I've got a couple of choices for material for the drum -- 3/4 cedar, 3/4 plywood, MDF. I need to make about 22 3/4 thick disks and glue 'em together to create the drum. Any recommendations on which material you'd choose?
Larry
I don't have any recommendations for your sander, but I did post a link, on another thread, regarding tools/auctions. This one may be near you, if you're interested.
Sonny
Thanks. I subscribe to the IRS feed, Sonny, and the drum sander in Houston caught my eye. Arranging long-haul packing and shipping is a PITA.
You need something as dimensionally stable as possible ? a decent drum sander can easily take cuts of less than 0.1mm so the drum needs to be precise. Here in the UK you can buy waterproof grades of MDF for bathroom applications and I assume it?s readily available in the US. It?s impregnated with acrylic resin and about as stable as you?ll find for any wood-based product ? I?d go with that. You really need access to an engineering lathe so that you can mount the whole drum assembly between centres and turn it parallel.
Harder and most dimensionally stable the better...
I'd consider starting w/ a piece of tubing and fill in instead of turning it up out of wood...
Perhaps as cheap as a piece of Sch 40 or 80 PVC or as exotic as ordering a piece of 5" Al tubing???
What is the length (width capacity) intended to be and what is the paper-holding mechanism/design?
Of the choices listed, I'd think the MDF the only viable one unless the ply is expensive stuff--the voids and sorry stuff used as fill in the normal construction ply will not finish well at all and will be very difficult to get a truly round, smooth surface as a base for the paper.
Just out of curiosity, I looked at the Griz site--while it sorta' defeats the purpose of building your own, you could order a replacement
16" drum from the parts for a couple of their drum sanders for just slightly over $200...shafts, centered, straight, round and smooth w/ the stuff for the paper mounting already there. Just add bearing blocks and frame and however you were going to do the drive...--
Length -- about 16 inches. Covering it with loop material.
,SNIP>
Considered buying components pre-assembled, but that brings me way over budget for a tool that won't see a lot of use.
How about a plastic pipe with a filler disk (or an end cap?) at each end? Seems a lot simpler. If you don't think it's be strong enough, fill it with something.
I could be wrong but I think that would be too squishy. You need a hard, non-yielding surface and preferably one that dissipates heat...a LOT of heat can be generated. Best IMO would be aluminum.
No you don't, dad. The hook and loop work fine for drum sanders because they don't burn through when you come to hard spots in wood. I've read several articles on that and most say, in effect, "Go spongy, but not too spongy."
That's pretty much remedied by a fast current of air over the drum and wood as it is scavenged from the machine by the dust collector. The hook and loop can help there, too.
-- Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any one thing. -- Abraham Lincoln
plywood, MDF. I need to make about 22 3/4 thick disks and glue 'em together to create the drum. Any
Once again I have not built a drum sander.
However I do note that both the drum sander in ShopNotes #86 and Pat Hawley's sander on the Woodgears.ca site both used MDF for the drum. Both used round disks that were 'trued' by making them into a drum on its shaft and then spinning the drum against coarse sand paper.
Dan
Soft can make it smooth but not necessarily flat.
As an example, consider edge grain fir...alternating bands of hard and soft. Hard will sand both equally; soft will sand the soft wood more. That is true of hand sanders too. If you don't believe me, try sanding a piece of for ply sometime, either by machine or hand.
Always fun.
-- Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any one thing. -- Abraham Lincoln
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