Drum Sander & Sleds - Operational Situation to Avoid


Trip

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Years and years ago, I built myself a thicknessing sled... Typical sled: BB covered with a non-slip surface and a cleat near on end... I went to some effort: ¾ BB and some decent commercial non-slip matting contact-cemented to the surface...

Been using it for years -- planer & sander – no problem...

Now for the situation to avoid:

Was final thicknissing a batch of components – too thin and too short for the sander, so used the sled... No problem, do it all the time....

The sander was set for thicknissing mode, so it behaves just like a drum or dual-drum sander (which is why I mention this scenario)...

Now anyone whose run a large batch of components through a stationary sander knows the surface of the components emerge nice and toasty warm... And after several passes, that warmth transfers to the sled’s non-slip surface – which is fine, it enhances the grippyness (if that’s a word)... no problems -- being doing it for years...

The problem: After an hour processing stock, the heat transfers from the non-slip matting to the contact cement... You know that sinking feeling --- the ‘clunk’ of the main emergency stop relay followed a few milliseconds by the pneumatic breaks*... with [what remains of] your project components is still inside the machine...

To make a long story short, if you use a sled on your sander, watch those long batch runs...

 

 

*For those of you who've never worked with a WB sander, it's rather distinct sound -- kind of a mechanical 'Oh sh*t !'

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