Page 2 of 3 FirstFirst 123 LastLast
Results 16 to 30 of 38

Thread: Jet Drum Sander

  1. #16
    Join Date
    May 2011
    Location
    Albury
    Posts
    3,019

    Default

    1/64" per quarter turn seems to be pretty common to these sanders. Using 80 grit media I never remove more than 1/64" even with softwoods. With something like Spotted Gum 1/128" is about what I aim for. If you try using these sanders as a thicknesser and get 'greedy' you're setting yourself up for all sorts of problems down the track. I bought my sander second hand, the previous owner had been greedy to the point of machine abuse - the drum motor had been replaced due being burnt out . It wasn't until about 18 months down the track that the gearbox on the conveyor belt motor failed. This was an undiagnosed result from the previous abuse. I was fortunate to be assisted by Old Croc with some replacement gears. Thanks again Crocky.

    You might like to have a look at this video - JET 723520K 1632 Drum Sander- Replacement Parts - YouTube - there's no way that I could tear the sanding media I use (Siawood Toptec) with my fingers like he does. I'd be paying a lot of attention to elanjacobs comment regarding the quality of Hermes products.

  2. # ADS
    Google Adsense Advertisement
    Join Date
    Always
    Location
    Advertising world
    Posts
    Many





     
  3. #17
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    Melbourne
    Age
    34
    Posts
    6,127

    Default

    1mm depth?! No wonder you're burning the paper up so fast.

    0.2-0.3 per pass is about the limit with a machine like that.

  4. #18
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Location
    back in Alberta for a while
    Age
    68
    Posts
    12,006

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by ian View Post
    2. if the "hermes" brand paper is rubbish, try cloth backed paper from someone like "the sandpaper man", who is a forum sponsor.
    "red face"


    I just looked at The SandPaper Man's site.
    It appears that "Hermes" is a reputable brand of sanding paper. The company has German roots.

    In turn this suggests that your "problem" with the sander may be related to how much material you are trying to remove at each pass.
    regards from Alberta, Canada

    ian

  5. #19
    Join Date
    Feb 2016
    Location
    Perth WA Australia
    Posts
    828

    Default

    Things i've learn about using my drum sander:

    1) I always start sanding adjusting the height till my work piece touches the drum slightly, then back it off by half a rotation, run it through and crank it by a quart of a turn till it takes one consistent pass. From there i'll crank it probably less than 0.5mm per pass
    2) As other posters have said higher grit sandpaper is mostly useless on drum sanders, the only exception to this is after you've done your initial runs and you've got a load of boards to do. Sanding at higher grits require exceptionally light passes. I currently use 60 grit paper on my machine, i have a twin drum, and i have worn 60 grit on the back and fresh 60 grit on the front. I found this gives me slightly better results than running fresh 60grit front and back.
    3) Know the wood you're running through the sander, certain build up much quicker than others. for eg i run the rubber cleaning stick after every pass on something like pine, but every few passes on jarrah. So key take away is keep your paper clean.
    4) Paper ripping/tearing is most likely user error, i used to have the same issue until i realised there was a trick to installing the paper. Ever since have never had an issue.
    5) Dust extraction is paramount, not only from your health point of view, but helps your machine perform better
    6) Run your boards at an angle, it'll help spread the contact patch and minimise loading, and maximise paper life
    7) Know the quirks of your machine, for example mine isn't perfectly parrallel to the bed one side is marginally higher than the other. In terms of a finished board it doesn't make a huge difference, in fact i can't tell with a pair of calipers. The reason why this is important as when you're trying to remove 0.1mm or so per pass a small discrepancy will dictate whether your pass is successful or whether you end up with burn marks on your board.
    8) Dont use it like a thicknesser if you can, if you do be prepared to churn through alot of sand paper. Which leads to my last point
    9) Know when to replace the paper, using old paper will result in increase likelihood of burning.

    If you're doing all the above and you're still having issues then possibly machine related, so might be worth getting someone to come take a look/show you how to use it.

