Supermax 19/38 Tips/Tricks? Just got. Burned wood, wrecked paper. Board not 100% flat

[Patrick Irish]

Sooo I decided not to get a new car and to 'reward' myself for saving $$ on that I bought a Supermax 19/38 at Rockler. They had a 10% off sale and I had $65 on a gift card and was tired of using a router sled to flatten end grain cutting board I've been making.

I passed on the $90 casters Supermax sell. Seriously? $90?? I spent $40 on casters and hardware at home depot and made another shelf on the bottom.

I used it last night for the 2nd time and had a terrible time with some 80 grit paper. I should have started with 60 that was my first error. After several passes with 80 all of sudden dark lines and little gauges on the inner motor side. I check paper and it loaded a little. Use the gum stick thing to clean paper and notice it's loose on the motor side where it clips in. That clip is a PITA or I'm doing something wrong.

I pull that 80 off, put on 60 and get the board dialed in. Try to reuse the 80 but it's toast. The inboard (motor side) first 2" of paper is marred and wont sit flush when turned on so it leaves a mark. Need a new piece of 80 now.

I also noticed that sometimes the infeed roller wont go up to accept the board. I'm not taking off a lot. I thought I checked for parallel but will do that again. Any tips on this?

What about paper? I wanna buy 3" rolls and cut my own. 2sand.com has great deals, best I've seen. About $22 per roll after shipping and that enough for 4 wraps of the drum.

I did notice my board is not 100% flat. After a glue up on an endgrain board, often times some pieces are higher or lower by a 1/16" maybe 1/8". I was hopping the drum sander will get these board flat so I don't have to put rubber feet on them.

Any tips in using it to get a cutting board flat? I envisioned it similar to a planer where it takes off the high spots first, I could be wrong.

[Bernie Kopfer]

My first thought is that something is out of adjustment. If that checks out ok then perhaps the paper is either not tight enough or it overlaps. And if your board is very eneven in thickness there will be times when that extra height will be too much for the paper and burning will occur. I've learned to shim up a board so it cannot rock and take multiple passes until one side is flat. Then start on the other side. If the "smart" light comes on I will quickly crank the drum up a little and work my way down again on the next pass. And once the paper is burned.... good luck.

[roger wiegand]

You have to take very small cuts to avoid burning, especially in woods like cherry. I advance it until it just touches then advance in 1/8 to 1/6 turn increments on each pass until the full surface is sanded. It's impractical to use it as a planer substitute. I'd flatten a warped board first with a plane to get 95% of the way there and then go to the sander for final surfacing. (I look forward to someday getting all the way there with a plane!) Alternately a wide jointer will flatten a warped board. All you can do with a planer or thickness sander is make a potato chip with parallel faces unless you build a sled to support the board in a single configuration. A jointer plane is easier.

[Chuck Nickerson]

I've had my Supermax 19/38 for a year and would NOT part with it. However, in my experience...

1. Burning happens after the sandpaper starts to load with stuck dust. Learn how not to load the paper.
2. 1/4 turn (1/64") per pass is a lot, especially in sappy wood.
3. Burned sawdust can be cleaned from the paper. Soak in Simple Green for an hour then vigorously brush.
4. The motor-side clip is awful- it's not just you.

[John K Jordan]

With my Performax 22-44 I put the board in to the middle, crank down the drum until it touches, remove the board, then start the run. The paper usually doesn't touch the board so I crank down slowly until it touches. Then I re-run the board at that setting, then very light passes after that. On the Performax this is usually 1/4 turn or less. If the board starts slowing down due to thicker sections I quickly back off the drum a little until it sands OK then run that side again.

I never see burning after I learned not to take too big a bite at once. It is not a real fast way to take off material. 60 grit does work better. I've never been happy with finer, such as 120 or so - I'd rather sand by hand.

I do use a strong dust collection to pull out dust. I don't know if that helps or not with keeping the paper from getting loaded up.

I use this all the time to flatten things, mostly turning blanks cut from rough-sawn planks 2" or so thick.

JKJ

[Nick Decker]

If your paper isn't tight enough on the drum it will move laterally and overlap itself. When that happens, burning quickly follows. Spend some time making sure that doesn't happen. I remember mucking up some paper when mine was new.

I also remember it taking several tries to get the drum parallel. No tips there, just keep at it until it's right.

[Nick Decker]

JKJ, I do exactly as you do, although I do go all the way to 220 grit. The key, for me, with finer grits is to just barely kiss the wood as it goes through. No stock removal going on with 180 and 220, just leveling out the little grooves left by the coarser grits.

My trouble with hand sanding is that I usually can't maintain the same overall flatness, which is a big part of why I use the drum sander.

[Steve Peterson]

I have a Jet sander, but think the concepts are similar.

Yes, the little clip is a PITA. Some days it works easily and then if the sander sits for a few months, you have to figure it out all over again.

I would start with much coarser than 80 grit. My coarsest roll is 36 grit. It still takes several light passes to prevent burning. Clean the paper with the giant rubber eraser when it starts to show burn marks. This is also an indication that to take smaller bites or change the paper.

The cutting board should be mounted on a sled to prevent it from rocking if there is any twist. Otherwise, it will tilt left on the front of the board and tilt right on the back. The board will end up a uniform thickness, but it will not be flat. I sometimes use hot glue to attach the board to a scrap of plywood or OSB. You have to manually remove all of the hot glue when you flip the board or else it will melt into the sandpaper and destroy it.

I really like my drum sander, but it took a while to figure out how to get it to work for me.

