Speaking of Hot Deals on Drum Sanders

Looks like the Drum Sander Fairy that visited Rennie dropped by my house, too. Now all I've got to do is figure out where to put it. This puppy is a lot heavier than I thought it'd be. It was about all I could do to lift it onto the tablesaw.



With the infeed and outfeed tables, it's also a lot longer than I'd expected.



My buddy also had a few boxes of abrasives. The strips in the small box have only been lightly used, and the three bigger boxes are still nearly full.



There's a small tear in the feed belt that seems to be OK with its duct tape patch, but at some point it'll need replacing. It has the 2" dust collection port, but I had a 2" to 4" adapter, and my Harbor Freight DC seemed to handle it fine. I tried the sander on a small piece of resawn bloodwood that I had laying around. It did a good job, but I also learned that bloodwood burns pretty easily, and when it does, it gums up the sandpaper.



I tried my rubber sandpaper cleaner stick a bit (with the drum spinning) and didn't have much luck removing the burned resin. I'll scrub on it some more with the drum stopped, but if I can't fix it, I've at least got sandpaper to replace it.

Oh yeah...the price. I'm "storing" it for a contractor buddy on my pool league team, but since I'll use it from time to time, I decided not to charge him any storage fees. (He doesn't plan to take it back.) He told me he used it about eight times a number of years ago, and it has sat unused since. (The invoice date on the sandpaper boxes is from 2001.) He bought it to do his own cabinet doors, then decided it was just easier and more cost effective to just buy them ready-made.

You must be living right Vaughn. That is fantastic. I'm so jealous

So that you can sand bloodwood and other "gummy" woods, is there a speed control on the roller or feed table to speed up the wood passing through?

Jonathan Shively said:

So that you can sand bloodwood and other "gummy" woods, is there a speed control on the roller or feed table to speed up the wood passing through?

Click to expand...

Yes, but I was running it at full speed. I'm pretty sure I was trying to take too deep of pass. Then once the burn was on the sandpaper, it didn't go away no matter how light the cut was. here's going to be a bit of learning curve in figuring out what's "enough" and what's "too much".

That is a learning curve I hope to encounter in my shop someday. Congrats on the great score!!!

dont know where your speed adjustment is but you want slower feed rate than drum speed and lighter cut to avoid what you have got from your blood wood.

I have burnt a lot of paper before I figured out how not too. Still don't know if I am correct, but I turn the handle 1/16 and make a pass. Slow as all get out, but works well and doesn't eat paper.

You lucky you.

Congrats!

Hope you didn't lift it by yourself. You could have called me.

I would worry about a duct tape patch on the feed belt. I ran for years with small tears at the edge of the feed belt cut out in a gentle curve, so the work would not be raised by the thickness of a patch.

When I finally replaced my feed belt, it was about $50-60. When I complained on some forum, some people suggested that they just bought a custom sandpaper belt of the specified size, at roughly 1/3 the cost.

See my suggestion on the ammeter in the other performax post.

A faster feed speed with a shallower cut works better than a heavy cut (it is only 1 1/2 hp, while most drum sanders are at least 5 hp). The faster speed keeps the wood cooler.

I found that 180 grit was "very fine" - the 220 grit I tried was almost useless.

A power washer, with the belt spread on a sidewalk (hold the ends with a brick) does the best I have found for cleaning the belts. I sometimes sprayed the tough spots with Simple Green before washing. The sun dries them in an hour or so. The erasers make them look better cosmetically, but doesn't do a thing for cleaning grunge - I threw away my eraser.

If you have your sander where the sun shines on it, put a piece of plywood/masonite over the belt when it isn't being used. The sun seems to be why my feed belt dried and tore.

I'm with Charley so far as being concerned about the patched feed belt. It's just waiting to tear off - likely just when you're working on a job that can't wait.

Klingspor has replacement drive belts. I recently bought one for my 10-20, and they're a much better quality than the OEM belt was.

Well congrats to you! I've only used mine for some scrap/tests so far, but it seems to do fine. I think mine looks a it older. I'll have to check someday.

My Woodcraft has a special email invitation only sale this evening, 20% off nearly everything (the usual exceptions) so I was going to pick up some paper. Mine came only with what seems to be an 80 grit.

Thanks Charlie for the hint on the 220.

You, you, you . . . that's what you are! Congrats.

shallow shallow shallow. When I set up my woodmaster I run the stock through with the drum off and crank until it just, just makes contact. So I can actually just hold the drum stationary with one hand and have the stock feed through. one turn is usually 1/16 depth. Based on that I only go about an eighth of a turn per pass. It cuts quicker, doesnt heat up or bind and drag. Also with the open end you have beware of flex if you have too aggressive of a feed. My woodmaster is a 38 inch and has a 5 hp motor the drum is closed at both ends. And you should hear that thing when I take too aggressive of a cut. Talk about smoking the belt!

Another thing, consider getting a roll of 80 and 100 grit. Great for sanding panels and doors etc. You will be their for an eternity with 150 trying to level a joint.

Thanks for the suggestions, guys. I agree with Rich on getting some 80 grit paper, since I suspect it'll be the grit U use the most. I also agree with everyone who's suggesting lighter passes. I read somewhere last night (after burning the bloodwood) a technique similar to what Rich mentioned...set the initial height so the paper is touching the wood lightly enough that you can turn the drum by hand, then use about 1/8 of a turn per pass. (I was using 1/4 turn for the most part.)

Jim and Charlie, the tear in the belt isn't on the edge. It's a flap about 2" x 2" in size, a couple of inches from the edge. Pretty easy to avoid putting any stock directly on the patch, so until it starts growing, I'm not going to worry about it too much.

couldn't happen to a nicer guy! (well it might, but nobody I know has a 'spare' drum sander ) Congrats!

Boy what a great deal you gave your buddy, free storage!

Sometimes I think you are too nice Vaughn!

I'd order a replacement drive belt and just keep it on hand, then if that one lets go when you need the machine, you have the spare ready to go.

The pre-cut strips for the Performax/Jet sanders are frightfully expensive.


I have had good luck with the 50 yard (150 foot) rolls from www.sandpaperworks.com - about $55 postpaid - not to be confused with the 50 foot rolls from some vendors. I recommend 150 grit for most sanding - you will have to final sand with a ROS, and the 150 does a great job prior to ROS most of the time.
See www.sandpaperworks.com/catalog/3_inch_by_50_yards_drum_sander_rolls_353331_products.htm

After I had plenty of paper, Klingspor added 50 yard rolls at about the same price - and Klingspor is the sandpaper Performax uses (or at least used) in their expensive strips. See www.woodworkingshop.com/cgi-bin/5963CBC3/mac/qryitems.mac/itemDisplay?qryType=STYLE&itemSt=SR003X50

I bet the reason that Klingspor doesn't recommend those rolls for drum sanding is that they would rather sell you the far more expensive rolls that have the cut lines printed on the back - see www.woodworkingshop.com/cgi-bin/5963CBC3/mac/qryitems.mac/itemDisplay?qryType=STYLE&itemSt=PERCUT

The 50 yard Klingspor rolls talk about being flexible, but the drum holds the paper flat, so I am not worried. If anyone has different experience, I would like to hear.

I havent used my drum sander that much. Used it for several large panels and struggled with the bar top, since it was so heavy it was hard for me to handle alone.
I use a roll and cut out the strips.
My biggest problem is getting the paper set exactly, and sometimes it slips or rips and I get some burning.

I dont think the drum sander can be used as a final sanding, since I get some lines in it, that need to be finished off with the orbital.

I do get a nice even and consistant surface after a few runs through the drum sander.