Dual Drum Sander - Setting Drum Height?

I have a relatively new Accura 25" dual drum sander and I have not had the greatest luck setting the drum height...my latest attempt, after following the owner's manual and talking to the place I bought it, gave me some pretty significant burned-in racing stripes on a practice piece of white oak. I am using 150-grit on the front drum and 180-grit on the rear drum. I also used a rotcator to set the drum hieght, and I know I have plenty of suction to remove the debris. I am pretty sure that this is a case of operator error.

Can anyone give me any advice, tricks or helpful hints on how to set the height on the rear drum?

Thanks!

The rear drum should only sand down the the bottom of the scratches left by the first drum. I would start with the second drum too high, then lower it little by little until it starts to work. An ammeter might be helpful to see the motor draw.

Or you could send a board through using just the first head. Then remove the abrasive from the first drum. Scribble all over the board. Without changing the feed table height, lower the second drum until it barely "erases" the all of the pencil marks.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by J.R. Rutter

Or you could send a board through using just the first head. Then remove the abrasive from the first drum. Scribble all over the board. Without changing the feed table height, lower the second drum until it barely "erases" the all of the pencil marks.

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That's EXACTLY the way I set my 25X2 Powermatic.

Thanks gents - I will give that a try!

One thing you must remember on drum sanders. people generally tend to take too much of a cut when they first get the machine. Its not a planer. so very small cuts, 1/8 turn or so.
Dave

Seems like very high grits to me. What grits do people here use on their front and rear drums?

I use 80 and 120.

I ran 120 / 180 on the double drum. That's also what I run on the widebelt now.