# Excellent Finish Sanding Solution



## richgreer

Thank you for the review. I had never heard of this particular V drum sander and I am very interested in it. I just spent some time at their website and I watched one of their demo videos. This may be the next addition to my shop.


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## TheDane

*Rich*-I thought about this long and hard … quite an investment for a 'kit'. Glad I decided to go ahead. This thing has already saved me quite a bit of time sanding (which I hate to do anyway) and was actually kind of fun to build.

BTW … I am an Iowan living in exile in Wisconsin … born & raised in Sioux City, lived in Des Moines for many years, and have a bunch of relatives in the Hawkeye State. Keeping our fingers criossed that you folks don't get flooded again this year!


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## jbertelson

Pretty neat. One advantage of kits is the customization potential, and it looks like you took advantage of it.


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## Bovine

I've been to the site in the past and have wondered if you'd really get decent results with one of these things. Investing that much in a "kit" and then wishing I'd have bought a manufactured drum sander would really get me mad at myself. You're the first person I've seen review this. Thanks Dane for your description.

I guess this is an Iowa party. I was raised in Waterloo and spent the last 14 years in Des Moines before moving down to Kansas City a couple of years ago. Go Hawks!


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## Viking

Dane;

I have also looked at the Stockroom Supply V-drum sander kit and it will be a future purchase and I already have a 1/3 HP motor for it. I agree with your thoughts on buying the SS laminated top as flatness is important to performance of this machine.

Does the dust collection work well? What do you use, dust collector, shop vac?

Treeman added a very neat fence to his sander. http://lumberjocks.com/projects/24538

Very nice build and review!

*Iowa Connection* - My mother lives in Avoca in Pottawatamie County Iowa off I-80 and east of Council Bluffs. Brother in Norwalk near Des Moines. 2nd Brother in Council Bluffs. Sister is in Riverside California and I am in Texas. My sister and I like to get on an airplane to go see snow, the others like to scoop it!


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## TheDane

*Viking*-The dust collection does work petty well. for stuff like this, I use a ShopVac with an Oneida Dust Deputy and it does a good job (the photo of the swarf below the drum was taken after I did some sanding without the vac running).

Stockroom Supply's website has plans and a video (both free) for the fence. I may add that later.

*Iowa Connection*-My sister lives in Fort Dodge … they have had over 6 feet of snow this winter, and March is usually one of the snowier months. Now, about these folks that like to scoop snow … if they just head north and take a right at I-90 they could have lots of fun at my place!


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## lwoodt

Thanks Dane .I have been looking at this one for awhile myself.It does make more sence to run the panel over the table rather than the sander over the work.Nice for flattening out small peices to.Nice job all around.


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## HickoryHill

Wonder if the motor could be mounted below the unit? Granted that would make it taller, but that motor sticking out bugs me. For no particular reason other than it just does. Still thinking I want to get one of these though.

Nice Job!


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## TheDane

Yes … the motor can be mounted below the unit. There is even a plan for building such a configuration on Stockroom Supply's website (see: http://www.stockroomsupply.com/Drum_Sander_Plans.php)


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## swayze

Do you think the 18" drum is wide enough? Do you guys wish you had gone to the 24" or bigger? I can see one of these in my future but not sure if I'll buy the kit or try to fab it myself.


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## TheDane

Given the cramped space in my shop, the 18" kit was the right answer. The unit (13" high, 15" wide, and 30" long) needs to store on a shelf under my workbench along with my scroll saw, miter saw, and planer.

Since I built this sander, I haven't had a need to sand anything even approaching 18" in width, but since there are no obstructions on the top, and since this thing only takes a few thousandths of an inch you should be able to sand pieces much wider than 18". I suppose it depends on how you intend to use the sander … I built it for finish sanding and won't be using it to hog off large amounts of material.


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## TheDane

Follow-up: There was a safety concern, so I modified the original design of the box to include a safety guard over the belt ( http://lumberjocks.com/topics/19509 ) ... suggest others do this if they build a similar machine.


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## JesseTutt

Another brand that does the same thing is the Sand-Fee. I own the 24" V-Drum sander, but in recently looking at the Sand-Flee I would have seriously considered it over the Stockroom Supply.

I bought the pre-assembled unit. I don't like the top. The width of the opening is just large enough that sometimes the leading edge of the wood will catch and not want to move forward. I checked and the table top is flat.

For US residents: some US banks (Bank of America) will look at a purchase from Canada as a transaction in a foreign country and charge a surcharge.


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## TheDane

I looked into the Sand-Flee before I went with a Stockroom Supply kit and one of their MDF tops. That was three years ago, and I am still a happy camper. I even use mine for flattening rings for segmented turnings.

Do a search on LJ's for Sand-Flee and check out the reviews on it posted here and elsewhere.


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## Dustgineer

Hi Dane. I was considering purchasing the Grizzly G0459 baby drum sander, but I just found this with a google. I've visited the company site and am considering purchasing the 24" kit. Are you still happy with it? I would be sanding everything from dovetail and bandsaw boxes to end grain cutting boards to large cabinet panels and shelving.

I would also like to buy a pre-made top, but I only see the 30" on the site.


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## TheDane

"Are you still happy with it?"

You bet! I don't use it every day, but it gets enough use that I don't think I would want to be without it.

The thing you have to remember is that it is not a thickness sander. That being said, I have used it to sand cabinet panels, drawer fronts, etc. With the use of a wide (12") push block, I have even used it to flatten rings for segmented turning projects.

I would give Stockroom Supply a call to see if they have pre-made tops for the 24" version. I think they did when I bought mine, but that was almost 5 years ago!


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## Dustgineer

Great, thanks for the reply.

I wouldn't be using it as a thickness sander per se, but more of a finish sander because I can't stand hours of ROS use. I have a planer that is pretty good with figured woods as long as I don't try to take off too much, so I don't really have a use for a thickness sander right now. Looking for something I can use to do the majority of the work that my ROS is doing.

How did you go about building the sandpaper rack in the back? Just a 1×2 with some dowels?

I'll try to call Stockroom Supply and see if I can get some answers.

Thanks again.


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## TheDane

" Just a 1×2 with some dowels?"

Yup … that's pretty much it. It was just a piece of scrap pine I had in the cut-off bin. Make sure you cut the dowels to a length that will provide adequate clearance under the lid so you can get at the sandpaper rolls (and don't ask me how I know this!).


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