Help with Perfrormax 16-32

[Alan Greene]

I have installed two new rolls of sandpaper on the drum and both have broken. I had not used the machine for over 6 months so i made sure that everything was set up correctly and especially that the bed and drum where parallel because I was going to be flipping the wood. The first new sandpaper I had trouble securing on the end by the motor. But I did get it secure, double checked it etc. The test wood went through fine twice, then all of a sudden the wood had a wide burn mark on it. The sandpaper had torn and then partially slid over on top of itself and I had burned wood.
I replaced the sandpaper again and checked everything, ran the wood through and the sandpaper broke all the way through on the first run. Again it was right by the motor, about 1/2 inch from where you put it down into the drum to secure it. I cannot figure out what I am doing wrong. I am not running the wood through and taking to big of a bite, only 1/64th. Any suggestions because I am stumped?:confused:

[David Christopher]

Alan, first thing to check is to make sure that the sandpaper is coiled in the right direction...second, make sure the drum is cool and the paper is tight so when it heats up the paper will get tighter....and if all fails you can get hook and loop to cover the drum and use hook and loop sandpaper

[Michael Wildt]

I was just about to write the same comment. The direction on those machines has to be important. I do not have one my self, but I have looked at them in detail in the past. Check this manual as well. http://content.jettools.com/manuals/man_629004K.pdf

[Brad Townsend]

I have never had a roll actually break on mine, but I have had burning on several occasions when the roll shifted and the edge of one lap of the roll went up and over another causing a high spot which burned the workpiece. It was a real pain!:mad:

I am now extremely careful how I install the roll, getting it as tight as possible and trying to use the entire width of the drum, even leaving a small gap between each lap if possible. Also, make your passes as light as possible, especially when using finer grit rolls.

Hope this helps.

[Craig D Peltier]

Sounds like to me roll is too loose.If those ends arent tightly secured it affects the whole roll.
Im sure it's burning on the lap over. If its in random places, either too much bit of wood or too fast.
I always sand stuff under 7 inch wide and I set it at about 60-70. First I open the lid , open it up enough to get board under drum ,start cranking down adn keep spinning the drum by hand to see when it hits. Adjust he bite that way and not with a ruler.Take 32nd or less.

[Alan Greene]

I am going to assume the first problem was being loose as you have suggested even though I tried to get it as tight as possible. I am going to start using your suggestion Brad and start putting a little bit of space. I just finished putting a new roll on and it worked for 7-8 passes then the end by the motor loosened up and overlapped. I did get that tightened and it seems to be working now. I did not do anything different though, except double checking. Here are some pictures of the last roll and the piece that I ran through. Thank you for your suggestions.

[Don Selke]

Hi Allen:

When you install your abrasive, make sure that you have spring tension sufficiently to keep the abrasive taught. Are you using pre-cut abrasive or do you buy in bulk and cut your own as I do. If the abrasive is to long, you may not have sufficient spring tension. You also want to make sure that you have space between the abrasive when it is on the drum. I keep a old piece of pre-cut abrasive as a template when cutting from bulk.
In addition, I seldome use abrasive in excess of 150 grit on the machine. The drum sander is not a finish sander, I use my ROS for that application.
Feed rate is also important, make sure that you are not feeding the material to fast into the drum. In addition, if the abrasive is to wide at the point where it enters the tension mechanism, it may be slipping. Belt length is very important.
When feeding the material into the drum prior to turning on the drum power switch. I feed the material then lower the drum to the point where the drum starts to move. Make this your first cut and adjust your drum height from this point. I lower my drum 1/8 of a turn only until sanding is complete. Hope this helps.
I see that you are in Chandler, If you have any further problems, send me a e-mail with your phone number and we may be able to get together.

[Phil Harding]

I have never had a roll actually break on mine, but I have had burning on several occasions when the roll shifted and the edge of one lap of the roll went up and over another causing a high spot which burned the workpiece. It was a real pain!:mad:

I am now extremely careful how I install the roll, getting it as tight as possible and trying to use the entire width of the drum, even leaving a small gap between each lap if possible. Also, make your passes as light as possible, especially when using finer grit rolls.

Hope this helps.

I've had both a 16-32 and now a 22-44 and I've never had the paper break. But I've had the paper shift during use on both machines and I get the burning others have described. Now when I put on paper I leave a small gap between wraps as Brad suggested. Leave a bigger gap at the end as this provides room for the spring clips to take up the slack. Remember that the paper will stretch as it heats up with use. So now after a pass or two I stop the machine and retighten the paper on the motor side to take up the slack. Theoretically the spring clips should take up the slack, but in my experience that doesn't always happen.

-- Phil

[Michael Wildt]

Alan, I think you need to make sure you have the 1/8" at the end of the drum. Your picture does not show this and it could have effect on the paper over lapping each other after having run for a while. See the attached copy from the manual.


I am going to assume the first problem was being loose as you have suggested even though I tried to get it as tight as possible. I am going to start using your suggestion Brad and start putting a little bit of space. I just finished putting a new roll on and it worked for 7-8 passes then the end by the motor loosened up and overlapped. I did get that tightened and it seems to be working now. I did not do anything different though, except double checking. Here are some pictures of the last roll and the piece that I ran through. Thank you for your suggestions.

[Alan Greene]

Michael, thank you for reminding me that I have all those manuals neatly kept in binders for a reason. I did have the 1/8th there but it was not put there on purpose.

Don I have taken your advice, I am using precut paper. I will try to e-mail you later today/tomorrow.

The paper is wrapped tightly in the proper direction and is wound correctly, now, with a coarser grit.

After all of these corrections I ran 3 of 4 pieces through this morning. It did start to overlap slightly so I adjusted that and no problems. Thank You all.

Then:
The sandpaper that moves the wood broke. I had seen one corner of the paper starting to delaminate and ordered a new one. I had a lot of trouble getting the paper to track properly. The paper was running to the motor side significantly. It was bad enough that I took the paper off to make sure I had not put it on backward. The adjuster on the motor side has only a couple of threads left exposed. I followed the manual exactly on the changing of the paper and adjusting the tracking so I am clueless why it took so much tension on the motor side. Any ideas would be welcomed.

The last piece of wood got done and the 16-32 works, so again thanks.

[Don Selke]

Hi again Allen:

I have found that the abrasive conveyor belt on the preformax does not hold up well here in the desert SW. I use a rubber coveyor belt on my sander that works excillent. The adhesive that binds the abrasive belt is destroyed by our 115+ temperatures.
Hope to hear from you.