Drum Sander Tip
Just recently I managed to buy a second hand drum sander.
The sander is CARBA TEC badged but looks like a Jet 16 -32 Knockoff, as it certainly does not have the height of the current models.
I gave it a bit of a beating when I first bought it and sanded just about everything in sight one day, mainly to familiarise my self with its capabilities of what it can and cannot do.
In the process I managed to break a belt and clog some of the others with resin and wood.
The grits I had removed ranged from 60G 80G 120g and 240G from memory.
As these belts amounted to a significant purchase I was not prepared to just throw them away.
I later found out some information from degoose as to where to buy replacement Belts.
Well I have had the machine for about 3 months now and find that I have spent possibly more than the original purchase price on consumables and have about seven belts removed from the machine for clogging or being broken. They were incrementally cleaned whilst in use with belt rejuvenator but it did not fully remove the clogging
The place I got the belts from is The sandpaper Man at Manly West.
I was at the Sandpaper Man"s premises last week talking sandpaper as one would do at a sandpaper shop, when the topic of rejuvenation of the belts came up.
I found out as all the belts I have were polyester cloth there was no reason why I could not soak them in water or the likes to remove the clogging and scrub them with a brush or even use a pressure cleaner on them.
As I had all those items available I thought I would give it a go.
So first up into a bucket of water with some detergent added they went for an overnight soak.
I then hung them up on the gate,
This is a top view of belt No 1
This is a bottom view of belt no 1
and introduced the pressure cleaner to them.
The results being,
This is the second belt before cleaning.
I continued and pressure cleaned all the belts
This is the third belt before cleaning.
this is the third belt cleaned and forth belt ready for cleaning,
Note whatever the black contaminant was, it not all completely removed.
Belts 2, 3 and 4.
I worked my way through cleaning them all and obtained the following results
and belts 1, 5, 6 and 7.
The Pressure cleaner removed almost all of the contamination from every belt including the broken one, of which I will cut up and use else where.
After they were dry I checked them again just in case the water had masked the contamination but all were good.
Conclusion:
Belt Rejuvenation:
No doubt belt rejuvenation whilst the belt is in use is important to prolong its useful life, drum sanders work hard moving material and need adequate dust extraction and cleaning when in use,
Contaminants:
Drum Sanders don't like sanding contaminants like paint and resins if they are grits around 80+ and will clog quickly.
So if there are traces of paint or resin up the grit abrasive range (You can get a 32 Grit) or use another method to prepare the timber.
External Cleaning:
External Cleaning does not restore the surface grit it simply removes contaminants, so if its worn out its now cleaner and worn out!
Enjoy
Just recently I managed to buy a second hand drum sander.
The sander is CARBA TEC badged but looks like a Jet 16 -32 Knockoff, as it certainly does not have the height of the current models.
I gave it a bit of a beating when I first bought it and sanded just about everything in sight one day, mainly to familiarise my self with its capabilities of what it can and cannot do.
In the process I managed to break a belt and clog some of the others with resin and wood.
The grits I had removed ranged from 60G 80G 120g and 240G from memory.
As these belts amounted to a significant purchase I was not prepared to just throw them away.
I later found out some information from degoose as to where to buy replacement Belts.
Well I have had the machine for about 3 months now and find that I have spent possibly more than the original purchase price on consumables and have about seven belts removed from the machine for clogging or being broken. They were incrementally cleaned whilst in use with belt rejuvenator but it did not fully remove the clogging
The place I got the belts from is The sandpaper Man at Manly West.
I was at the Sandpaper Man"s premises last week talking sandpaper as one would do at a sandpaper shop, when the topic of rejuvenation of the belts came up.
I found out as all the belts I have were polyester cloth there was no reason why I could not soak them in water or the likes to remove the clogging and scrub them with a brush or even use a pressure cleaner on them.
As I had all those items available I thought I would give it a go.
So first up into a bucket of water with some detergent added they went for an overnight soak.
I then hung them up on the gate,
This is a top view of belt No 1
This is a bottom view of belt no 1
and introduced the pressure cleaner to them.
The results being,
This is the second belt before cleaning.
I continued and pressure cleaned all the belts
This is the third belt before cleaning.
this is the third belt cleaned and forth belt ready for cleaning,
Note whatever the black contaminant was, it not all completely removed.
Belts 2, 3 and 4.
I worked my way through cleaning them all and obtained the following results
and belts 1, 5, 6 and 7.
The Pressure cleaner removed almost all of the contamination from every belt including the broken one, of which I will cut up and use else where.
After they were dry I checked them again just in case the water had masked the contamination but all were good.
Conclusion:
Belt Rejuvenation:
No doubt belt rejuvenation whilst the belt is in use is important to prolong its useful life, drum sanders work hard moving material and need adequate dust extraction and cleaning when in use,
Contaminants:
Drum Sanders don't like sanding contaminants like paint and resins if they are grits around 80+ and will clog quickly.
So if there are traces of paint or resin up the grit abrasive range (You can get a 32 Grit) or use another method to prepare the timber.
External Cleaning:
External Cleaning does not restore the surface grit it simply removes contaminants, so if its worn out its now cleaner and worn out!
Enjoy