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The whine of a sander or the ka-chunk of a nailer is not only music to the ears of a wood flooring contractor — it's money in the bank.
In the silence of a jammed nailer or a burned-out sander motor, you can almost hear the lost income swirling down the drain.
Tool and equipment manufacturers will all tell you their machines work best — and longest — when they're maintained properly. But their advice varies somewhat, depending on what kind of equipment you're talking about.
On drum and belt sanders, edgers, and buffers, "dust is the biggest culprit," says Tom Heese of Palo Duro Hardwoods, distributor of Lägler sanding machines.
"Dust is responsible for probably 70 percent of the problems that cause machines to stop running," agrees Bob Moffett of Kunzle & Tasin Sanders. "We'll disassemble them and blow the dust out of them and — magically — they start working again."
A ready remedy is at hand if you have an air compressor on-site, says John Goddard of Essex-Silver-Line Corporation. "Have an air nozzle handy, so after a job you can go outside and blow your machines off. Sawdust is like water, it'll seek its own level and settle everywhere it can go," he says.
Lube job
On nailers, the most common problems relate to lubrication — too little, too much or the wrong one. How much and what kind of lubrication is right depends on whose equipment you're using.
"We say you should put a couple of drops of lubricating oil in the air stream after every four hours of use," advises Ron Domkowski of Powernail Company, which makes nailing machines.
Nate Pickel of Stanley-Bostich recommends two drops of oil a couple of times a day, while Curtis Richard of Primatech and Win Waterman of SpotNails say two drops of oil daily do the trick.
Some industry professionals believe any lubrication is better than no lubrication, but the pneumatic toolmakers are virtually unanimous in their opposition to using common household spray lubricants.
"It'll tear a tool right up," says Pete Martini of Aerosmith. "It attacks the rubber components inside the tool, like the O-rings and seals."
According to Pickel, it also penetrates and compromises the coating that holds the nails together in strips and, with friction-caused heat, bonds the fasteners to the wood.
Pickel also cautions against air-tool oil made for other kinds of tools, like pneumatic wrenches. "It's too thin," he says.
Instead, use "a non detergent, lightweight oil," Martini suggests. "A lot of the companies that make guns actually brand their own tool lubricant. But the bottom line is that it should be non-detergent and lightweight."
As for manual nailers, Jerry Coleman Jr., of Porta-Nails, a manual nailing machine manufacturer, says, "They're really very easy to maintain. You should lubricate the ram assembly lightly with a dry, silicon spray or a similar non-fluid lubricant. You don't want to use a wet lubricant or anything that's going to attract dirt and glue residue and that kind of thing.
"We get some tools back in here that have been greased and oiled and everything else," Coleman says. "They're gummed up every time. Use a dry silicon spray and they won't get gummed up."
Tools for fastening underlayment to concrete sometimes require more lubrication than do nailers and staplers used on flooring, says John Tillman of ET&F Fastening Systems, a manufacturer of such tools. He recommends an "in-line oiler that has to be filled every day. With every shot it injects a spray of oil."
But underlayment fasteners also have more margin for error on the side of overlubrication. With flooring nailers and staplers, "if you get too much oil, it blows out a mist that can land on your unfinished floor and leave an oil spot," says Domkowski. "So there's a happy medium depending on your duty cycle. Most experienced installers can tell by the sound of the gun whether it's time for lubrication. It kind of slows down because it's running dry."
At least one manufacturer has introduced a pneumatic stapler for half inch or thinner engineered flooring that requires no oil whatsoever. "It's actually an oil-less tool," says Senco's Bill Womack. "Nothing there to stain the work surface."
One thing all the fastening tools have in common is the need to be cleaned.
"On pneumatics, the lower portion of the gun is basically open. When the driving blade retracts, there is a suction to it that can suck sawdust up into the gun," says Domkowski. "After awhile, that sawdust can pack the seals, making them non-flexible and causing them to leak," he says. "So it's always best when you're through with either a manual orpneumatic to blow it off with air and clean it up."
The driving blade is often cited by manufacturers as a part that eventually needs to be replaced.
"There isn't a nailing machine in the world that on occasion doesn't need to have the driving blade replaced. The blade gets the impact, and sooner or later it will break. You should always have extra blades with you on the job site,"Domkowski says.
Other "wear items" to keep an eye on, according to the manufacturers, include the nail gate, the seals and varioussprings.
Martini suggests regularly checking "all the screws that attach things to the tool. Keep everything tightened up," he says.
