Thread: Drum sander advise please!

I use a Jet 16/32 and its the go. I use a variety of grits and the trick IMHO is if you want to use the thing as a thicknesser use a 60 grit. I got a bunch of it from the sandpaper man and its fine. just dont forget its a sander not a thicknesser.

I have the Cstbatec version, had it for 7 years now. A couple of pointers I have.
1: when you do get a "burn" on the sanding belt, isolate the machine, grab a few mills of thinners and one of those bargain shop brass brushes. Apply thinners to the belt then gently brush it off. The brass doesn't blunten the sanding belt. It gets rid of the resin or burn easily.

2: you will replace the 37 and 39 toothed gears after about 6 years. This is caused by wear on the end housing on the platen/conveyor motor. I have just replaced the second set and have resined in the positioning pins in their center position. Some crafty fellas machine up brass bushes, but I find the resin works well.
Cheers

Originally Posted by jenno

I have the Cstbatec version, had it for 7 years now. A couple of pointers I have.
1: when you do get a "burn" on the sanding belt, isolate the machine, grab a few mills of thinners and one of those bargain shop brass brushes. Apply thinners to the belt then gently brush it off. The brass doesn't blunten the sanding belt. It gets rid of the resin or burn easily.

That's a good tip. I usually deal with burn tracks by taking belt off, spraying with oven cleaner then pressure washing. Your method sounds better - hardly need to stop as the thinner would dry real quick.

Just clarifying - you mean lacquer thinner, right?

Arron

Originally Posted by Arron

That's a good tip. I usually deal with burn tracks by taking belt off, spraying with oven cleaner then pressure washing. Your method sounds better - hardly need to stop as the thinner would dry real quick. Just clarifying - you mean lacquer thinner, right? Arron

Just regular paint thinners, I apply it once around the drum and then dip brush in again and brush the burn off. Hit it with the rubber cleaner afterwards .

why not this

Model	FBS-1530
Max. sanding width	15"
Max. thickness of workpiece	5"
Min. thickness of workpiece	1/4"
Drum speed	50Hz-- 1420 RPM 60Hz—1720 RPM
Feed speed	6-30 FPM
Diameter of drum	Ø82 mm
Length of drum	407 mm
Drum drive motor	3 HP
Feed drive motor	1/4 HP
Diameter of dust collector	Ø4"
Net weight	176 kg
Gross weight	235 kg
Package dimensions	950×770×1670 mm

fbs-1530.jpg
this is what I was going to get, but then decided to go with 3ph upgrade and get myself a proper 920mm single head SCM sander. now I have a 1100mm twin head SCM sander.

Thanks for that last post, Albert. I have been researching drum finishing sanders like the sandflee, and later a couple of thickness sanders like the Carbatec WDS400. I had the carbatec machine in the shopping cart but was informed that it was not available and was offered the Jet which is almost twice the price. You tend to get what you pay for, but I am only a hobbyist and the machine will only see occasional use. The $1500 + cost have enticed me to make my own....

$20 for 100mm OD 600mm long aluminium cylinder, $10 for 1 m of 12 mm steel shaft, $15 for 12 mm ball bearing flanges. ~ $40 for v pulleys (not yet purchased). I have been thinking velcro backing as a method of fixing the sandpaper to the drum....

Will have a go at making drum hubs to attach the cylinder to the shaft during the holidays... and there are plenty of plans and ideas on how to build the housing, dust collector and sanding table on the net. I figure it will be an interesting project...

But the reason for my post is that I have a 0.25 HP 1430 rpm motor lying around and was planning to use that to drive the drum, and was wondering whether this would be OK. The specs of the machine in Albert's post suggest the 1430 rpm is OK, but that my motor may not have enough horses in it. Any thoughts or opinions? note that it will be driving a 100 mm dia., 600 mm wide drum, but it won't be working at full width too often...

0.25hp?? You must be joking.
That's 186 watts; a decent random orbit sander is about double that power and a hand held belt sander is double that again. The sander in Albert's post has 0.25hp just for the feed.
Sorry mate, but that motor hasn't got a hope.

My 400mm sander has a 1Hp motor & I regularly trip the overload switch on it going too fast.

I have only a few months ago finished a 600 mm wide drum sander. Last week I had a "real job" for it and whilst doing it a few hiccups surfaced. I have a 2 hp 2850 RPM motor on the drum and stalled it when a lump in the timber tried to get under the drum. I lowered the platen and readjusted the height and was away again. I also found that slowing down the conveyor speed gave a better finish.

I was amased just how much time I took to manufacture this sander! In the past, I had only seen a Drum Sander in action so building one had a lot of otherwise unknown problems to solve. I have a 125 mm steel drum/pipe, trued up on the metal lathe, carrying velcro to attach the paper. The conveyor is a 600 mm wide belt 120#(from The Sand Paper Man) sliding over a post formed laminex top and driven by a .25 Hp 3Ph Motor coupled to a right angle drive gear box, with a VRD to give me variable speed for the conveyor.

Even with all the little problems I had to sort out during the manufacture, it has turned out to be a very worth while addition to my collection of machines

Yes that what I thought... This motor looks the part, cast iron body must weigh 10 kg, I was surprised when I read the compliance plate.

Originally Posted by elanjacobs

0.25hp?? You must be joking.
That's 186 watts; a decent random orbit sander is about double that power and a hand held belt sander is double that again. The sander in Albert's post has 0.25hp just for the feed.
Sorry mate, but that motor hasn't got a hope.

It's a pity, those old motors are completely bomb proof, this one just doesn't have the guts to run a sanding drum. Hook it up to a worm drive for the feed belt instead

Stick a screw taper on the shaft & use it for buffing wheels, that is what I have set up on a bit of timber out on the back veranda of my shed, I use it for cleaning up tools.