Performax 16-32

[tim walker]

My machine is starting to leave burn marks so easily and is wearing out sandpaper. I am running mesquite through it. Am I lowering it too much?

[Peter White]

I have one and you can only take off small amounts at a time burning means you are trying to take off too much--we all do it.

[Mike Henderson]

In addition to what Peter said, it depends on the wood. Some wood gums up the sandpaper faster than others. But very light cuts are the way to go.

Mike

[Sam Force]

What others have said, also it depends on the grit you are using. On most woods I could go 1/4 turn with 100 grit

[Andrew Hughes]

When I had a 16-32 I used one of those big Rubber eraser sometimes a lot. I eventually sold it and figured out how to properly mill wood.
My drum sander was a time thief I’m really patient so I don’t say this lightly.
Good Luck

[Richard Coers]

The variables are feed speed, grit, and depth of cut. Do any of the 3 wrong and it burns. Dry mesquite is not hard to sand.

[Curt Harms]

What others have said, also it depends on the grit you are using. On most woods I could go 1/4 turn with 100 grit

When I first got my drum sander I bought a bunch of fine sandpaper and still have most of it. 80 to 120, maybe 150 is it for me. This is not really a finishing machine.

[Randy Heinemann]

Mesquite is a very hard wood. Some sources online say it's maybe the hardest of North American hardwoods. If that is correct, the abrasive belts would wear out very quickly. Also, as others have said, drum sanders are designed to take off a very tiny amount of wood on each pass. I usually try to only take off about .003" on each pass. The drum sander is an excellent tool for sanding a surface flat but will never replace a thickness planer for thicknessing a board (unless you have a lot of time and don't mind making many more passes than you would with a planer).

It's also possible that mesquite leaves residue on the sandpaper whick, very quickly, will reduce the effectiveness of sandpaper and cause burning I would guess.

Since you didn't say what grit you were using, maybe installing some 60 grit or even 40 (if available) would get better results with less paper degradation. After you have gotten the board flat, then go down a grit at a time or possibly even from 60 to 100. I rarely sand to finer than 100 on my drum sander. It's a Performax 16-32 also.

I'm not a mesquite expert, but have experienced similar problems on other hard woods.