Drum sander clogging

[Burkhardt]

I have a Jet 16/32 drum sander and find it very useful for many jobs. The sanding belt holds up for a reasonable time with most types of wood. However, recently I did some inlays in oily exotics like Cocobolo and Ebony and find even a light cut of a small piece will clog the abrasive with rings of hard caked and burned-in dust and that way I ruined several belts for good. These in turn will leave burnt stripes on the wood.

I tried one of the cleaning rubber sticks but no luck which ticks me off since the belts are nor cheap.

Anybody knows a trick to avoid that? A slower drum might do it but it is fixed speed.

Thanks, GB

P.S.: Learned one thing....hold on to the rubber stick. It slipped from my hand and jammed between the drum and the housing, stopping the drum from full speed in a fraction of a second. Impossible to move or pull out the squished stick and it took me an hour or so to nibble it out piece by piece. It bent the drum carrier frame a little but fortunately still running true.

[Kyle Stapleton]

What kind of sand paper are you using?

[cnc_works]

I have a love/hate relationship with my sander. Maybe a little more love now that I have come to some practices that aid use. These are not really production gadgets I don't believe, really need at least an oscillating drum for that. That being said, my 22" Performax became a great deal more useful when I began using the coarsest paper that would work for the job, take light cuts and run the drive belt as fast as possible. All of these practices keep heat down, which is the enemy of the process. And I buy my off brand sandpaper roles from my local Woodcrafters store for something like $6 each. Have to taper trim the ends, but that isn't much problem after I made a template. I hate it for all the challenges, but to be able to uniformly thickness 1/8" stock, flatten pieces too wide for my jointer and to even take paint off of surfaces with a 60grit belt puts a little of the love back.

[bleeth]

If you wipe down the board first very well with acetone it may leach the surface oils out. I know this will work for Teak but haven't tried it for coco or ebony.
Also can't say it will do enough to save your belts, but oily woods are a pain to sand.

[paul_z]

I agree with Donn. "coarsest paper ... and take light cuts"


Paul Z

[bob_s]

There is a commercial cleaner that you can spray on and it melts most stuff off when you rinse it with a garden hose A friend who runs a big shop with a 48" sander has some. It needs to be used with care as it will mess up your bare skin in seconds. I am traveling but I'll try and get the name of it when I get home. Possibly Klingspor has it?

[bleeth]

Came by these 3 comments doing a google:

If the belt clogs with wood resin especially like southern yellow pine etc... Wet a rag with Acetone and wad it up use it like the eraser. It will unclog the belt very quickly and make it almost like new.

I use the sanding cleaner sticks too, but don't overlook the ability to wash the belts (fabric backed) in a solution of Arm & Hammer WASHING SODA (not baking soda). Soda, warm water, soak, brush, dry, put 'em back to work.
Simple Green - I swear we could not function in our shop without this stuff. Use only on cloth backed belts or the substrate swells. Spray on the belt (a garden pump type sprayer works really well here) and let it sit out of the sun for an hour or so. Then just scrub them down with a good bristle or plastic brush and rinse. Pressure washing with a wide angle tip works well to and is better for large numbers of belts. - See more at: http://www.woodweb.com/knowledge_bas....MyzuDpSP.dpuf

[jTr]

I have same sander, though mothballed as I just acquired a 43x75 wide belt.
When I did rely on it, the best paper for this issue was Aluminum Zirconia. Much less prone to clogging than the standard Alu-Ox red stuff. Only place I found it was Klimgspore's woodworkingshop.com.

Jeff

[Burkhardt]

Thanks guys, lots of good tips! I may try them all if needed and pull the clogged belts out of the trashcan to see if they can be salvaged.

Here is what I was sanding (trying to help my wife with her jewelry stuff). Interestingly, the rather hard stone inlay went off without much problem, only when touching the ebony (but same problem with Cocobolo) the mess started.
Since the parts are rather small I can not go coarser than 80 grit.

[scottp55]

Off topic;
NICE Turquoise "Suite" in the Ebony G.
Didn't know you were a jewelry designer
Abranet with a "Hard" pad for 5" RO ?