Holy crap! My home made drum sander actually works!

[Larry Bud]

Last week I posted a message about truing the drum, which I finally got squared away. Today I received the velco strip and 100 grit velcro sandpaper... I think it's 25' of each stuff.

The velcro strip was a bit hairy to get on without any bubbles, and I wasn't sure how "tight" the spiral should be edge to edge. Turns out I believe you could have a good 1/8-1/4" spacing without worry.

Once I got the velco on, I put the sandpaper spiral going the opposite direction. I cut a slot for the start of the paper to go into (only about 1/2" wide), wrapped it as tight as I could, and trimmed it off.

This thing works like a freakin' charm! I can't believe, I'm so happy. I have 4 white oak panels which are 20x20 to sand down... After the panels dried there was a slight cupping of the entire panel (wet wood, perhaps?). I put the cupped side down, so it began to sand in the center of the panel. I drew a bunch of lines on the board with pencil so I could see high/low spots. I pushed it through with 1/2" MDF piece.. kinda like a giant pushblock.

By the time I was on the 3rd panel, I had the technique down flat. Took me 5 minutes to do each panel side... and they are FLAT!

I'll try and get some pics up on my website this week to show how it works. Still need to put some finishing touches on the stand, such as side edging for the table, a guard for the belt, and a power switch. This thing will do 24" panels... I could certainly see upgrading this in the future to do 30 or 36" now that I have the confidence that it will work!

[rcook5]

It looks like a great project! I'll be looking forward to the pictures.

--RC Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit; Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad

-- Suzie B

[David Hakala]

Nice to read about something that DIDN'T go haywire for a change! :-)

[Silvan]

Glad you fared better than my treadmill belt sander. :)

(It DID work, it just wasn't very practical. It ate expensive belts for lunch and asked for more.)

[Tom]

Larry wrote>snip

[Mike Marlow]

Great job Larry. It's cool when a project comes together. Please do post a few pics when you get the chance. A lot of us enjoy simply looking at the successes of each other.

[Robatoy]

Congrats! It's always nice when a project goes well. Did you work from plans? Post some pic in ABPW, will ya?

*tips hat* 0¿0

Rob

[Larry Bud]

I put togther a website with this project

http://larrybud/Excelsior/wood/index.htmGo to TOOLS.

[Larry Bud]

For crying out loud, that's my local machine... try this

[Silvan]

[Dave Jackson]

[mac davis]

Great news, Larry.. thanks for the update... I'd suggest that you build the larger model right now, while all those details are fresh in your mind.. As a favor in return for your updates, just send me the prototype one and I'll ummm... handle disposal for ya... *g*

mac

Please remove splinters before emailing

[Kevin Craig]

I would think the treadmill would be for feeding the stock through, not doing the actual sanding. Might not have much *ooomph* at low enough speeds, though.

Kevin

[WD]

Yea, Larry send him your prototype, but you send me the 1.5hp motor. You should be able buy another motor for even less than what you pay for it earlier. :-)

While planning to make a thickness sander, I have found various sites you might be interested. You might wanna add a DC geared feed conveyer in the near future, here are some website's for Thickness sanders parts:

DC Feed motors and motors:

block bearing: Tube: another thickness Sander: relation to these websites.

[Larry Jaques]

On 5 Feb 2005 08:11:39 -0800, the inscrutable "Larry Bud" spake:

Ah, that's better.

You're hand-feeding boards and panels through it? Does it leave any varied-depth marks when you stop midway, or do you use pushsticks to eliminate that?

Holy moly! You're spinning that thing QUICK, aren't you?

[Jim L.]

Can anyone comment on the drum sander plans by Moritz Designs- or any other complete dimensioned plans? Thanks, Jim

[Larry Bud]

Around $150. Would have been more if I didn't have the table lying around.

pushsticks

I'm using a push "board". Since I was sending 3/4" stock through, I used a 1/2" MDF board. I need to attach some handles, as I was just pushing the edge of it.

I did NOT get varied depth marks, but I also didn't stop at any time.

I am, I guess, but I calculated it out so that it's moving the the same speed as a commercial sander.

One thing though, the pressure that is required to push a board through if you try to take too much off in one pass is quite high. Of course, I was pushing white oak through it too. Maybe I'll put some mahogany and cherry together to see how that works.

[Larry Bud]

thanks.

I'm not sure how I would attach the conveyor. The bottom of the table is blocked off where it attaches to the base via the piano hinge. I think any commercial sander would be support by its corners, and the bottom would be open.

I would also have to check out how the board would stay on the conveyor without being flung across the room!

[rcook5]

and the projects are cool too.

--RC

Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit; Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad

-- Suzie B

[Larry Kraus]

Very nice project. The picture showing the piano hinge has an "Oops!" label - what's the problem? Or are you planning to publish in AW?