Steel City 26" drum sander question

[Jerry Nettrour]

I sort of have a gloat, but more of just input from anyone with some experience. I just bought this drum sander that I found to be in like new condition for 1150.00 off of CL. I good deal I think. I did a maple glue up and had the owner demo it for me and it sanded the glue up completely flat on both sides. I was impressed since all of our sanding up to date is done with a Bosch and Ridgid ROS. Recently I did a butcher block with a 3 by 21 porter cable belt and ridgid ROS. I am looking for tips and advice. The demo glue up was flattened nicely which I see will save me a lot of time and elbow grease but I did notice there are a lot of linear scratches in the maple. The owner had a new 80 grit paper on the first drum and old worn 120 grit on the second drum. Maybe this is why the 120 did not get some of the scratches out. How should I adjust and what grits should I stick with. Since I am looking more for flushing glue ups, not planing but more of a finished sanding. I know I will still need to do some ROS at the end but I am looking for best case set up. I have thought about trying 120 on both drums.

Also, any recommendations on sand paper sources.

I have not set it in my shop yet. I primarily have worked with oak, hickory, beech and maple. I am looking for a process that will cut down some of the ROS or some of the scratches. I actually think some of the scratches may have been because of new 80 grit combined with old worn 120 grit being used. Also, maple tends to scratch up or rather show scratches in finish and is less forgiving.

Any help will be appreciated.

Thanks,

Jerry

[Cary Falk]

Linear scratches are the nature of the beast. I don't have the Steel City but on my sander I leave 120 grit on it. I have heard anything above 150 will burn pretty easily. You might try 120 and 150. I also have heard the suggestion that if you take a ROS with one grit below the one on the sander you remove the lines pretty quickly. If you have 120 on the sander, start with 80 or 100 on the ROS then continue up.