I am going to make a wide drum sander - Woodworking Talk

**Daren** · 09-20-2008, 06:29 PM

I got looking around in the shop and I have most of the stuff. 1 1/2 HP motor, pulleys, belts, threaded rod for height adjustments, wood for a base...I just need a 24" to surface some wide boards (18"-24"). I have been slipping them in the side door of a local cabinet shop, but it is getting to be a hassle. They are flat and the mill marks are small so thickness planing is not what I am after, just smooth sanded, that should be easy work.

I have seen a few shop made sanders on the net (will link what I found) and have a couple questions. One, some just use a melamine infeed/outfeed table while others have a belt feed either hand cranked or power fed. (can pillage an old tread mill for adjustable power feed if I want it, or still just use the belt and hand crank it)

I gotta get a couple pillow block bearings and finalize a real plan. I still have not decided on the drum material. I have heavy wall 3" PVC pipe I could cut/turn wood plugs for each end. Attach my vecro backing to that. I was thinking 1/2" threaded rod running through the center and jam nut the plugs where they belong on the rod. Slip the rod into the pipe and screw the pipe to the plugs. Any other thoughts ? Balance problems ?

I have seen drums made with a series of stacked wood plugs. That would work too. Just cut them with a hole saw, open the pilot hole to 1/2, slip them on the rod gluing them and crank nuts and washers down till the glue sets. Then the whole thing has to be balanced (a wide piece of sandpaper mounted on a flat surface and the wood drum spun on it, sanding it round)

But the PVC seems easier. Even if I have to cut a few plugs to go in the tube every 6" or so on the rod to eliminate possible flex ?

Here are some links I found. Feel free to add your own. Tell me I am nuts, whatever. But I think for $100 I can do this

. I am going to do some more looking and stewing and try to come up with a plan that suits me.

http://www.rockslide.org/drum%20sander.html

The height adjustment on this one is so simple it it amazing (guess it works

)
http://blackcreekstrings.homestead.com/Sander.html

Here is one that runs off your table saw, neat but not handy for me I want a stand alone I can push off in the corner. http://www.woodworkstuff.net/EDTSander.html

**Daren** · 09-20-2008, 06:33 PM

And yes I have seen those kits. #1 I am cheap, #2 I already have most of the stuff #3 Kits ? who needs a stinkin' kit, I like to do things the hard way

raskgle · 09-20-2008, 07:36 PM

Daren when you get this to work, would you share. I am the one that has to have a wrote not a picture. Raskgle

**TexasTimbers** · 09-20-2008, 08:08 PM

On the pillow block bearings let me know what size and how many and I'll fix you up. Got several hundred bearings of all shapes, types, and sizes. All new in the box.

**Daren** · 09-20-2008, 10:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TexasTimbers

On the pillow block bearings let me know what size and how many and I'll fix you up.

I will, and you usually do brother

.

Rob · 09-21-2008, 12:16 AM

Shopnotes magazine has detailed plans. I have the edition if you'd like to borrow it

**Daren** · 09-21-2008, 02:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rob

Shopnotes magazine has detailed plans. I have the edition if you'd like to borrow it

Thanks Rob. I think I have mine figured out...I may borrow it after I'm done to see what I screwed up

. Started building the drum this morning.

Terry Beeson · 09-22-2008, 09:12 AM

Daren,

How are you building the drum?

I've got some of the pieces to build mine, but haven't started yet.

**Daren** · 09-22-2008, 09:48 AM

Terry I am making it out of 3" sch 40 PVC pipe. I decided to go with a 5/8" threaded rod (all the pulleys I have are 5/8") I haven't went to the gettin' place and got the rod yet. The tube is 30", I will put 25" of sandpaper on it, self adhesive hook/loop backer and hook/look sandpaper roll.

The rod will stick out just enough to catch a pillow block on one side and the other end will be the pillow block and a pulley. The wood plugs are going on the rod like they lay in the pictures. One on each end and a couple spaced 10" apart inside the tube for more strength. They will be jam nutted/lock washered. The ones on the end I am just going to run screws through the pipe into the plug.

Of course I did not have the perfect size hole saw so I had to put the plugs in the mini lathe to make them fit. That worked out the pilot hole on the hole saw fits snug on a pen making mandrel. I have to open the pilot hole up to 5/8" (as soon as I find my unibit/step drill

, I think that is the only way to keep the hole centered)

**TexasTimbers** · 09-22-2008, 10:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Daren

. . . . . You just broke some poor pen turners heart. Using prized red box elder as cribbing in your cardboard box jig.

Look who's talking Mr. I-Use-Spalted-Maple-Where-Junk-Oak-Would-Work-Just-Fine.

**Daren** · 09-22-2008, 10:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TexasTimbers

Look who's talking Mr. I-Use-Spalted-Maple-Where-Junk-Oak-Would-Work-Just-Fine.

I figured you would like that

. What can I say, it was handy.

mdlbldrmatt135 · 09-22-2008, 01:27 PM

I was thinking the same thing Kevin was!!!

