Tips for a new drum sander user?

**Popeye** · 01-19-2008, 05:08 AM

First, two words: "Light Passes". Second, make sure that your paper is wrapped tight and is secure in the end clips. Pat

**LarryG** · 01-19-2008, 07:04 AM

Sounds like you have the same machine I bought last April, when WMH was phasing out the Performax name and morphing those tools into the JET line. Some of the paperwork for my sander actually said JET on it, although the manual and the decals on the machine say Performax.

Anyway ... Popeye hit the main high points. I will add: Don't mistake the machine for a thickness planer. Also, experiment with sending your workpieces through at an angle, at various places across the drum, to get full use of the sandpaper strip and equalize wear. Note the scratch patterns relative to the grain and adjust the feed angle as necessary as you make your final couple of passes.

A drum sander is a really useful addition to a woodshop. You'll likely find yourself using this new toy a lot more than you would have guessed.

**Carlos** · 01-19-2008, 08:12 AM

Larry, the manual suggests making the final passes straight through, do you find that to be best? I'm hoping I can do all sanding in this by changing to lighter paper. My plan is to see how it goes if I start at 120 and use every other weight from there. Comments on that plan? I have a thickness planer so I usually start off with a nice clean surface anyway. My first project will require gluing up 10/4 hard maple to make long wide panels, so these will have to go through straight, and maple is pretty tight grained, so that's where my plan came from.

What is your experience with any of the following...

Odd-shaped pieces. Any issues? For example feeding a round piece or an L shape (with the flat parts on the conveyor and being sanded of course).

Short pieces. Like a pen blank. Safe or am I asking for trouble?

Veneers. I hope to pull veneers thinner than my planer can handle (1/8") and then get them clean and of uniform thickness.

**LarryG** · 01-19-2008, 08:50 AM

Yes, my final passes tend to be straight. I usually make the first pass with the workpiece angled as much as it can go and still keep it on the table, and gradually straighten it out on the passes that follow.

I can't recall whether I've run any odd-shaped pieces such as you describe ... don't think I have.

I have, however, run short/small pieces. Not long ago, I sanded some oak strips that were about 3/4" W by 4" L, taking them from ~3/8" thick down to about 1/4". No problem at all. BTW a drum sander is just the ticket for zeroing in the fit of a hardwood runner for a miter slot when you're building jigs and fixttures. I sand the faces of a board until its edge slips nicely into the miter slot, then rip a thin strip off the edge, a little oversized, and send that through the drum sander to take it down to the required thickness.

I've sanded veneers to 1/16", which was actually thinner than I intended. Veneers are where those light passes Popeye mentioned really come into play. Another tip regarding veneers: flip the workpiece end-for-end as you make the various passes. Just in case your drum is not sitting perfectly parallel to the conveyor belt, this will ensure the veneers are the same thickness at both edges. Actually this is true for any workpiece, but the slightest discrepancy will be most obvious at the butted edges of thin veneers.

**Uncle Cracker** · 01-19-2008, 09:53 AM

Carlos, I don't own a drum sander, so I can't give you any advice, but I gotta tell ya, when you "just pick up a tool", you really don't mess around... A great big Tim the Tool Man grunt on ya! arrrrgh arrrrgh arrrrgh!

JR · 01-19-2008, 09:59 AM

Originally posted by Carlos

Veneers. I hope to pull veneers thinner than my planer can handle (1/8") and then get them clean and of uniform thickness.

There are a lot of tools I don't have, but that is the reason I want a drum sander. Also for doing laminations a la David Marks.

JR

**garymuto** · 01-19-2008, 01:38 PM

Congratulations. I just got a 22-44" open stand model for Christmas. I only used it to sand some cuttings boards I made as gifts. It works really well so far.

**Carlos** · 01-19-2008, 10:33 PM

when you "just pick up a tool", you really don't mess around...

Haha, true. Right now I'm in a "replace my old inexpensive tools with stuff I'll never have to replace again" mode.

Oh, and when I say "pick up," that's definitely figurative. **** this thing is heavy.

**Sid** · 01-19-2008, 11:03 PM

Another good use for a wide drum sander: I got a lot of oak boards and timbers from the tear-down of an old corn crib. The rough surfaces were full of dirt and crud that would have ruined planer blades in a few passes. A coarse grit on the drum sander cleaned them right up.

Sid

**Pappy** · 01-20-2008, 09:31 AM

I ran a poll recently on the favored rit to use. Except, as Sid mentioned, for rough cleaning, 120 grit seems top be the most used with final sanding done with a ROS. Courser grits leave deep of scratches and finer grits tend to load up and 'burn' your wood.

And to echo the best comment, "LIGHT PASSES".

**Carlos** · 01-20-2008, 10:51 AM

Sid, great point. I've seen free wood that I turned down because I didn't want to clean it manually or destroy my planer blades.

Don, interesting issue you bring up. I'll probably get myself set up with 80/120/180 and see what that does for me.

**Carlos** · 01-20-2008, 10:52 AM

Oh yeah...light passes. My first test was on a scrap of Wenge veneer I had made, and I took a 1/16" pass. Wow that took off a lot of wood. What a pile of dust (I was outside, DC not hooked up).