I finally got around to doing a video today for those who wanted to see this little sander up and running. It also covers the often asked question about how you hand feed one of these without catastrophic accidents involving the subject piece becoming a lethal projectile.
Disclaimer: I’m no video producer and I didn’t use an editor so you will get to laugh at me a couple of times…... OK all the time maybe.
There are actually three clips in the video. They all involve sanding flat some marquetry I’m working on at the moment. The first , after showing you the subject piece with shiny glue areas showing, covers initial setup of depth. It’s real rocket science. You raise the table and watch the gap. When you touch with a bit of pressure, you’re there. I then go on to take three passes at that depth and the piece is flat. You should be able to see the difference even in this bad video.
The second segment covers an incremental increase. It is so easy. I take three passes on this piece (there are four identically cut pictures) and decide it isn’t quite there yet so I raise the table 1/4 turn on each side and re-lock the table before taking three more passes. at this point it is just about perfect. That’s six passes on a piece of marquetry 1/32” thick to start with and it is still more than 1/2 there.
The last segment just shows how easy it is to change grit. You just change drums. It’s actually a whole lot easier than I made it look this time. Call it stage fright or camera butterflies.
Throughout the process I’m feeding with a push board of 1/4” MDF and I’m pushing with my thigh so that the weight of my body is controlling the feed. This gives far better control than you can get pushing with your hands. When I first started using this sander I was getting little ripples and the odd groove from uneven feed. Now with this push board and this method there is no sign of them at all.
You may notice that dust is another thing there is no sign of at all.
That’s it. Enjoy the video.
!!
Questions, comments, critiques are as usual, encouraged.
Paul
-- Paul M ..............If God wanted us to have fiberglass boats he would have given us fiberglass trees. http://prmdesigns.com/
23 comments so far
SPalm
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4118 posts in 2053 days
#1 posted 444 days ago
Sweet. That looks fantastic. Looks like it does a tremendous job too.
A rubber-ish sanding belt cleaner really works well to keep those drums clean. I use one a lot and it helps the life of the paper. (But you knew that)
You got skills,
Steve
-- -- I'm no rocket surgeon
shipwright
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3400 posts in 969 days
#2 posted 444 days ago
Actually Steve I just cleaned the drum I was using before I made the video. Then I decided to show a drum change and yes, the other one needed a pass or tho with the big eraser.
OK so I just watched it and discovered that there are actually four segments. I could swear that I deleted the third one.
-- Paul M ..............If God wanted us to have fiberglass boats he would have given us fiberglass trees. http://prmdesigns.com/
DocSavage45
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2879 posts in 1014 days
#3 posted 444 days ago
Steve,
Liked the legs you put on the automatic feeder! LOL Am i the only LJ who lives in a cold place? :) Nice dust collector. Looks like your machine works! Was this direvcted by Alfred Hitchcock. :)
-- Cau Haus Designs, Thomas J. Tieffenbacher
DocSavage45
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2879 posts in 1014 days
#4 posted 444 days ago
Can’t wait til I attempt to get a vid on you tube. HA,HA,HA,HA,HA!
-- Cau Haus Designs, Thomas J. Tieffenbacher
lizardhead
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486 posts in 1013 days
#5 posted 444 days ago
Ok so my question is if that push board you are using slips does that make a girl out of you real quick?
-- Lizardhead---Yeah but it's a dry heat--Tempe, Az
shipwright
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3400 posts in 969 days
#6 posted 444 days ago
I’ve been a woodworker for forty-odd years and still have all my appendages.
‘nuf said.
-- Paul M ..............If God wanted us to have fiberglass boats he would have given us fiberglass trees. http://prmdesigns.com/
sandhill
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1978 posts in 2095 days
#7 posted 444 days ago
It looks like it works fine Paul. I prefer to have auto feed myself but if it works don’t fix it. Great job.
Joe Lyddon
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6397 posts in 2223 days
#8 posted 444 days ago
Very nice setup, Paul!
When you were sanding the picture, you ran it through several times without changing anything…
I guess it didn’t sand it completely on the 1st pass… and you had to just push it through more times to sand it more… How do you know it’s done? When it doesn’t sand anymore?
Was a nice picture… How was it done? Wood burnt? Laser printed?
... and the sanding didn’t hurt the picture quality?
COOL Sander! Sure beats the room another one would take up!! Objective met!
Thank you!
-- 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"
cathyb
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544 posts in 1415 days
#9 posted 444 days ago
Cool! I have my General double drum sander which runs that way, but it wasn’t the sander that caught my eye. I have a Jet dust collector that is just a monster to empty. It would be so much nicer to have a trash can with a bag already in place so that I don’t have to break my back and cover myself with sawdust every time I empty the dust from my collector. I need that set up. Paul you are always a terrific source of information and ingenuity. Thanks for sharing with all of us. Cheers…......
-- cathyb, Hawaii, www.cathyswoodworking.com
shipwright
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3400 posts in 969 days
#10 posted 444 days ago
Joe, when you run a piece through this machine, I guess because there is give in the hook and loop structure, it will take a little each pass and sometimes takes three or four very thin cuts on the same setting. You know it’s done when the veneers are all level.
The pictures are marquetry stack cut from 1/32” veneers of Walnut, Pine and Imbuya burl on the chevalet.
-- Paul M ..............If God wanted us to have fiberglass boats he would have given us fiberglass trees. http://prmdesigns.com/
gfadvm
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6650 posts in 861 days
#11 posted 444 days ago
Paul, What a great shop made tool! I watched your build blog but appreciate getting to see it and your chip separator in action. They are both keepers!
-- " I'll try to be nicer, if you'll try to be smarter" gfadvm
Dez
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1097 posts in 2248 days
#12 posted 444 days ago
Paul,
If I laughed at you (or anyone else) as much as I would like too——
I would have to laugh at myself way too much!!!
-- Folly ever comes cloaked in opportunity!
kiefer
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1841 posts in 838 days
#13 posted 444 days ago
Paul that is a great demo and I like the set up ,works well nodust in the air .
I just noticed one thing ,when you changed the drum I did not see you unplugging the machine .
Kiefer
-- Kiefer 松
Philip
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725 posts in 710 days
#14 posted 444 days ago
Paul, that is fantastic. Great info and your original post is in the favorites for when I find space for a shopsmith.
-- If you can dream it, I can do it!
rance
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3856 posts in 1332 days
#15 posted 444 days ago
That’s one nice system you have there. Very well done.
-- Backer boards, stop blocks, build oversized, and never buy a hand plane--
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