Drum Sander Question

[Andrew Kertesz]

In cleaning up and repairing the Jet 16/32 I bought I am taking steel wool to the conveyor bed to clean it up. Is there any reason NOT to put a coat of wax on the bed before putting it all back together? Do you think it would wear off on the belt and transfer to the drive roller? Any thoughts?

[George Bokros]

I wax my jointer bed and my planer bed and do not fear the wax transferring to my stock as I machine it so my guess is it would not transfer. Just use a paste was not a liquid.

[Andrew Kertesz]

I was thinking Johnson's paste, it's what I use on everything else.

[George Bokros]

That's what I use on my jointer, planer and table saw.

[Bruce Page]

As you mentioned, you run the risk of your rollers slipping and/or contaminating the underside of the conveyor paper. The bed wasn't designed to be waxed, so why take the risk?

[Bill Space]

A The bed wasn't designed to be waxed, so why take the risk?

I can see your point Bruce, which is, I believe, that the belt slides over the bed on the sander, which makes the bed of the sander different than say the bed of a planer or the top surface of the table saw, etc.

I have a small 12" dual drum sander. It never occurred to me to wax the bed. Probably because it would be impossible to do without removing the belt. I typed the following before thinking this through. But still, the question remains, why not wax the sander bed before installing a new belt?

So with regard to your stating that the table of a drum sander was not designed to be waxed:

[I typed the following first, before thinking about what you were saying. I now assume that you were referring specifically to drum sander tables, and not tools in general. Seems like others may also have misunderstood you as well, if I am correct in saying this]

Just wondering. How do we know this? I suppose this could be true of my table saw or jointer, or other tools.

Just never heard this stated before. Do you have a specific reference stating that wood working tool beds [actually this should read drum sander beds] are not designed to be waxed? Certainly metal working tools are oiled, not waxed I would imagine.

Honestly never heard that statement before. Is it really fact or just opinion. Just really curious, as I will continue to wax the beds on my machines to prevent surface rust from developing, if for no other reason...

Bill

[Bruce Page]

Bill, the OP's question was about waxing a drum sander bed. I was referring specifically to the drum sander and it's cloth backed conveyor belt. The sanders conveyor belt relies on tension between the belt and the rollers. Adding a wax into the mix may cause the drive roller to slip a bit on the belt. My point is that the machines designer did not call for the bed to be waxed (there was no call out for it on my old Delta 18/36 or my current Woodmaster DS) so why do it?

Waxing jointer beds, table saws, planer beds, etc. is a different subject and common practice both for rust prevention and to make passing the wood over the surface easier.

[Andrew Kertesz]

Bruce, you are correct about my concerns. I was wondering about the transfer especially to the drive roller. On the Jet 16/32 I believe only the drive roller would be a concern as the front roller seems to be a pivot more than anything.

[Ken Krawford]

Andy, I just finished installing a new belt on my 16-32 and pondered the same question. I ultimately decided to not wax the bed for exactly the reason you brought up. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.