Drum Sander Shop Built

[Alex from Sac.]

I have been wanting a drum sander to deal with saw marks and figured woods but don't have any money left in my budget. So here is my homemade sander. I made the frame from Birch ply, the drum is made of 3/4 inch mdf glued together and sanded smooth. I used t bolts and hex head bolts for hinges on the back of the sanding table. For the heighth adjustment a handle from a rockler t-track kit and bolt. I used Harbor Freight 180 grit sand paper and it seems to work great. It does a great job sanding and should achieve all my current needs. I had to use my grinder for a motor until I find a used motor or a cheap one. Thanks for looking

[Slik Geek]

Interesting...

Please describe the drum construction in more detail.

[Alex from Sac.]

Slik Geek the drum is made from 3/4 mdf cut into squares, 1/2 inch hole drilled in the center then made into circles with the band saw. I used a 1/2 inch bolt as a pin to rotate around. After cutting about 30 circles i glued them together with yellow glue on the shaft. Then clamped it tight until dry. The tight fit holds the drum in place on the shaft. The shaft is actually the 1/2 inch thick rail spacer that came with my Ridgid ts3650. I don't use it so it worked great as a machined shaft, straight and cheap (free). The pillow blocks are from Ace Hardware and are made with bronze I think not ball bearings. After assembling the unit I turned it on used 80 grit paper on top of a plywood block to sand the drum parallel to the bed and make it smooth. I wrapped the drum with the sand paper, stapled and duct taped the paper on the ends to hold it tight. Staples and tape are not the best for changing grit but I don't plan to use other grits and it holds very well. If you want more info please let me know. Hope this helps you.

[lrogers]

Nice little engineering job you've done there.

[affyx]

Nice!

Very cool!

So you just hand feed the stock? Do you work with or against the direction of the roller? How much effort/force does it take?

[ssmith1627]

Very nice work. It looks great. Neat idea for initially getting the drum parallel to the bed also.

How do you raise and lower the drum ? Can you show more pictures of that ? Do you have a way of keeping the drum parallel to the bed now ?

Steve

[Alex from Sac.]

The stock is hand fed into the drum, not alot of pressure is required unless you want to take alot off in one pass. The material is fed against the rotation of the drum, in other words the drum is spinning towards the material in the front. It would grab the material if it was spinning away from you and probably throw it out the back.

The drum is raised by the hex head bolt set in the square piece mounted on the bottom. I drilled a hole to match the bolt size and as the knob is turned it goes up or down. The bolt is just loose in the block and the weight of the bed holds it down in place. Once at the correct height the knobs on the sides lock the bed in place. It stays parallel from the bolt raising the middle. Using a flat piece of ply and two hardwood strips I jointed flat. One is in the back where the bed pivots and the other is above the bolt. I made a counter sink hole for the bolt to sit in the hardwood strip. The strip is just in front of where the drum makes contact with the material so it prevents flexing of the plywood.

I have included pictures of two pieces i ran thru on opposite ends of the sander to show how accurate the drum is. The pieces are within 2 100ths of each other and sanded on completely different ends of the machine so the bed is parrallel all the way across. I hope this helps clarify some of the design. Let me know if I haven't explained well or anyone needs more info. Thanks for the great feedback. BT3Central and it's members Kick***!!

[John Hunter]

Very nice.

[crokett]

That is great work. Another post for me to bookmark and build this project some day.

[ironhat]

Nice engineering work. I admire folks like you who aren't afraid to design and buid something which may not work or will need refining. I tend to be impatient and expect it to work the first time.

[Slik Geek]

Impressive work -thanks for the additional information.

Was the drum rather heavy?!

[Rand]

Wow! Very nice.

[Alex from Sac.]

Yes the drum is fairly heavy but isn't too much of a problem except the grinder motor is under powered for this unit. I have to spin the drum by hand to get the motor going. It doesn't have enough torque to start the drum moving the motor boggs down. Once at speed the motor has no real problem turning it. It spins at 3600 rpm so I used a 2 inch pulley on the motor and 4 1/2 inch on the drum to reduce the rpm's by more than half. I wouldn't advise using a small motor or grinder like I have used. It is simply for doing bench tests of the design until I can get a real motor. With prolonged use it may burn up the motor so it's not advisable since the motor gets a little hot. Once I find a real motor it will be mounted inside the unit with the shaft sticking out the side, so it will be a one piece unit. I may have to change the side it's mounted on depending on the motor turning direction. I will also build a belt cover to prevent getting caught in the pulleys or belt and keep little fingers out of it. I have a 4 year old who likes to help in the shop(garage).

[eezlock]

drum sander shop built

Looks like a good job on the drum sander....do you ahve any plans, drawings,
or dimensions for it? I have been thinking lately about one for my shop as well. eezlock

[Tom Slick]

What keeps it form shooting parts across the room?