Drum Sander

[Beserkleyboy]

G'Day Folks,
Time to show a bit of work...this one was built to Woodsmith Magazine plans. I couldn't bear the thought of nearly $2000 for a decent drum sander, soooo.....
Most material was Aussie Hoop Pine (Araucaria cunninghamii) marine plywood. Solid stock is Southern Silky Oak( Grevillea robusta). Drive belt is 80 grit custom made. Drum is 25 x 18mm Melamine faced MR MDF, Shaft is 19mm. It sits on top of the table saw and is driven by the saws arbor pulley. Set up takes about 5 minutes. I store it up in the air on a cable hoist and that takes 10-15 min to get it down! One day I may make a dedicated rolling base with motor for it, but my space is limited and it's not used all that often. I also made a brush shaft that works a treat to relieve grain and produce textured panels. It can go down to 1.5mm ply without trouble. A separate hose attaches to the extractor, an ABSOLUTE necessity. Hand crank for now, but a motor drive is in the future. Next project is a 16" bandsaw from Matthias Wandel's plans...Thanks to all for the inspiration and kind sharing of ideas.

Jim
Sunny Sth Coast NSW, Australia

[rossbotics]

Nice work, good idea using the saws motor as well

Doug

[PJs]

Well Done Jim! Looks like it will get with the program. Look forward to your improvements and seeing what you do with Matthias' bandsaw plans.

Thanks for sharing.

PJ

[Beserkleyboy]

Thanks Doug. Yea the smoothness of the machined saw pulley on 25mm arbor with 240v 3hp motor makes it sing with very little vibration. Always fun to use...cheers

[Beserkleyboy]

Thanks PJ, yea, I'm really looking forward to the build, let alone the eventual use! I grew up on a 26" Crescent bandsaw with 5 hp induction motor, another real treat of a tool. Once you use old solid cast iron tools, with plenty of quiet power and well set up (a must), you give all the new crap a miss...nothing like mass..my 'interpretation'
will use marine ply laminates for stability and Aussie Euchalypt hardwoods (as dense as 950 - 1100 kg/cu mtr) that means it SINKS even when seasoned!) for the mass. Best get me arse in gear...cheers

[DIYer]

Thanks Beserkleyboy! We've added your Drum Sander to our Drum Sanders category,
as well as to your builder page: Beserkleyboy's Homemade Tools. Your receipt:

Drum Sander by Beserkleyboy

tags: drum sander

[ranald]

WOW Jim! That is a excellent job (woodsmith have some really cool plans and for anyone in Aus or NZ most plans turn up in the Ausie Woodsmith which is less than 1/2 the price of Woodsmith here).

Great choice of timbers and, I really like the way you have used the saw arbor to drive it; on top of everything else about it.

As I use mine often to clean up old usually leaded finishes on reclaimed wood like silky oak, pine, and red cedar(Toona ciliata syn Toona Australis= we will eventually pay a bomb for the new growth plantation wood from S Africa:no tip moth there ) and the like , as well as levelling solid laminated boards and items that are too wide to plane or thickness in a 16" thicknesser, I personally, really wanted a dedicated stand alone machine. Sometimes I get commissions to repair items like the lazy susan (two in total) in the pic: the owner had tried to level the surface & fix peeling finish with a hand held belt sander resulting in gouges to top, bottom and edges. He didn't want to reduce the diameter of the pair due to large family gatherings, so damage to circumferance just had to be tidied. I initially ran them through the 19_38 then finished with new roundovers (1" router round over bit) and random orbital sander and some hand work). I used wax over poly to enable easier future dress ups. The owner was very happy!




Cheers
Ranald

[Beserkleyboy]

Thanks, mate, it was a labour of love making it. The interface with the saw is magic. Pulley on arbour, base of sander has cleat into mitre slot, adjust blade height for tension and voila! Ready to go, it takes me more time to climb up on the outfeed table to lower it down from hoist above than to hook up. Dedicated hose to extractor as well. Slow, but good results considering investment. I don't use that often but always a joy when I do...Also have a shaft with 8x 200 x25mm wire brushes for grain relief. Works a treat on any timber, even veneered part board! I'll send a photo of a wall unit I did a coupla years ago with brushed Tas Oak. Came up a treat! Good work with the lazy susan, always good to give something a second life..cheers
Jim