[Mike Henderson]

With my Performax 22-44 I put the board in to the middle, crank down the drum until it touches, remove the board, then start the run. The paper usually doesn't touch the board so I crank down slowly until it touches. Then I re-run the board at that setting, then very light passes after that. On the Performax this is usually 1/4 turn or less. If the board starts slowing down due to thicker sections I quickly back off the drum a little until it sands OK then run that side again.

I never see burning after I learned not to take too big a bite at once. It is not a real fast way to take off material. 60 grit does work better. I've never been happy with finer, such as 120 or so - I'd rather sand by hand.

I do use a strong dust collection to pull out dust. I don't know if that helps or not with keeping the paper from getting loaded up.

I use this all the time to flatten things, mostly turning blanks cut from rough-sawn planks 2" or so thick.

JKJ

I do the same thing that John describes here. I start with the head high and then crank it down until the sandpaper just touches the wood. Let the wood feed through, drop the head a small amount and I'm sanding. Only take a small amount at a time. I use 80 grit and no special problems.

Mike

[David Helm]

Don't have that sander but do have the Grizzly 18/36. Yes, make sure the paper is very tight and not overlapped. Yes take very light passes. Yes use strong dust collection. Run the material through at the fastest speed (sounds counter intuitive but actually improves the quality of the sanding. My understanding is that ensures that the paper touches any part of the wood for very little time. The longer it is in one place the more chance of burning). I only use 100 grit on my sander, changing grit being PIA. Once the sanded surface is flat I go through the grits with ROS.

[John Blazy]

I used it last night for the 2nd time and had a terrible time with some 80 grit paper. I should have started with 60 that was my first error. After several passes with 80 all of sudden dark lines and little gauges on the inner motor side. I check paper and it loaded a little. Use the gum stick thing to clean paper and notice it's loose on the motor side where it clips in. That clip is a PITA or I'm doing something wrong. You will get used to it - just pull it tight against the inside of the drum to open up the mouth while feeding the abrasive tail in with other hand. I am getting very quick at changing wraps now after practice

I pull that 80 off, put on 60 and get the board dialed in. Try to reuse the 80 but it's toast. The inboard (motor side) first 2" of paper is marred and wont sit flush when turned on so it leaves a mark. Need a new piece of 80 now. Gotta wrap tight, and then after running for a few minutes, re-tighten the wrap, because the belt will expand a little under heat during use, which creates slack, hence overlap. Personally, I hang my wraps in front of my heater prior to mounting them so they are in most expanded state when mounting. Then they tighten as they cool. This is the function of the spring loaded mounts on both ends of the drum to keep the wrap under tension, but it only works so much, and doesn't "pull" the wrap all the time due to the fold at entry

I also noticed that sometimes the infeed roller wont go up to accept the board. I'm not taking off a lot. I thought I checked for parallel but will do that again. Any tips on this?

What about paper? I wanna buy 3" rolls and cut my own. 2sand.com has great deals, best I've seen. About $22 per roll after shipping and that enough for 4 wraps of the drum. Fintech Abrasives in Michigan sells Zirconia Alumina (long lasting) for pretty good price.

I did notice my board is not 100% flat. After a glue up on an endgrain board, often times some pieces are higher or lower by a 1/16" maybe 1/8". I was hopping the drum sander will get these board flat so I don't have to put rubber feet on them.

Any tips in using it to get a cutting board flat? I envisioned it similar to a planer where it takes off the high spots first, I could be wrong.

See responses above in Red, but add to say that stock removal is best with 60 grit or coarser like others have said. I also learned that raising the table half turn or more each pass only adds pressure, not cut depth, and the drum will "roll over" the stock rounding ends, rather than removing stock to your "believed" height. You are best to use fresh, sharp abrasives in light passes of 1/8 turns like Roger said. For flattening, I tape .010" mylar film or veneer onto the back in single or multiple layers at the low spots, then run the warped panel through to create a flat face, then flip it over, remove the shims, then sand that back face parallel.

Checking for parallel is easy - run through, then flip panel 180, but cock the panel off angle by ten degrees, and run again without raising table - then look at angled sanding lines to see which side is cutting lower then adjust. Sometimes I angle the panel up to 30 degrees to see the sanding lines to tell me where the sander is cutting high spots. Never raise table more than 1/2 turn unless using fresh 36 grit on balsa wood, otherwise the drum will "roll over" your stock.

[marty fretheim]

If your paper isn't tight enough on the drum it will move laterally and overlap itself. When that happens, burning quickly follows. Spend some time making sure that doesn't happen. I remember mucking up some paper when mine was new.

I also remember it taking several tries to get the drum parallel. No tips there, just keep at it until it's right.

This is a problem I had. My manual says to leave a larger gap on the last wrap so when the paper tightens up it won't overlap. The paper stretches and you have to slide a little mor thru the tension clip til it quits stretching. If your getting that black streak by the motor side that is likely your problem.

You will have to get it dialed in for parallel, just don't expect the same precision as a planer. The rubber eraser thingy that cleans the paper is great but I keep a brush handy to clean all the rubber off the conveyor and rollers etc after I use it.

I think ive got mine pretty well figured out but sometimes a board will just stall and leave a divet or it will leave burn marks. But the burn marks are consistent across the whole board.

Still got got more to learn but have come to the conclusion that this machine will never replace hand sanding. I bought the whole series of paper from 60 to 220 and now just stick to 80. I may go to 120 and stick with that next time I change paper.

Marty