performax 22-44 help needed

[Quinn McCarthy]

I bought a performax sander a few months ago. It was about 5 years old and never used. I have been getting a lot of burn marks on the wood. I have been trying different grits and different feed rate.I glued up a end grain cutting board last weekend and tried sanding that. It was jatoba and maple. I started with a new 80 grit belt half speed and burned that up instantly. I went down to 36 grits and that worked somewhat. I ended up with the jatoba squares black and the maple a little dark. I was using about 1/4 turn per pass. I have been cleaning the belt between runs. I also did some oak doors where I was getting some burn. I also learned real quick about getting overlap between wrap on the drum. that makes burn marks too. The motor doesn't seem to be bogging down at all on each run. The load secor seems to work just fine. I bought it mainly for segemnted turning.

Heeeeeeeelp.

Quinn

[John Coloccia]

You're running it with dust collection, right?

Have a look at the pressure rollers. If they're adjusted incorrectly, they will run into the drum when the wood feeds underneath, and that will instantly destroy the paper and instantly burn whatever you're feeding. That would be my guess.

There's a procedure for properly adjusting the rollers. The manual is available online.

I hope that helps.

[Quinn McCarthy]

Thanks john I will take a look tonight.

Quinn

[Gary Muto]

I have a Jet 22-44" and have never used lower than 80 grit. In my experience I found that 1/8 turns for each pass eliminates burning and rarely activates the Sandsmart® system to slow down the conveyor. I also sand with conveyor speeds between 3/4 to full speed. If I get burning it is slight. The next pass will remove it... after I clean the sandpaper

[Dan Bowman]

Quarter turns are probably going to burn most woods. I use an eighth or less, but some woods still can have problems. I use the sanding sound as much as anything to gauge to right height adjustments. Ambrosia maple seems to be prone to burn stripes at the figure, at least for me.

[Quinn McCarthy]

Thanks for the helps.

Is there one types of abrasive that you find works best? I didn't find anyhing in the manual last night about adjusting the in and out feed rollers. I did find where you do that.

Quinn

[Tom Ewell]

tension roller adjustment
http://content.wmhtoolgroup.com/manuals/man_649004k.pdf
page 16

[John Coloccia]

I buy my abrasives from IndustrialAbrasives.com. I buy it in 52 yard rolls. Not only do they carry most everything, but they're GREAT to deal with. The only thing they don't carry is the 3M Gold sandpaper I prefer. You can also get a replacement conveyor from them (it's just a standard belt) BUT DON'T DO IT. One word of advice: replace the conveyor with nothing but Performax/Jet conveyors. I've tried several others and the only ones that track well are the Perfomax ones, for whatever reason. My guess is the small rollers just make it all the more critical to get the belt exactly straight or it just doesn't work well.