Project "V" #1: Shop Made Drum Sander Project

Thanks! I’ll be following this.

-- Only the Shadow knows....................

Me Too!!!

This does look interesting. I have been debating adding one of these for some time now.

-- With God's help all things are possible- even woodworking. Woodworking is not just a hobby, it is an (expletive deleted) expensive hobby.

Hi JMP, I like the look so far, great job on the sketch up. The only suggestion I can make is for some way to get the drum out fairly quickly. I don’t know about you, but I’m a lazy man. If I owned that unit and it took me a half hour to change the sand paper – what ever paper I had on there would be used on all my projects until the paper no longer worked. Maybe I’m missing something – is the paper glued to the pvc or is it tube type that slips over the end. Please, I’m not being critical here I’m just not familiar with this type of unit.
Good luck and keep us posted.
Later,
Doug in AZ.

-- If you need craft books - please visit our small business at http://www.wittywife.com

Hi Doug:

Your idea about drum removal is a good one but not for the reason you thought. Paper changes on these units should take about 30 seconds, in fact, this type of system allow you to “load” the drum with more than a single grit making it unnecessary to change paper at all in some cases where the work piece is small enough and no more than three grits are required. This is all done through the magic of “hook & loop” (velcro) sand paper. Basically it’s no different than changing the paper on your orbital palm sander. The drum is covered in “hook” material (notice the 3M box in the first photo) making for quick and easy paper changes.

However, drum removal is a good idea and I’m going to see if I can figure a way to make that possible. The motor and switch are from a B&D induction motor type, bench top table saw I purchased from Craig’s list on the cheap. As a bonus, there is a mechanism that enables the motor to be raised and lowered that I hadn’t planned on using. Maybe I’ll be able to find a way to put that to use. Thanks for the idea. :) Stay tuned.

-- JMP

I like it! I also want to build one of these. The design looks like it would work well, I do have a ? or three.
Is the PVC sc.40 or 80? and if it is 40 will a filler of some sort be added inside the PVC so that there will be no flex or chatter in the PVC while in motion? Or is it necessary to add anything? Also is there a way to adjust the table for cut?
This is a tool that will definitely be a welcome addition to my small shop.
Thank you for the post.
Jim

-- Can't never could do anything, to try is to advance.

Addendum:

For a completely accurate cost comparison I need to include the following:

• 2 – hook & loop sand paper rolls – $52.90 total including shipping – StockroomSupply.com

These rolls are included in the Stockroom Supply kit which is beginning to look like a pretty good value overall.

-- JMP

Just to make this easier on the next guy

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

Very cool project. I resemble your remarks about the kit. Often it is hard to swallow a kit price, so I go off and try to do better. Sometimes I save a few bucks, but time invested more than eats up any saving usually. It does give some satisfaction in the DIY sense though.

Can you post the part number for the box of hook & loop? IME Grainger and McMaster are not the cheapest source for raw materials.

-- Doug, woodworking in Alabama

Hi Jim:

The PVC I bought was normal sc 40. In this design, at this length I don’t believe any internal support will be necessary providing the end plugs are properly centered as there is no pressure applied to drum. This design actually calls for the drum to sit below the tabletop and employs centrifugal force to “lift” the abrasive into contact with the work surface. Pressing down on the work would not accomplish anything unless you were to flex the entire work surface down toward the drum. This is not a “thickness” sander although coarser grits and multiple passes will likely remove virtually any amount of material; this design is best suited for use as a surface sander. Table height is adjusted by two wood screws fitted on the front corners of the unit between the top and the front support. I failed to illustrate these in the drawing and will do so today. Thanks for the heads up. :)

Hi Doug: The Grainer part number is 1F216 which you can jump to by clicking on the number. Thanks for posting that link to Stockroom.

-- JMP

I built one of these a few years back and used it all the time until I built my new one with an overhead drum which is just larger and has better control on thickness. Generlly speaking the little 18” one did splendid job of surfacing everything from doors to chess boards.

Good luck with your build.

Bob

-- A mind, like a home, is furnished by its owner

I built one of these a few years back and used it all the time until I built my new one with an overhead drum which is just larger and has better control on thickness. Generally speaking, the little 18” one did splendid job of surfacing everything from doors to chess boards.

Good luck with your build.

Bob

-- A mind, like a home, is furnished by its owner

Hi JMP, you are living my dream! I don’t see how you will adjust the table top. The Sand-r-flee design shows the top being adjusted until the sandpaper just barely touches the wood. Look forward to watching this progress.

-- Rich in Richmond

Hi Rich:

This picture shows you the placement of the adjustment screws for the table top height. If you are having difficulty seeing the details in this smaller image, the link below it will take you to a larger version.

*http://photos.imageevent.com/emeralds/inanityawards/JP%20Color%20Drum%20Sander%20with%20Dims%203.jpg

-- JMP

Hi,
I have been looking for something like this for a long time but unfortunately I have not seen any site advertizing this. Could you provide my with an address og website?

Sincerely
Steinar from NORWAY
post@vissebraaten.no

-- Steinar, Norway - - Hegner SE

Steinar:

The kit and some videos can be found at the link provided above by Doug. I’ll stick it here for you again.

Cheers *http://www.stockroomsupply.com/V_Drum_Sander.php

-- JMP

Great blog. Looks good to me. I love mine (although its a thickness sander):

-- Check out my new website! http://www.blakeweberwoodworking.com

REVISED Drawing:

The best laid plans for me are just a jumping off point. I always have to make adjustments and I don’t know if this is simply poor planning or if it indeed is part of the design process. In any case, the motor I used had a rotation that required me to reverse the interior layout or the top, front and back. The later was much easier in the shop so that’s what I chose to do. The changes I made in the project are now reflected here in this revised Sketchup model.

It’s all coming along, somewhat slower than I would like, but I hit a couple of snags that I had to work through. Sooner than later I’ll be firing it up.

Cheers to all

Full sized picture can be found at * http://photos.imageevent.com/emeralds/inanityawards/JP%20Color%20Drum%20Sander%204%20rev.jpg

-- JMP

The Final Cut

The final unit looks and behaves much as anticipated. A couple of modifications I found useful can be seen in the pictures and although minor, like most after thoughts have proven useful.

• handles – this thing ain’t light. I will likely build a cart for it.
• kerf insulation strip along the inside of the dust collection box.
• cut away for thumb screw use of the table height adjustment screws.
• pressure latch for the lid to keep it from making noise.
• I’m adding a 6” drum to the right side for detail curve sanding, i.e. the extended rod.

The unit is very quiet; runs well and with the addition of the weather stripping became virtually dust free. On the next version (sometime in the future) I’ll make the table top from 1.25” or thicker stock and the rest of the unit out of .50”. The .75” particle stock used on the top tends to flex at bit when I exert pressure on the middle of the top and while I’m sure the .75” maple ply dampens a lot of potential vibration, it’s really overkill and ads a lot of unnecessary weight when used anywhere but the base.

Lastly, you can find industrial brand name 2” Velcro at Lowe’s for about half of what I paid for 1” at Grainger so there is a potential savings there of about 10% of the total cost, but in the end I think I would have saved time and gotten a more appropriately sized unit if I had simply purchased the Stockroom Supply 18” kit. Bigger may prove to be better in the end, but as yet it’s just BIGGER.

Once again I have the Sketchup drawings available if you decide you want to give this unit a shot. I only finished it a few days ago, so I really haven’t had a chance to put it to any practical use, but in testing on some rough sawn ash it did a very nice job of surfacing although I’m now sure that it is NOT a practical design for if thickness sanding is needed.

Hope you’ve enjoyed the post.

-- JMP

Good stuff. Also, thanks for posting the follow-up on the velcro. I would likely still trust the 3M over other brands, IME it is money well spent.

-- Doug, woodworking in Alabama

Hi: Can you please explain how you wrapped the velcro on the drum,I know the velcro is self-sticking? But did you wrap it like a corkscrew (in which direction) or in straight stripps? If you wrapped it like a corkscrew do you then wrap the sandpaper in the opposite direction, or does it not matter?

Woodmaster:

I don’t know if it matters but the Velcro I used was “industrial grade” product made by 3M. It is super strong and required no particular surface prep beyond the usual “clean and dry” standard. I wrapped the hook portion of the Velcro in a continuous spiral and simply trimmed the end to fit neatly along the edge of the PVC. The 3” loop backed sandpaper wraps in the same direction although I imagine one could apply the Velcro in the opposite direction if desired but I don’t believe it would make any difference.

-- JMP

Hi:
I was wondering what software you used ? Was it easy to learn,and how much did set you back?
thanks

The software is Google “Sketch-up” and I use the free version. The term “Free” is however a complete misnomer as it is anything BUT easy to learn. In essence it’s a huge P.I.T.A. to learn, but it is powerful and it is free so if you can afford to take the many hours necessary to become semi-proficient, it will provide you with nice 3D working models of your ideas. If an easy or intuitive program were actually possible and cost several hundred dollars, I think it would be money well and readily spent as the time I had to devote to learning to use this application ( and many others ) would have been much more enjoyable spent butchering wood.

-- JMP

Very good information in this build and in the comments.
Thanks guys

Jeff

It looks like you have come up with a useful sander for those of us with limited resources for buying tools. With some fine tuning of the two sides of top surface and a fence it might even be used as an edge jointer??
Have you worked out what the speed of the drum is and what was the rpm on your motor? Do you think a variable speed pulley set up would be useful?
Further development of this project could go on for years (-;

I would have some concern about heat build up. Schedule 40 PVC is not very heat tolerant so you may experience some warping if the tube gets how. Also I noticed that there was no allowance for ventilation of heat from the motor section. That could become a problem when doing a lot of sanding.

-- Les B, Oregon

Great Post, I have been watching things like this for a while. Why do you not think it will work for thickness sanding? The Sand-Flee emphasizes their fence. Do you anticipate adding one to do some right angle clean’ups?

-- Keeping my fingers attached so I can stroke my wife's hair and hold my daughter's hand

Having used this tool for a while now and I have found it to be effective and very convenient for surface and edge sanding. I’m certain that with some nominal modification the design could be made practical for uses such as jointing and possibly even thickness sanding, although the later would likely take quite a bit more alteration.

Central to this design is the reliance on centrifugal force to lift the sanding medium into contact with the surface to be sanded therefore eliminating 98% of the heat generated by traditional “pinch” type drum sanders. The lack of contact between the drum and the objective surface results in a negligible amount of heat and that lack of heat allows for a drum to be created from a wide variety of materials the only restriction being that it be durable and rigid enough not to flex under the stresses of being spun. Various thicknesses of PVC, aluminum, acrylic and even wood can be adapted and should all perform in a perfectly satisfactory manner under normal use. Production minded wood workers will be better served with a commercially produced unit IMHO.

I’ve not noticed any need for additional ventilation. The cabinet is far from air tight and constantly under the negative pressure produced by the shop-vac dust collection which seems to be more than adequate to keep the motor cool.

Although I don’t know the actual rpm’s of the unit, I know the motor runs at 2750 rpms. I wanted it a speed of 1250-1350 so I used a 2.5 to 1 step down ratio which I believe should be in the ball park. Initially I purchased an inexpensive voltage rheostat but it began to smoke almost immediately so I returned it and subsequently found it unnecessary. A variable speed pulley system, such as the ones found on a DP might be an interesting modification, but like you said, one could go on for years improving on the basic theme.

As for a fence, I have no plans to add one although I’m sure it wouldn’t be difficult.

Cheers to all

-- JMP

So your bottom line is, the $235 kit makes sense?

-- Keeping my fingers attached so I can stroke my wife's hair and hold my daughter's hand

A few months ago, I got a KIT for a very similar drum sander.

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

I got the 18” wide 2” roll model for a little over $200

Balanced pulleys, etc. worked out very nicely…

I STILL have a little more to do to Fine Tune the unit:
Laminate the top & make a Ht. adjustment… needs to be “just right”.

Watch the videos on the site to give you more ideas, etc.

I have my pictures in my personal gallery (my links, below)...
http://www.ncwoodworker.net/pp/showgallery.php?cat=985

-- Have Fun! Joe Lyddon - Alta Loma, CA USA - Home: http://www.WoodworkStuff.net ... My Small Gallery: http://www.ncwoodworker.net/pp/showgallery.php?ppuser=1389&cat=500"

JMP,
Nice post. I am in the process of designing my own drum sander but if I use threaded rod, it is too sloppy in the pillow block bearing. I could get regular keyed shafting from Enco, but can’t figure out how to attach it to the PVC. Did you purchase pecially sized bearings to fit the threded rod?
Thanks
Jonathan

looks really good, thanx for sharing. good to know there are good options out there when it comes to drum sanders

-- When in doubt - There is no doubt - Go the safer route.

Johathan:

There’s nothing special about either the rod I used or the pillow blocks. I purchased a 36” length of 1/2” threaded steel rod from HD and the pillow blocks were some moderately inexpensive (middle of the road) 1/2” units from Grainger. If you chose to with a keyed shaft route then you would simply purchase a pack of 1/2” ID shaft collars ( $3.25 for a 3 pack from Grainger ) with allen set screws to lock your dowels or what ever filler you choose inside your PVC. The threads make the rod attachment a little more secure I think, but as you eluded it does tend to be a bit less rigid and is made of slightly less durable steel than a dedicated shaft would be. If I had to do it again, I would probably opt for a task specific shaft in a heavier 5/8th gauge.

-- JMP