I just got a new performax and I have a very strange problem with it. Perhaps you can help me.
The sanding drum gets a stripe which extends all around the drum. It is abot 1/4 inch wide and it leaves a ridge on the board being planed. I have carefully checked for any interference with the sanding drum, the pressure rollers and the housing. everything appears in order. The “stripe” looks like it may be the paper loading up with wood dust. I have the machine connected with a four inch pipe to a two HP collector. No dust comes into the shop at all. The only thing I can think of is that the “stripe: is in line with one of the bolt heads the hold the cover latch. The bolt is not interfering and is not proud any more than it’s mate on the other side of the latch. I am wondering if in some manner it is interfering with the airflow. I am thinking this because i believe I have eliminated all other posibilities.
I am wondering if other Performax owners have experienced this and if you have found a solution?
Thanks for any and all advice.
Keith
Replies
Keith,
I've had a 16-32 for a couple of months and have not seen your issue. I keep an 'eraser' under the machine and clean the paper in use occasionally to remove dust that has loaded on it. The only stripes I've gotten are the result of operator error; i.e., trying to remove too much material or not making sure the belt is tight.
One thing to check occasionally is the belt tightness. When you install a belt, the catch mechanism on the right side will take up the slack. During operation, the belt will stretch a bit causing it to become a little loose, in which case you need to re-clamp the right side of the belt so the spring-loaded tension system works properly.
Don't jam the wraps of the belt too close together. It might ride up on itself which will result in burning.
Regards,
Bill Arnold - Custom Woodcrafting
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BArnold and Doug. Thank you for the tips. I played with the performax all day, yesterday and tweeked all the settings etc. I changed belts and grits sanded some rough cut burls and fell in love with it. The machine that I bought had been sold to a professional cabinet shop and they returned it to the store after using it three days. No wonder they returned it. The drive belt tension was not right, the tension rollers set to loose so the board slipped on the conveyor belt and the sanding drum was not parallel with the table.I did solve the "stripe" and it was due to the nuts on the cover latch. I removed the offender (which has a washer and nut inside the machine) and put it back with the rounded head in and the nut and washer outside. It isn't as pretty, but the stripe is gone.Thanks for the tips on operation and strip insallation. I had been winding the abrasive very carefully to get each wrap touching the previous, so now I will leave a bit of clearance. I also learned a costly lesson. One of the burls had a small stone inclusion which put a serious mark on the abrasive and I can see this one cannot be fixed. I guess that roll is relegated to rough work, first passes etc.One more question if you have time - The conveyor belt is grinding on the alignment strips inside its carriage. The belt picks up a considerable amount of white swarf just on its edges, It does not appear out of alignment as it is grinding the same amount on both sides. Do you know if this is a break in issue which will solve itself or will I need to remove the whole conveyor to get at a setting inside it?
I also cannot figure out the appropriate setting for thr four tension springs (two each side) for the pressure rollers. The manual indicates to back them off to eliminatete snipe, but makes no mention of initial settings. I don't trust that the initial settings were "factory" as someone else set up the machine (and not very well either).I really appreciate your taking the time to help me. Hope I can return a favor some day.
Keith
Keith,
Sorry, can't help you on this since mine is a a dual-head 25" machine and the belt/ roller system is very different system from 16/32 sander. Good luck.
Doug
Keith,
The strip can be caused by one of two conditions: the first, as Bill described, is that the roll was not sufficiently tight or became loose causing one edge to run up on the adjacent edge which causes a ridge and burns the wood. I have found it a good practice to run several board through avoiding the first 3 or 4 inched of the take-up end on the drum and then checking the to see if the roll has loosened. The other cause is a board with a glue line or a pitch pocket. This can be avoided by running your board at an angle so the roll is not hitting the glue line or pitch in the same spot over and over. The most effective way to sand boards is to run them through 3 times at the same setting at opposite angles and then straight through as the last run. This minimize the machine marks although you will still need to clean up with an ROS and hand sanding.
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