Platen setting on wide belt sanders.

[Jameel Abraham]

The manual for my 15" Wide belt says not to set the platen lower than .2mm below the belt rollers. Can someone explain why? I mean, say I lower the platen like 1/2" below the rollers (not that I would, but you can with my machine--it will go even lower in fact), what's the adverse effect?

[Rick Lizek]

You want to keep the platen in close proximity to the drum in order to keep the height scale calibration the same. For instance if sanding to 3/4" the calibration for the height would be the same reading. This way you can go rom the drum to the platen without recalibrating the scale. You will find the drum leaves slight ripples and the platen will give you a surface that can be stained right out of the machine.