Thread: Custom built Drumsander

GOod work, but....quickly edit in a cover over those pulleys before the safety police reply to your post (or you catch your fly in it :eek: )

Originally Posted by TassieKiwi

GOod work, but....quickly edit in a cover over those pulleys before the safety police reply to your post (or you catch your fly in it :eek: )

Actually I installed a guard over the pulleys and belt, also the extension cord on the motor has been replaced by hardwiring the motor to a switch. At the time I was anxious to show off my work to my son by email and didn't wait for all the refinements to be added.

I'm sure they have been removed for clarity only

Looks Good
and I sure it works better. Is the knob in front a Lock, maybe pushing or holding the threaded rod in place?

Great work!
Can I ask what method you decided was best for keeping the sanding grit in place?

Originally Posted by Andrew from AWC

Great work!
Can I ask what method you decided was best for keeping the sanding grit in place?

Hi Andrew, I used #8 "hangerbolts". Sounds big, but the name is sort of misleading. Actually they are 3/16" diameter screws with a woodscrew thread on one end and a machine screw thread on the other. They are about 1-1/2" long in total. I screwed them into the drum about 1/2" from the edge. When I install the abrasive belt, I just punch a hole to go over the first screw, then I wrap the belt to the other end and punch another hole to fasten that end and tighten both down with a flatwasher and nut. By the way, I found that spraying a light mist of spray-adhesive on the drum first prevents the abrasive from slipping around while winding it on the drum. However, make sure that the rest of the machine is well covered, the spray-adhesive is wicked stuff and even thoug you can't see the fine mist, it'll cover everything in sight.

Originally Posted by Breslauer

I used #8 "hangerbolts"........ I screwed them into the drum about 1/2" from the edge. When I install the abrasive belt, I just punch a hole to go over the first screw, then I wrap the belt to the other end and punch another hole to fasten that end and tighten both down with a flatwasher and nut.

Wow that sound like a good ideal I might have to use that when I get my Drum finished. Have you ever thrown off one of the nuts befor ? I know on my 9" drum sander I had to use lock washers to keep the screw from backing out of the T-Nuts

Hi Terry, in reply to your question re: nuts working loose, I haven't had any problem so far. I guess that the abrasive under the washer compresses and acts more or less like a lockwasher or at least exerts some friction to the nut. (That's my theory) Never really thought about it that much.
By the way the powerfeed table in your picture looks great, neat workmanship.

Sorry to hear about your rollers splitting apart. I never tried MDF for the disks. I used 3/4" Plywood. Since I had some 3/4" Pilloblock bearings I used a 3/4" cold rolled shaft. Then I used a center punch and pockmarked the whole area of the shaft where the disks are. I figured that this would add some friction. I then coated the shaft in the disk area with 5Minute epoxy and put some very light dabs of epoxy on the mating face of each disk. This gave me basically a solid 5" diameter drum with a steel core.(Forget about taking it apart though)
Anyway, enough of my rambling, you'll have your work cut out getting 90 plus disks ready, good luck.

Lothar

I got the Drive roller done now. 3/4" ply this time. I'll be turning the idler roller tomarrow and starting on the assembly of the feeded again.

I made a 6X98" edge sander last winter and used MDF for the rollers on it. I just ruffed up the shaft with a grinder and used 5min E-pox on it. It worked well.