  6. #20
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    Melbourne
    Age
    34
    Posts
    6,127

    Default

    If you're doing all the above and you're still having issues then possibly machine related, so might be worth getting someone to come take a look/show you how to use it.
    Yep, people (myself included) are often too quick to say something is garbage when it's actually us that's the problem

  7. #21
    Join Date
    Jun 2003
    Location
    Sunbury, Vic
    Age
    84
    Posts
    2,713

    Default

    [QUOTE=tonzeyd;2199718]Things i've learn about using my drum sander:

    1) I always start sanding adjusting the height till my work piece touches the drum slightly, then back it off by half a rotation, run it through and crank it by a quart of a turn till it takes one consistent pass. From there i'll crank it probably less than 0.5mm per pass

    7) Know the quirks of your machine, for example mine isn't perfectly parrallel to the bed one side is marginally higher than the other. In terms of a finished board it doesn't make a huge difference, in fact i can't tell with a pair of calipers. The reason why this is important as when you're trying to remove 0.1mm or so per pass a small discrepancy will dictate whether your pass is successful or whether you end up with burn marks on your board.

    Despite my best efforts to correct it my machine is the same. To overcome this, I turn the board around and put it through again without any adjustment and the board is then OK.
    Tom

    "It's good enough" is low aim

  8. #22
    Join Date
    Feb 2016
    Location
    Perth WA Australia
    Posts
    828

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by elanjacobs View Post
    Yep, people (myself included) are often too quick to say something is garbage when it's actually us that's the problem
    I still consider myself a complete newbie, so when things go wrong i generally default to user error haha.

  9. #23
    Join Date
    Feb 2016
    Location
    Canberra
    Posts
    5,124

    Default

    The machine table can be made parallel to the drum easily enough with sliced up coke cans as shims (0.1mm thick aluminium). I wrote a procedure on the forum once....

    As for burning - DUST EXTRACTION! Get that sucker sucking! Not the stupid little hole, but the full 150mm, or more.

    Paper - easy peasy - SIA cloth backed in 80 from the sandpaper man. He sells big rolls. Lasts forever, doesn't burn, keeps clean. Its FANTASTIC.

  10. #24
    Mobyturns's Avatar
    Mobyturns is offline In An Instant Your Life Can Change Forever
    Join Date
    Jul 2012
    Location
    "Brownsville" Nth QLD
    Age
    66
    Posts
    4,414

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by elanjacobs View Post
    1mm depth?! No wonder you're burning the paper up so fast.

    0.2-0.3 per pass is about the limit with a machine like that.
    +1 here! 1 mm per pass

    Now to qualify that, you may be able to get away with a 1 mm pass on a very few woods!

    Like all machines there is a learning curve and it helps a lot to have some knowledge and experience, but that takes a little time to accumulate. Some woods like QLD Maple (QMP) are a real PIA in a drum sander, very light passes at "just the right feed speed" - now what is "just right?" Buggared if I know as each board can be different even from the same damn tree! Others like resinous Radiata Pine should never go into a drum sander unless you like throwing away sanding media.

    I have a Jet 10-20 & typically I go for 0.3 - 0.4 mm per pass on 100-150 mm wide boards for "dimensioning stock." I use #80 & I adjust the belt feed to suit, rarely above position 4. To "precision thickness" thin boards / veneers I step up (down?) to #120 and closely monitor stock thickness. Less if its QLD Maple QMP and a couple of other timbers. "Tas Blackwood" and other Acacias, in fact any silaceous timbers require care.

    Powderpost & I purchase 25 m rolls of paper & cut our own strips. Jim has the larger Performax, but they both use the same width paper rolls. We tend to stick to #80 & #120 as it covers most tasks. I thickness sand a lot of thin boards / veneers for making "inlay banding" blocks.
    Mobyturns

    In An Instant Your Life CanChange Forever

  11. #25
    Join Date
    Feb 2016
    Location
    Canberra
    Posts
    5,124

    Default

    Here is something from the forum wwwaayyy back in 2013.

    My advice is to not use it as a thicknesser, but as a "final get things flat and paraller-er".

    Getting timber to thickness is absolutely NOT its function. Use a plane or the real thicknesser to get it close enough.

    I've personally found 120 works best for me. I now use only 80 and 120 (well, by "now" is before I moved to the unit). 180 was far too fine and a complete waste of time. 80 at various speeds (fast to slow) is good to get it Just Right for a finish sand with the ROS using 120 or 180.

    Here is the verbiage I wrote on using the coke cans.... the process is simple enough. A pair of callipers, a wide piece of MDF and a pencil is all it takes.


    When I first looked at it I thought this was going to be a sticking point too.

    Upon advice from the forum, I had my kids drink 4 cans of soft drink this arvo. I'm a good dad!

    Cut them up with scissors and measured the thickness. 0.1mm. Perfect! I cut a piece of MDF to 400x150. Drew on both sides vigorously with a carpenters pencil, cranked down the winder until I only just *barely* touched the MDF. Then I fired it up and ran it through once. Measured it with the micrometers, turned it directly over and ran it again. Remeasured it.

