Rebuilt my drum sander tonight

[twistsol]

Back in 2009, I picked up the 30" vdrum sander kit from Stockroom Supply while at the Woodworking Show. Tonight I rebuilt the sander to use my ShopSmith to drive it rather than the 3/4 hp motor that was attached to it. A few advantages are immediately apparent.

1. The working height is much better. The table top used to be about 46" high when it was sitting on my bench.
2. Because it is driven with the ShopSmith, it is now variable speed from 700-5200 RPM.
3. Since there is no motor on it anymore, it weighs about 15 lbs less
4. I could claim that it has more power since it's now diven by a 1 1/8hp motor, but who am I kidding. 3/4hp was always plenty and an addtional 3/8hp isn't going to make a bit of difference.

I basically built it per the sander box per the included plan but reduced the height of the ends from 7 1/4 to 6" and the height of the sides from 9 to 7 1/2 inches. This + 3/4" for the base plate gets the shaft of the sander exactly aligned with the ShopSmith drive spinde. I also added a base plate to it that sits on the ShopSmith tubes. Finally I added a double thick 3/4" block to the bottom of the base that fits snugly between the tubes so there is no play. I initally cut the block to 5 5/16 inches wide and sanded it until it fit snugly without needing too much pressure to fit it between the tubes.

This is the 30" sander kit so it is a bit longer than the shopsmith. I might add some sort of clamp to the tubes te keep it from tipping in case something heavy is set on the far right end. I used it for about an hour tonight and it never moved, but if it ever does tip, the coupler would be ruined.



About 9" of the base is cantievered beyond the end of the ShopSmith bench.



I had to steal the drive gear off my bandsaw since I didn't have a spare. This is the only additional part necessary to make it work with the ShopSmith. The two pulleys and the link belt that came with the vdrum kit are now in my "spare parts I'm saving because I might need someday for another project" box.



Finally, connected to the SS with the coupler and ready to rock and roll once the top is flipped down.

[leehljp]

That looks as good as any stand alone drum sander that I have seen. I am curious about one thing, how much does it sand off on a pass, or in other words how high above the top is the roller? IS it adjustable on how much it can take off?

[twistsol]

How much it takes off is dependent on the paper. I have 240 on it right now and two or three quick passes will take the finish off a scrap of prefinished plywood. It took about 5 more passes to completely remove the 1/32 layer of maple veneer. When I set it up, the drum with 320 paper on it is flush with the top. The paper lifts a bit off the drum since it is velcro just enough to contact the work. It really doesn't work as a thickness sander since the side being sanded is also the reference side. There's no way to ensure parallelism to the opposite face.

It is adjustable, but I've never done that after initial setup. If you look at the last picture, the top opposite the hinge rests on the screws
on the front rail. I used three flat head screws and can level or adjust the top that way.

[twistsol]

This morning I walked into the shop looked at the sander and realized I'm an idiot. I spuin it 180 degrees, extended the base about 6 inches and now only 3" are cantilevered over the end of the SS bench. It's much more stable and doesn't need any hold down

[LCHIEN]

Amazing how smart you are the next day.

[LinuxRandal]

Do you/have you found the need/want for the featherwheels?

[twistsol]

Do you/have you found the need/want for the featherwheels?

for a few secons

There are times they would be nice, but I've always found ways around needing them through featherboards or table extensions. More important than the consisitent pressure the feather wheels provide is that the feed rate needs to be constant. If you pause for a few seconds or even slow down significatnly, the drum will just sand deeper at that spot and then it's a fair amount of work to sand it out.

[capncarl]

I can’t imagine how much re work there must be with a hand fed/hand hold down drum sander. I find myself asking why bother sometimes when using my Jet 10/20 Drum sander after I spend as much time with a hand sander fixing problems.