted, it comes to full speed in a bit more appropriate interval. When it is shut down it coasts for at least five minutes. Those two 1/2" by 20" plates really are excellent flywheels. The Howell 2hp motor is smooth and quiet. The only noise is from the air rushing past the surface of the discs. I stuck a couple sanding discs on and played with it a bit. It will eat up the endgrain of a piece of red oak like it is hunk of chalk.

Photo 1:

Comments: Front view of unrestored machine (if there is such a thing with a double disc sander). Boogly royal blue paint job and all.
Source: My coolpix.

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Photo 2:

Comments: Front view after restoration.
Source: My coolpix.

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Photo 3:

Comments: Rear view of finished restoration.
Source: My coolpix.

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