Drum Sander Shaft

Local welding shop will have cold rolled shafting.
Tractor supply.
Hardware stores.
Auto parts stores.

Online, McMastr Carr is my favorite “go to” source for everything mechanical.

-- Michael :-{| Diapers and politicians both need to be changed often; and for the same reason.

Well, I dunno where you are located, but metal dealers, especially
those that deal in surplus typically have bars you could use as
a shaft for such a thing.

That said, building machines is not for the faint of hard and the investment
in parts will mount up. If you just want to get them sanded, farm
it out to a shop with a wide belt and they’ll do it for you fast
and nice.

Also, I see used drum sanders on the market all the time, and believe
me, people sell them for a lot less than what they retail for.

Two suggestions; go to www.woodgears.ca for tons of information including pdf of a drumsander build, and go to www.vxb.com for bearings and shafts—cheap, high quality, good service, and huge selection. If they don’t have it, it doesn’t exist.

And welcome to LJ.

Steve

PS You know why God invented weathermen don’t you? To make economists look good. Just kidding.

-- Steve in KY. 44 years so far with my lovely bride. Think I'll keep her.

One option may be tread-all. Recently shop-notes Vol.20 Issue 119 made a shaping center using 5/8” threaded rod It fit directly into a 5/8” pillow block bearing and they used jam nuts against the grinding wheels to hold them in place.You may want to step up to 3/4” for more rigidness. I don’t know that thread-all would be the best but $10 is a lot better than $40 when your on a budget.

Never heard it called thread-all, but if you mean all-thread rod, that is a poor choice for a shaft. Not straight, low grade steel, full of stress fractures from the threading process. If I had no other choice I might use it but I’d go with 1” diameter.

-- Michael :-{| Diapers and politicians both need to be changed often; and for the same reason.

I got it on EEEEEEEEEEE BAAAAAYYYYYYYY

Any metal’s dealer on line will sell you bar stock and some will have ground shafting. Most mill spec bar stock is good enough and pillow block bearings usually let you drive a pair of set screws hard into the bar.

”all-thread rod, that is a poor choice for a shaft. Not straight, low grade steel, full of stress fractures from the threading process. If I had no other choice I might use it but I’d go with 1” diameter.”

All-thread has got no roundness specification and no consistent diameter either.
One would be vastly better off using ground shafting and having thread chased and a collar installed at a machine shop.

Put a shaper cutter on an All-thread shaft and one is guaranteed to only have one side of the cutter doing any work. Plus the wear – - there is less metal to metal contact and the thread crests will wear like a who dun it.

-- When the moderator chooses sides, his site sucks.

I got my some of my shafts from a bearing and drive store, they had to order it in on a stock order, but it was
less expensive than any online stores and it was precision ground and had a standard keyway.

-- As ever, Gus-the 74 yr young apprentice carpenter

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I called around a few places here and eventually ordered it off amazon. The prices were about the same but the shipping was much cheaper with the prime membership.

@Loren – This wouldn’t be for just these cutting boards, but for future projects as well. All tools are an investment, regardless of if they’re built or bought.

-- Brian