Drum sander experience/question.

For the past few years I have had an old 2 drum Kuster sander in my shop. For my work the second (rear drum) is not used. It is just too much trouble to wrap both drums and get their relative heights set correctly. With the second drum not being used a shorter drive belt was installed that only drives the front drum. This results in the belt contacting 180 degrees of both the motor pulley and the drum pulley. This increased contact area has cured all tendency of the belt to slip when making heavy cuts.

I have no complaints with the way the old sucker sands but I wish the boards came out of the machine clean instead of covered with a layer of packed down saw dust. It takes longer to clean the boards between passes than it takes to sand them. Each time I look at that unused drum just sitting there I wish it were a rotating brush that would clean the boards as they exit the machine. Anyone with a dual drum sander have similar thoughts or have devised some other way to make the boards exit dust free? Earl Creel

Reply to
Earl Creel
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Just a thought.... where is this sawdust coming from? Is your DC on? Is it working efficiently? When I get too lazy to turn mine on for a board or two, I find the sawdust builds up all over the inside of the housing and falls down onto the next board.

Reply to
Tom Woodman

try using the rear drum and eliminate the front from the sanding step. I use both drums on my GI machine and get very little dust but then I have a large DC that works quite well.

Gary

Reply to
GeeDubb

I have a 2HP dust collector with a 6 inch pipe and it is just a few feet from the sander. Almost no dust escapes from the machine and the inside stays very clean. The machine has three pinch rollers to hold the boards to the conveyor belt. One roller is in front of the first drum, the second is between the drums and the third is after the second drum. I believe it is the second roller that catches the heavy dust flow just behind the cut that is trapping the saw dust and packing it down and sticking it to the board being sanded. I have reduced all the openings to the extent possible so that air velocity into the machine through the openings is maximized. Pretty sure any dust that gets air borne is removed. Removing the second pinch roller would probably help the stuck dust problem but would likely produce unacceptable snipe. Tom with your DC on do your boards come out clean? Earl Creel

Reply to
Earl Creel

I am clueless as to what the solution will be but geez GeeDubb that has to be way too simple. LOL If it was my problem I'd be looking for a much more complex solution like hanging the sander from the ceiling. ;~) Good call.

Reply to
Leon

It's a lot easier to look at somebody else's problem and come up with a simple fix. My wife does it to me all the time after hearing the crash and profane language that often occurs when I'm trying to over analyze a solution.

Now if I could just get my drum sander to stop burning the wood......

Gary (I know it's a simple fix........)

Reply to
GeeDubb

I really love it when an on looker starts with "All you gotta do is"...

Internal sprinkler system. Another splendidly simple answer. :~)

Reply to
Leon

About 90% of the time they come out clean and I am nowhere as careful as you are about the DC setup. 10% of the time I have some sawdust n the board as you do. I just brush it off with a counter brush. Now I'm thinking the paper must be holding onto it then dropping it.

Reply to
Tom Woodman

I could try using the rear drum instead of the front but I would have to remove the drums to install a belt on the rear drum. But the rear drum and pinch roller arrangement is really no different than the front drum. My Kuster is the only drum sander I have ever looked at closely. I am wondering if there is some basic difference in other makes that I am unaware of. The people who made the machine expected sawdust to stick to the boards. Here is a direct quote from the Kuster owners manual: "It should be noted that all sanded material will probably not be removed by the dust collection system; all airborne particles should be caught, but it is normal for a thin , even layer of dust to cling to the board as it exits the machine. Remove this dust with a brush before feeding the work in for another pass." If I were to post a picture or two on a.b.p.w. would some of you be so kind as to look at the way the Kuster is made compared to your machine. Perhaps you have something under the hood that the old Kuster lacks. Earl Creel

Reply to
Earl Creel

The second Trump needs to be adjusted properly I have a Kuster I have had for over 30 years The trick to adjusting the second drum that I discovered is pretty cool I said it up as close as I can it Hass to be a little bit lower than the first drum.IUse thin strips of aluminum flashing folded a few times do you have a hole through it and use them as shimsWhat’s cool is you can adjust as you compress and tighten the nuts until you have it just write the aluminum give you a little bit of compression and you can adjust just by tightening if you screw up you have to take them off and put new ones in and do it again to get it right but once you get that drum set up right where the final paper on it it’ll work forever good luck it’s worth having a second draw it works once it’s set up right

Reply to
David Termini

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