What The Heck Was That? (kickback incident)

[Dennis McDonaugh]

I cut some thin veneer strips on the bandsaw out of 4/4 curly maple. I cut 7 pieces and ended up with a piece of stock too thin to cut again comfortably, but too thick to use as veneer. I planned to sand the thicker pieces to size with my Performax 16/32 first, bit I wasn't paying close attention and ended up putting one of the thinner pieces through the sander when the drum was too high above the belt. The drum shot it straight out of the sander into a Christmas present hall tree I just finished. It sounded like a gunshot even though I was wearing ear muffs and had a shop vac running. It put a 1/8" dent in white oak from about 6 feet away.

I never imagined I could get kickback of that magnitude out of the Performax, . It looked and sounded like it came out of a table saw. Needless to say I'll be paying a lot closer attention to what I'm doing with the Performax and where I stand when using it.

[Earl Reid]

I use a small sled with a stop , when running small and thin stock through my 16-32, no more throw back. I had it once and that was enough.
Earl

[Jim Becker]

That drum is "moving along" at quite a clip, so if it can grab the material uninhibited...bang! (Which you already know all about) 'Glad there was no personal damage. Perhaps a little heat/steam will get that dent out of the oak on the hall tree.

[Charles McKinley]

Hi Dennis,

I'm glad that you are alright. I had never considered kickback from the sander either.

Earl how long is your sled? How high is the stop?

Thanks

[Earl Reid]

Chuck ,
The sled is a piece of 3/4" wood about14" long and 4" wide, the stop goes across the end and will sand down to the thickness of the last piece ran through. It is wonderful when I make the corian center bands for the freedom pens.
Earl

[Jason Tuinstra]

Dennis, I would have never imagined the Performax as being capable of this kind of thing. I guess it makes sense. Regardless, thanks for the heads up. Glad to hear that you're okay. Like Jim said, I think a little water and an iron should be able to a long way to getting that dent fixed. That's a real life saver that I've had to use too many times.

[Dennis McDonaugh]

Jim, Jason, I've never used the steam trick, but I'll definitely be working on that this week.

Earl, did you put sandpaper on the bottom or top of you sled?

I was totally surprised by the kickback and the power with which it occurred. Just goes to show you that nearly anything in the shop can hurt you at any time.