Terry Beeson · 09-22-2008, 04:03 PM

Yeah, I can hear the voices of a million pen turners screaming in agony...

I'm curious about using threaded rod. I've got a 5/8" rod (not threaded) that I was going to use. I was thinking of using epoxy to hold the drum on (original plan was to use 3/4" plywood circles 3" diameter.) So my question is about the threaded rod and the bearings?

Also, since I'm going for a thickness sander, I'm wondering if the pipe will be smooth/straight enough horizontally to prevent a wavy outcome.

Sounds like we're going in the same direction, though.

(Hey, Tex... Next we'll see pictures of the solid cherry 4" diameter legs Daren's using for his sander... Mine will be the base of the $5 table saw I picked up at a garage sale...

)

**Daren** · 09-22-2008, 05:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Terry Beeson

I'm curious about using threaded rod.

So my question is about the threaded rod and the bearings?

Also, since I'm going for a thickness sander, I'm wondering if the pipe will be smooth/straight enough horizontally to prevent a wavy outcome.

Sounds like we're going in the same direction, though.

I am going threaded rod so I can mechanically fasten my wood plugs in place.

What do you mean about the bearings ? Premature wear since it is threaded not solid like the treads would eat at them/or the threads would wear down more likely. I have wondered a little about that. Tossed around putting a wear sleeve (5/8" ID copper refrigeration tubing, I used to run a plumbing shop, I gots me some pipe) over the threads and using a bigger bearing. All I do know is the rod is cheap and so are bearings (well sort of), so if I have a failure down the road since mine is just screwed together whatever failed could be replaced. But am open to other suggestions because this is in the back of my mind.

I think the pipe will be plenty flat. I know the 4' level in the picture is and there is no light anywhere and I spun it around the whole way checking it like this (you can see my table is not flat though

) I think I will have more trouble getting the abrasive flat than anything ?

**Daren** · 09-25-2008, 07:36 PM

I made the frame today. I just could not see the sense in raising and lowering the drum. Seemed like more work/money during the build and more importantly more room for misalignment in the future. The drum will be fixed and the table will raise/lower. The frame is 34" high 26 1/2" wide and 48" long. I am making a 25" x 60" table with 3/4" side boards to keep a piece from walking off the side.

I think you can see how this is going to work (on paper...well not even on paper, just pulled out of my hat). The table is hinged on the outfeed side and the 1 1/4" osage screw I made will be my height adjustment. I made a jam nut for the screw to lock my adjustment, the screw threads into a 2" thick maple board that I tapped. Even raised up 2" it doesn't seem awkward (using the level as an imaginary bed) You are feeding downhill, but so what I plan on running big/long boards through this-less pushing.

The roller will set on big blocks that attach to the center board. That board is way long right now I will cut it off to exact length when I get my pillow blocks and figure out the exact measurement. I am going to dado the roller support blocks to fit on the end of the 6" wide oak board that is there and attach to the side rails on the frame.

I am only going to set it up right now for 2 1/2" of adjustment. That covers all of the stock I want to sand. If I need thicker I can just make taller risers and attach them like I am the ones I mentioned. The motor is going to be hinged and hanging for several reasons. One so I can get the dern belt on

, another I plan on fiddling with the speed and an adjustable pulley on the drum. The motor will have to come/go down as I make the pulley bigger/smaller. And too if I ever did want to sand thicker stock and needed to raise the roller on taller blocks.

Maybe the roller mount part is hard to understand how I plan on doing the pillow block risers, but I will post pictures when I get around to making them and it should be clearer.

Terry Beeson · 09-25-2008, 09:57 PM

Hmmmm.... I'm not so sure that's going to work, Daren... Ship that frame to me and let me take a closer look just to be sure...

I PROMISE I'll send it back....

someday...

mmwood_1 · 09-25-2008, 10:13 PM

Cripes! What a project! Daren, how do you make a living when you're messing around with projects like this? Gods! I've barely got time to turn around and spit! My hats off to you. I reckon you're a better man than I by some measure...

allthunbs · 09-25-2008, 10:37 PM

I know ths is a little late but take a look at these:

http://www.stockroomsupply.com/Drum_Sander_Plans.php

It's for a "V-Drum" sander. Instead of having the drum on the top and feeding the wood underneath with a conveyor, the drum is on the bottom. The advantage of this one is the lack of dust. The "powder" falls below the drum into a hopper with minimum of dust in the air.

Perhaps for future consideration.

Allthunbs

**Daren** · 09-25-2008, 10:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by allthunbs

I know ths is a little late but take a look at these:

They work (with attention) but not for what I want to do...that is why I am building my own. I have 24" wide boards 10' long to sand. I need a longer bed and sturdier frame. And I will build mine for a fraction of the kit price (not including labor of course

, we'll see how many hours I have in this)

Terry Beeson · 09-26-2008, 10:32 AM

Those are nice and I've looked at those plans before, but they are not thickness sanders. I think Daren and I are after the same thing - a finish to a planed board to ensure the "top and bottom" are parallel.