Thread: Homemade drum sander Grits

I started with 80 grit and tryed to go up the grits to 120.

The finer grits didnt do it Im affraid.
So I stuck to 80 grit then finished off with a ROS.

Al

Thanks Al,
Just needed a start.......dumb question.....what's an ROS??
Told you I was a newbie.

Regards,
Watson

I use mainly 80 or 120 grit on my 850mm drum sander. I have, at times, used 180, but not ventured farther up the scale than that.

ROS = Random Orbital Sander

Thanks Steve,
Especially for the ROS explanaition....I've had one for a couple of years, but hadn't seen it written as "ROS"....silly bugger.
I intend to use the machine for thicknessing some Jarrah and Yellow Box burls that I have, so I guess 80 would be a great start...followed of course by a session with my newly named ROS.

Regards,
watson

Gday Watson
I don't know about drum sander grits, but I'm fiddling with a belt thicknesser and had the same question in my mind.
The first belt (and the only one so far) has been 100 grit. As my sander goes across the grain, I thought it would bore into the wood but it wasn't the case. I'll end up useing 100 as an intermediate belt and probably start off with an 80 grit for rough sanding. I'll go to smaller grits as the thickness gets down to what I'm looking for.
Knowing what I know now for the belt sander, I'd go for an 80 grit.

G'day Malibu,
I just had my first practice at putting sandpaper on the drum sander. It was such a fiddly situation, being a homemade machine without velcro or a super clamping system that I would certainly only consider one grit.....and as the general consensus from the forum goes.......80 grit it is!!
Regards,
Noel