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I had a bit of this with koa on my 10-20. Lighter, quicker passes using 60 grit and frequently changing to fresh paper was my solution.

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George :-)

James, I've experienced this with Black Acacia as well. You have to go as lightly as you can with the passes, and sanding on an angle does indeed help a bit.
I wouldn't have expected issues with 100 grit, but if you have to go with 80, do so just remember not to go too thin so that you can't get the scratches out.

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

Yeah, at that thickness I would def use a backer board. With my setup, I recently made veneer at 0.6 mm. I'm uncomfortable below .1"

Mike

I had a good day with the sander on Friday, replacing the conveyor and height adjustment screw before getting to work on the wood.

I got the koa down to .065" without the slightest issue. I ran the conveyor at 7, made 1/8th of a turn adjustments on the drum height, and took two passes for each. Some of the sanding scratches are deeper than others and I'm deciding whether to scrape it smooth now (I've already sanded each face of the sides with 120), or wait until I'm prepping for finish. I'm leaning towards waiting in order to take off as little as possible.

Thanks for all the help!

Glad you got it working! I sand my parts to 220 after they are thicknessed but before assembly.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Same general ideas, but slightly different numbers. Performax 16-32 with 120 grit, 1/10 to 1/12 turn, 2 to 4 passes, depending on the sound, I can hear when it's working too hard. Dust collection with a shopvac, so not that great. Inboard is 0.003" less than outboard. I've taken bloodwood and mesquite down to 0.06" without a carrier board.

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A man hears what he wants to hear, and disreguards the rest. Paul Simon