Thread: advice on buying drum sander

Thanks Kev...so about 7 to the 25m roll.

Just doing my sums as you can buy 25m rolls which may end up with a little wastage or I can buy it by the metre and say 27m may get me an extra length.

It all adds up when buying an array of grits.

Just looking through the Grits available...
36
60
80
120
180
240
320

I use 80 grit and up for my lathe and hand sanding but can anyone enlighten me as to if I would need 36 & 60 grit...36 grit would be like sharp gravel embedded in the cloth backed paper.

Stripping back old coatings on a table top maybe. I think I would only need the 80 & up.

Any comments would be greatly appreciated.

I find the coarser grits to be very useful when I am using the sander as a thicknesser.
On the other hand, I seldom go above 120 as the sander doesn't really work all that well with the really fine grades.

Putting an item through the sander at 120 and then following up with 220 on an orbital and then through to the finer grades.

Further to making your own. The paper can be purchased in widths that are wider and therefore cheaper per square metre. To make the wide paper smaller, just tear it along the length. Sounds crazy eh?


To sand the Ozzie H/Woods, I tend to take a VERY light cut and put the speed as fast as I can. On occasion however, (just to make things really difficult) it works better if you do the opposite. ie. Still a light cut but feed very slowly.

If the belts do get clagged up with resin, there is a product whose name I don't know, that can melt the resin off the paper.

Found the remover/cleaner thread

You may also like to read this Blog for some ideas.

I find that the belt cleaner sticks work well. Just a stick of reconstituted rubber. I have also used the sole of an old dunlop volley shoe to good effect.

I buy rolls of abrasive 100m at a time, 75mm wide which is slightly smaller than the 3 inch rolls that the machine is designed to use. The result is that when I put a new roll on I leave a couple of mil of drum exposed between wraps. I have thought to recalculate the length and taper but the method I use works so I haven't bothered. Come over and have a look if you want Skot.

Cheers

Originally Posted by Enfield Guy

I find that the belt cleaner sticks work well. Just a stick of reconstituted rubber. I have also used the sole of an old dunlop volley shoe to good effect.
Cheers

Those rubber stick cleaners work really well. I've also heard a cork (from a wine bottle will do) works just as well - I've never tried it though.

The belt cleaner sticks work OK on sawdust clogging of belts, but they will not remove resin or gum build up. For that, you have to melt/dissolve the resin/gum or blast it off with a Gerni.

The paper on the drum now is 3" (75.72mm) and I had a look at The Sandpaper Man site and he has 76mm which would be perfect for the Jet 22 44.

I threw an old Silky Oak drawer front from an old chest of drawers through the sander ...absolutely rapt in the finish it left but now I have bits of varnish stuck to the paper. I'll try different things to try and clean it.

Must get me a cleaner stick as well

I've read somewhre you should use the cleaner stick on the paper before you put wood to it - nakes it easier to clean I'm lead to brelieve

An old thong makes a good cleaning stick. (The one you wear on your feet)

Yes, make sure you use the footwear variety of thong or your sander will smell like a dunny door off a trawler.

Damn..I throw away my old thongs.