Using a 24 inch Powermatic dual drum sander I’m typically experiencing scoring/burning on one or both paper rolls after a relatively small number of passes – say between 6 and 12, a rate that I know is way too high. This is happening with dry cherry and mesquite without pitch problems and despite shallow cuts (about a quarter turn per cut). I’ve checked set up, paper grits and adjustments carefully against recommendations.
Does anyone have suggestions on what to do with a scored/burned roll except to replace it? Wire or brush cleaning doesn’t seem to do much good – once the score is there it persists and gets worse, marring the wood. Should I try to get rid of the score on the paper by, say, using a chisel cut the score area down to the paper base? Is there a solvent that might help?
I’d welcome tips on ways to avoid scoring/burning on the paper roll in the first place.
The unit’s great when it works well but I’m buring through too many sanding rolls.
Replies
Gum rubber
Different species of lumber react totally different on a drum sander. Many of the "oily" or "resineous" lumbers will fill up the paper very quickly and the paper needs to be cleaned with every pass. Once the paper gets to the "pilled or scorched state give up on that section of paper.
I go through a lot of the gum rubber erasors and not as much paper as I used to. Also a 1/4 turn is a LOT with some lumbers. Normally I only take 1/8 turn, and more often 1/16 or less less per pass, especially with 120 or finer paper.
Sanding is totally different than surface planing.
Burned Spot on Roll
Hello,
I only have a small 16/32 unit but I found if I get the sand paper covering over each other, a burnt spot will happen and you swear.
I found a few months ago that if I took a razor blade and worked slowly, I could remove most of the Pitch that burnt onto the sandpaper.
I've marked out 4 marks per Quarter Turn and 2 marks is the most I ever take off. If I'm sanding something wider, like 12" or so, I only use 1 mark on hardwood panels as it gets more surface area to sand off.
Mark work with diagonal chalk marks and be patient as It levels things out, to flat. Boring yes, but good results will be rewarded!
Vance
Scoring on drum roll
I have the 16/32 Performax sander and I have found out from experience that when the dust collector is not up to par a significant amount of saw dust will collect on the inside of the cover and once a clump of saw dust drops on the board being fed into the drum it will immediately fill up the roll in a narrow band and cause a severe burn on the wood. I now have a dedicated vac. for the sander and I carefully monitor it's suction to insure that all the saw dust is being taken out of the sander with none being deposited on the cover. This may or may not be your problem.
cleanable belts
I know that for my wide belt sander I can purchase a good quality belt that'sd made with polyester or some other material that can be cleaned off with liquid cleaners. I spray on some simple green and let it soak and wash it off with a hose. You may be able to puchase a good quality sanding wrap for your drum sander , but I couldn't tell you where. I got my belts from Griizzly.
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled