Drum Sander Burning

[Paul Kinneberg]

I have a General 24" double drum sander that I have just begun to use. Up until this week I only put non glued up 3/4" or less thickness oak & hard maple wood through it with great results. On Wednesday I tried to sand a 13" wide by 1 3/4 thick by 9' long piece of oak and burned the #$^& out of it. My question is what did I do wrong? The burns are about a 1/2" to 1" wide and appear to be from glue getting on the belts which are also shot. Was it the glue? The belt speed? The amount of material being removed? All of the above? Help!!

[Bruce Wrenn]

A friend bought the Performax sander. Had real problems with lack of dust collection. Area around drum was too open for dc to be able to pick up dust, which formed little piles. These little piles burnished paper, which caused streaks on wood. Traded it in for a shaper and bought Woodmaster sander- no more burnishing. You have to scrape excess glue off panels and glue ups prior to sanding. Most glues are kinda like a thermo plastic. When they get hot, they stick to everything.

[Paul Kinneberg]

Thanks Bruce I did remove the high spots of glue but obviously not all. Also FYI I have a 3HP Super Gorilla with two 4" conections so I'm not thinking the DC is the issue the run is 5" and only about 25" long.

[Robert Waddell]

Paul,
All of the above and possibly you are using too fine a grit. I have not been able to run anything greater than P180 grit. You can try to clean the paper with an eraser block. It may or may not clean it well enough to contimue using it. Expermentation is the only way to learn how to use these things. Also remember that some woods will burn inspite of your best efforts.
The best paper I've found for not clogging is the green face, cloth back made by Klingspor. I live close to a Klingspor's Woodworking Shop store so I get mill ends and cut my own but you can order rolls of the stuff from them. http://www.woodworkingshop.com/

Robert

[Charlie Plesums]

Heat is the mortal enemy of sanding, so the first problem is to take finer cuts or move the wood faster (if you can on that sander) or use coarser grits at first.

A small amount of heat will soften normal wood glue. A small amount of glue on the surface will melt into the sanding belt and makes the world come to an end - massive burning along the plugged sandpaper. Therefore removing glue before sanding is important.

You may be able to save the belt/strip by washing with a power washer. I use simple green to loosen stubborn spots. Then dry the belt in the sun (deck or driveway in my case). In my experience, the big erasers make the belt look pretty, but don't remove the trouble spots.