Air quality
Any discussion of air-tool maintenance eventually leads to the quality of the air itself, and then on to its source.
"The proper function of the pneumatic tool has everything to do with the compressor," says Richard. "Have the proper air flow and pressure, and of course drain the tank when you've got water in there. Otherwise, that water is going to end up in the nailer."
"I think any pneumatic guy will tell you that dirty air lines containing a lot of moisture and a lot of oil — just crummy input air — is a big problem," says Martini. The result is "as ludgy kind of stuff in the tool."
Filters are available for removing oil and dirt, and some tools include water-removal units that eliminate most of the water that infiltrates the tool.
"The cleaner and drier you keep the air going into your tools, the fewer problems you're going to have and fewer contaminants are going to get on your wood floor," says Womacks.
But even high-quality air is a problem if there isn't enough of it.
"An air gun actually operates on air volume, not pressure,"says Moffett. "But most people look at a pressure gauge."
Often "they're not running a large enough air hose, which should be 3/8- to 1/2-inch in diameter," he says. "What happens is then they don't get enough air volume, the nail doesn't drive all the way down into the wood. So the floor technician cranks the pressure up, which drives the nails down. But he hasn't really fixed the problem. All he's done is put tremendous excess pressure on the backside of the piston, reducing the life of the gun probably 80 percent," Moffett adds.
Don't forget to maintain the compressor itself, Pickel warns. Keep the oil at the proper level, and keep the air intake filter clean. Often it's a question of just removing a screw, then washing out and reusing the filter.
"Some people don't even know it's there," Pickel says.
Be sure to use a heavy enough extension cord to provide proper power to the compressor, he adds. Getting power to a compressor 50 feet away might require a 10-gauge cord, he says.
Power up
Another part of preventive maintenance is making sure electrical equipment operates on the right power supply. Since many sanding machines require 220 volts, power is a major concern for operators of these machines.
"Guys assume when they plug into a dryer outlet they're going to get the right voltage," say Todd Schutte of BonaKemi USA, seller of finishing supplies as well as sanding machinery. It's best to have a built-in voltmeter right on the machine, he says.
Chances are, for example, "on commercial jobs you're only going to get 208 volts," Schutte says. On other jobs, the power source may be a substantial distance from where the sander is going to be used. "The voltage is going to drop," he says, even if it's true 220 at its source.
In such cases, a booster can be used to increase the voltage by as much as 15 percent, Schutte says.
Running a machine with insufficient voltage can cause overheating and damage electrical components, including switches and motors, he says.
In cases where there is a dryer, range, air conditioner or other outlet available providing the proper voltage, Moffett suggests the flooring contractor arrive on the job prepared to take advantage of it. In his truck should be a"series of what are known as pigtails — short cords about two feet long," the various male ends of which would have prongs arranged to accommodate all the different outlet configurations commonly encountered in the area. The female ends would all be the same, to plug into the sander cord.
"I make up these things and I might have 10 pigtails in my truck," Moffett says. "So I can get from 10 different outlets to my cord. I don't have to do anything when I get to the job," he says.
Unfortunately, all too often a 220 outlet is unavailable, Moffett says,especially in houses more than 15 years old situated in areas where the use of natural gas is prevalent. This predicament can tempt the flooring contractor to do any number of "crazy things," like entering an electrical panel, and hooking up to it without regard for proper grounding or breaker protection.
"First of all, the action is totally illegal," he says. Secondly, it's reckless and dangerous. "Check with your local municipality to see what's legal to do." Typically there are "several options,"he says. "One is calling a licensed electrician."
"You have to maintain your cables, too," adds Tom Heese. "If one gets a cut in it, you'd better replace it for safety purposes."
Motor on
The sander motor itself require speriodic attention, especially to the brushes.
"Our machine has regular carbon brushes in it. If you watch them for wear, your motor will run forever," says Goddard. Brush replacement "is pretty easy to do yourself," he says. "There are two little plates to take off in order to inspect them. They're held in by some clips."
"The carbon brushes seat on the armature," says Wayne Lee of Alto US. "If they're not changed on a regular basis, it will shorten the life of the armature and eventually burn the machine out."
Especially on edgers, he says, "brush wear is probably the key issue."
Some machines also require periodic lubrication, although more manufacturers are using sealed bearings and other fittings that eliminate the need for regular lubrication.
Other components require periodic inspection and sometimes replacement:
Drive belts: On the big drum machines, "basically you want to keep an eye on the belts that run everything," says Goddard.
"You will have to replace your belts every so often," says Heese, "when they look frayed or they develop cracks in the rubber."
Most sanding machine manufacturers recommend using belts made specifically for sanding machines, and warn against using off-the-shelf belts from a hardware store.
Rollers: "With the belt machines," says Jim Tasikas Jr. of Galaxy Floor Sanding Machines, "there's the top roller assembly that needs to be cleaned and maintained. The top roller keeps the tension on the belts — it's crucial that it's clean so you don't get any vibration in the belt, which will cause chatter on the floor."
Pulleys: "If you put your belts on tootightly or too loosely, it will affect the wayyour pulleys wear," says Goddard. "Eventually, they can become out-ofround."
Drums: "On the drum sander or thebelt sander, the maintenance of theactual contact wheel or the drum is goingto be the biggest thing, whether it's hitwith a nail, it's got chunks of rubbermissing, or it's out-of-balance," says Lee.
"Listen for noise in the drum and the drum bearings," suggests Gary Rudolph of Drumco, a machine rebuilder, accessory manufacturer, and parts seller. "You want to check to see if the drum shafts are loose. Make sure that the drum, the shaft that it turns on and the pulleys — the whole assembly — isn't wiggling around."
"Make sure the covering on the drum is not loose," he adds. "Spin the drum and eyeball the edges across a straightedge and look for any hopping, which indicates out-of-round. If you see any hopping, the drum will need to be dressed."
Rudolph says he sees far too many drums with sandpaper on the inside. "The shims will break off and fall inside, and they'll stay in there. I've disassembled drums and have taken out enough sandpaper to fill your two hands cupped together, I kid you not," he says. "Imagine how far out of balance these drums are."
Wheels: The wheels need attention as well, Rudolph says: "Are the wheels running true. Visually inspect them, see if they're hopping. Look at them very closely. Make sure that the rear caster is not flopping around or leaning. It may need rebushing?"
"A lot of guys will get out on their floors and sand them while the filler is still wet," says Heese. "The filler gets picked up onto the wheels and hardens, making the wheels out-of round. You've got a clump on your wheel."
Also, "check your wheels to make sure they are free of debris and do not have flat spots," says Mike Powers of Floor Style Products, a distributor of machines, tools and supplies.
Transportation and storage
Flat spots on the wheels and indentations on the drums are often caused by poor transportation and storage practices.
A machine should be stored so that it isn't sitting on its wheels, says Moffett. "If you do a job and the wheels are warm, and you put it in your cold van or on a concrete floor, the wheels will develop a little indentation," he says. "Then maybe the weather changes and it gets even colder — all these things are going to cause those wheels to remember those indentations," he says.
However, "when some people put a machine in a truck they'll lay it on its side to prevent wheel damage, and then they'll throw a thousand board feet of lumber on top of it and crush the machine," says Lee. "I see that all the time: a $5,000 machine on the bottom of a wood pile."
"Some people will also take their machines and run them up driveways of rough concrete — it just tears up their wheels," says Heese.
"Transport your machine from the truck to the job site in a way that doesn't damage it," says Moffet. "If that means carrying it, then that's what it means."
Many manufacturers suggest storing the machines with their various belts disengaged.
"Always remove your sanding belts from your machines when you're finished sanding. Loosen the tension, or remove the belt altogether," says Tasikas. "The tension on the belt can cause the drum to go out-of-round. The rubber gets hot when you're sanding. When the rubber gets heated it will conform to the shape it's been tightened into.
"For a drum sander, you should again loosen the paper because leaving paper tightened on a drum will cause the gap where the paper slides into to widen," Tasikas says. In addition, "you should immediately disengage the drive belts so that they can be allowed to cool in their natural state," say Moffett.
Dust to dust
The industry has developed a variety of technologies designed to reduce the amount of airborne dust created during the sanding process. These include vacuum units attached to the machines themselves, as well as vacuum systems that draw dust from the sanding machines and deposit it in a storage bag outside. Regardless of these efforts, however, dust remains the biggest challenge to maintaining a sanding machine.
"Dustless sanding," says Lee, "is an oxymoron. You can't have it."
That means machine operators will need to spend a lot of time cleaning wood dust off and out of their equipment.
"It's an abrasive," says Lee. "It's also an insulator. So if a machine is covered with dust, it's going to generate more heat and shorten its own lifespan."
So, while there are many maintenance issues to be considered to make sure your machinery keeps generating the sweet sounds of profit, any successful maintenance program begins and ends with dust control. As Lee says, "Our enemy is dust."