Jet Drum sander for veneer (16-32, 22-44 etc)

[John Coloccia]

Anyone using this to sand veneer? How thin can you go without using a sled?

[Richard Wolf]

I know this doesn't answer your question, but I have a Shop fox 26" dual drum and like using a sled of mdf because I think you get more consistent results across the veneer. I sand down to .060 to make shaker oval boxes.

[david brum]

I've sanded down to around 1/16" on a 16/32 without a sled. I'm pretty sure you could do more if the machine were set up accurately.

[John Coloccia]

For whatever reason, when I get down that thin something is always rubbing on something else. I'm having trouble figuring out what but it's making me unhappy...

[Neil Brooks]

Is your drum /definitely/ all flat and true ? Have you removed the abrasive, and -- with a good light source behind it -- used a known straight edge, while turning the drum, to verify ?

[david brum]

Hey John, I remembered seeing this article about aligning a 16/32 for veneer sanding.http://www.joewoodworker.com/performax.htm

[John Coloccia]

Thanks. In this case, the alignment is perfect. I'm trying to figure out why everyone else can go thin and I can't. It's difficult to see what's going one because there's covers, structures and mechanisms in the way.

[Neil Brooks]

Can you be sure that the issue only happens with very thin stock ?

Have you -- for example -- ever tried chalking (or using a pencil) the entire face of a board, and running it through ? Obviously, if all is well -- at any thickness -- you should remove the chalk/graphite, evenly.

I might suggest trying that, at a couple different thicknesses, to -- at least -- give you a head-start on where to look....

[David Kumm]

John, 1/16 is pretty easy on a 25x2 or a 37x2 with the thin belt. Any vibration in the drums? I have heard of drums where the hole isn't exactly centered causing problems but my Performax machines have been really good at veneer. Have to go very light as you get thinner. Dave

[Peter Quinn]

My 22-44 performax pro will do .060 no problem, I have gone .030 w/o a board under it in some species for making shims or non critical veneer such as for packing out a loose tenon, not really large pieces for show use. Its pretty much set up within .005" table to drum parallelism end to end. The gap is set a bit greater at the open end on purpose to avoid any dips in the center when sanding wide panels. I'd rather have a witness line than a dip given the choice. Other than the basic set up as per the manual and an occasional tune up I've never "done" anything to the machine per se to achieve these results.

[jerry cousins]

i have the 22-44 - when sanding veneers i have gotten in the habit of using a piece of sound board as a sled - the dense fiber board - it's textured enough to hold the piece without any kind of lip - and if it hits the roller it doesn't do any harm.
jerry

[John Aperahama]

I am quite happy to go to 1/8 then I use a sled 22/44 mainly coz its getting to close to the drive belt. Have been closer in the past out of shear laziness.

[John Coloccia]

I think the pressure rollers are hitting the drum. I need to investigate further but I'm tired. I'll look into it tomorrow but I have a feeling the pressure rollers have drifted.

[John Aperahama]

Pressure rollers will be on the drive belt been there done that