    It was out 2mm across the length to the non-motor end. Easy peasy. Carefully used two steel rulers to fold each can length wise 5 times then flattened them. It effectively made, after trimming and using a hole punch, 4 more shims that were exactly 0.5mm each.

    Undid the bolts, tightened every other bold up nice and hard, slid in the shims, tightened it all back down, made up a new test piece with pencil and ran it through. Set for only the tiniest hair to take off. Absolutely perfect. Flip, wind it down a fifth of a turn, did it again. Perfect across the the entire 400mm.

    Grabbed the micrometer and checked it. Now, this is going to sound like bragging, but it was out from back/front/left/right by less than 0.03mm. It was stupid stupid accurate.

    So, I grabbed a bit of ply and did the same. Same results. Amazing.

    So, double so, those who suggested coke cans are spot on. They are uniformly 0.1mm thickness. And make very reliable shims. Once cut open, folded carefully to the right width (of a steel ruler) they make extremely predictable packers. Plus they are as long as the underside of the bed, so support is very good.

    For a real world action, I had a return on a chop board for repair. #Doofus who bought it left a big greasy roast on it overnight and thought it would be smart to soak it in hot water for several hours....submerged.

    Needless to say, the carefully glued up timbers decided to test their glue and water absorbancy limits. #

    Let it dry right out for 2 weeks and ran it through, both sides. #It's amazing. #The timber is too knotty and gnarly for the thicknesser so I did it previously with the Festool belt sander.... Well, won't be using that too much after today's experience.

    It flattened the board on both sides parallel in under 5 minutes. Grabbed the micro and it was spot on right around...not close, it was spot on.

  12. #26
    Join Date
    Feb 2016
    Location
    Canberra
    Posts
    5,124

    Default

    Mobyturns is dead right. QMP is a dead-for-sure burn victim. Avoid.

    Same with pine. It will make you cry.

    My personal experience is to run the belt quite fast the first few times. Even without turning the knob, run it though 3 or 4 times. Then slow it right down.


    But, BobL advised with his Mens Shed experiences, LOTS of air via DE is critical. The stupid 50mm DE hole is unbelievably stupid. Cut that right open!

  13. #27
    Join Date
    Dec 2005
    Location
    Emerald, QLD
    Posts
    4,486

    Default

    Fully agree with Mobyturns on the Pine - it's banned from use in our clubs 22/44.

    The other thing that hasn't been mentioned is glue - just the tiniest blob of glue will melt and attach itself to the paper to destroy it instantly. At the club we make everyone clean all the excess glue off their cutting boards and the like before they go anywhere near the drum sander . . . but they still manage to slip past occasionally
    .
    Updated 8th of February 2024

  14. #28
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    Melbourne
    Age
    34
    Posts
    6,127

    Default

    Did we scare him off?

  15. #29
    Join Date
    May 2011
    Location
    Albury
    Posts
    3,019

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by elanjacobs View Post
    Did we scare him off?
    I doubt it. Jim's been around a long time and has a pretty well equipped workshop. Probably just trying to work out whether he wants to spend more money on something that has been so disappointing for him.

  16. #30
    Join Date
    Apr 2020
    Location
    Seaford, Vic
    Posts
    397

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Albert View Post
    An elderly woodworker told me to stay well away from these drum sander when I was planning to buy one. He said the overheating will always be an issue most of the time even if I got it running. I end up with a 900mm wide belt sander. That was 7-8 years ago

    I later upgraded to a 1100mm wide unit. I sometimes put my hand on the stock came out of the WBS I can feel the heat from the sand belt, the sand belt is 1900mm long. I don’t know how you guys overcome the heart issue with a drum sander.
    Which wide belt sander do you have?

Page 2 of 3 FirstFirst 123 LastLast

Similar Threads

  1. Carba-Tec 635mm Wide Drum Sander - Single Drum
    By macka75 in forum HAND TOOLS - POWERED
    Replies: 6
    Last Post: 28th October 2021, 10:00 PM
  2. Replies: 10
    Last Post: 3rd June 2021, 03:35 PM
  3. 16-32 drum sander HELP!
    By Jackadder in forum JOINTERS, MOULDERS, THICKNESSERS, ETC
    Replies: 9
    Last Post: 10th March 2017, 08:35 AM
  4. Balancing and truing Drum for Drum Sander
    By Stetwood in forum HOMEMADE TOOLS AND JIGS ETC.
    Replies: 11
    Last Post: 27th May 2007, 11:12 PM

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •