| Project by George M | posted 701 days ago | 5948 views | 86 times favorited | 26 comments |  |
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This is my latest shop built tool. Previously I built a motorized router table.
As you may recognize, I shamelessly copied two other Lumberjocks JohnZ and TomT. In fact both John and Tom were kind enough to answer questions for me. Also Tom sent me some great bearings to use and John milled some threaded rods and aluminum plugs for the transport rollers.
The unit is full height. It has casters, but won’t be moved very often. I am lucky enough to have a large shop this was possible. A couple of changes from John and Tom 26” width of sanding surface, and I put the chain drive inside the lower base to keep it out of the sawdust. When I made up my mind to build a drum sander, I knew I wanted one big enough to handle glued up table top sections. The 26” came about from the size of the transport belt – 25×60.
Structurally the material is Hem Fir and MDF. The transport bed is the bed from a treadmill I got off of Craig’s list for $25. I intended to use the motor also, but it was belt driven and the belt was too short to work. I tried to get the belt pulley off to use a gear, but was not successful. So I visited my surplus store and picked up the geared motor you see in the picture. It is a 90rpm, but I geared it down to be about 56rpm. The drum is made like the Shop Notes article mentioned by John. That is many circles of MDF glued up and then sanded smooth – Final diameter is 5” +-. The motor is a 1 1/2 HP I again got off of Craig’s List. It is a 3450rpm, so I used a 2 1/2’ pulley to a 5” pulley, bringing the rpm down to 1725. For the sanding belt, I ordered the conversion kit from Jet for their 24” sander. Since their drums are 6” and mine is 5”, the kit worked almost perfectly. Had about ½ left to trim off of the end of the drum (the drum itself is 28” in order to give me a clear 26” sand area).
The result – It works very well. I am fine tuning it. Right now I have it to within .007” from side to side. The transport motor may be a little under powered so I may try to gear it down a little more.
Thanks for looking.
-- George, Parker Colorado
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26 comments so far
bighead
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14 posts in 1935 days
#1 posted 701 days ago
Nice work Do you think a 5HP 3450rpm mtor would be to big for this tool?
-- Preston H Kamloops BC Canada
itsmic
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1423 posts in 1289 days
#2 posted 701 days ago
Very Nice Job, looks to be the real macoy, it’s great to see such innovative work here on the site, thanks for sharing
-- It's Mic Keep working and sharing
Abbynormal
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34 posts in 1006 days
#3 posted 701 days ago
wow most impressive, excellent work
bigike
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4023 posts in 1459 days
#4 posted 701 days ago
Great work I have to built myself one of these one day I hope soon.
-- Ike, Big Daddies Woodshop, http://www.icombadaniels@yahoo.com
Dustmite97
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430 posts in 1391 days
#5 posted 701 days ago
Wow, that’s awesome! I still need to build one of these some day.
-- Remember, measure twice, cut once
scarpenter002
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367 posts in 2076 days
#6 posted 701 days ago
Excellent job. You have started me to researching and planning my very own version of this. Thanks for sharing.
-- Scott in Texas
Ken90712
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12665 posts in 1359 days
#7 posted 700 days ago
Cool machine, looks great!
-- Ken, "Everyday above ground is a good day!"
Jim Jakosh
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7318 posts in 1276 days
#8 posted 700 days ago
Nice machine.Good job on it. I could use one right now for some 21” tops that won’t fit in my planer.
ou may have inspired me to build one too. I had drawn a sketch once and I was thinking of using a 4 bar linkage to raise the feed table with one screw. How do you adjust the height of the 4 screws together?...Jim
-- Jim Jakosh.....Practical Wood Products...........Learn something new every day!!
George M
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75 posts in 935 days
#9 posted 700 days ago
Thanks for the comments guys.
Preston – 5 hp should work just fine, except it may be overkill. the idea of a drum sander is to remove small amounts at a time.
Jim – The four screws are connected by a chain under the base. That way it stays away from the dust. By turning the walnut handle (front right), it turns all four screws.
-- George, Parker Colorado
DocSavage45
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2878 posts in 1013 days
#10 posted 700 days ago
Looks great! Nice to have the help? I’d be interested in knowing total time in the build and an update as to how this “big dawg” performed for you, and how you would modify it in the future. Nice to have a shop big enough to use it. LOL
-- Cau Haus Designs, Thomas J. Tieffenbacher
johnzo
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65 posts in 967 days
#11 posted 700 days ago
George,
You did it man! The final pictures look great! I think you credited Tom with some of my machining, but the final result is amazing. Warning though: your ‘under the cover’ sprocket/chain drive idea may be stolen by the industry leader, Woodmaster Tools. Nice innovation!
I’m sorry I doubted your ability to pull off a full 26” wide transport, but You did it, and my hat’s off to you! Great job, and enjoy your machine!
John Z
-- 70 is the new 50!
George M
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75 posts in 935 days
#12 posted 700 days ago
Doc,
Indeed getting help was not only nice but imperative. I dont think I would have attempted it without the help from John and Tom. But then that is what this site is all about. I want to put some table tops through it before I come back and update the performance. Same thing about what I would change.
John,
So sorry about the credit. I have corrected it to give you the rightfull gredit. With some test sanding without being hooked up to my DC, I am glad I did put the chain under the bottom. Thanks again for all you help.
-- George, Parker Colorado
Jorge Velez
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322 posts in 757 days
#13 posted 700 days ago
excelent project! any chance to share plans? I’m interested on builing one
-- Jorge Velez, Guadalajara, Mexico.
George M
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75 posts in 935 days
#14 posted 699 days ago
Jorge,
I do not have any plans. I basically copied Johnz and TomT with my own variations. I would be glad to answer any specific questions you may have.
-- George, Parker Colorado
SgtSnafu
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956 posts in 1442 days
#15 posted 699 days ago
Great looking Sander – very well done
Thanks for sharing
-- Scotty - aka... SgtSnafu - Randleman NC
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