[Hack]

Well, being an avid woodworker, I have a pretty nice setup out in the shop. Built some nice stuff over the last decade if I do say so myself. One thing that has always bugeed me was the lack of a way to sand wide panels. I only have a 12" planer and anything over that I have to go to a local shop and have it done. No big deal, but they are getting expensive and rude and don't like the little guy anymore so....lets build a sander.

Nothing real fancy. About 25" width. with power feed and up to about 5" thickness capacity.

Gonna build it out of aluminum extrusions and mdg for the most part. Why?

Well I have some extrusion laying around, and I have some mdf laying around, and I have a motor laying around, and I have some pillow blocks laying around and I have some ......well you get the point.

Below is a quick rendering of what it might look like.

Dan

[ViperTX]

The hardest part of this project is building/finding drums which are accurate and balanced.

In the past I've seen where drums were built from MDF, which I believe is not the right solution.

It would be great to find a source of 6 inch diameter tube with the ends sealed, I'm there are some type of wringers (such as the old fashioned washing machine type) that are used commercially. Maybe there are some photocopier drums or print press drums/rollers available.

Paul

[geezergeek]

I have two each: 11" diameter/37" length, 6" diameter/53" length welded steel "rollers". The 37" has a 1 15/16" keyed shaft extending from each end. The 53" has a opening on each end to receive a shaft of about the same size. They are new, about a year old. I bought them thinking there would be a set of plans available soon that had a power feed, height adjustment, etc. designed for a larger machine than the 2x4 wood sander plans currently available.

A question I had of your proposed specs: If you are going to the trouble to build a 25" why wouldn't you instead build one larger that could handle a full door, or the complete width of a table top?

cheers. Joe.

[Bart_D]

Have you thought about the rollers that are being used on a treadmill.
Look at http://www.treadmilldoctor.com/Rollers_13

Success,

Bart

[geezergeek]

The rollers I stumbled onto weigh about 250# for the11", and just under 200# for the 6" ones. I was looking for a lot of mass to solidify and stabilize the unit.

[devincox]

I scavenged the rollers, motor, and controller,power supply,bearings, belt etc. from a treadmill. I wont be starting for some time due to other projects. I'm building one of these,
http://stockroomsupply.com/V_Drum_Sander.php
(for guitar tops) I decided on this design because I dont have enough room for a floor mounted model and will need to hang this on the wall when not in use, and it wont be used that often.

Devin

[CarveOne]

I scavenged the rollers, motor, and controller,power supply,bearings, belt etc. from a treadmill. I wont be starting for some time due to other projects. I'm building one of these,
http://stockroomsupply.com/V_Drum_Sander.php
(for guitar tops) I decided on this design because I dont have enough room for a floor mounted model and will need to hang this on the wall when not in use, and it wont be used that often.

Devin

Oh great. Now I have yet another project I just have to build. I need to stick to my cnc router build log and not go poking around the Zone too much.

Update: After looking around here for usable parts, the only thing I don't already have on hand to build the 18" version is a roller, two small pulleys and a link belt. I would rather build the 24" version though, and need a suitable motor. Will call on my buddies for that one item. Now to figure out how to build the drum roller....

CarveOne

[Hack]

Couple of answers to questions. First of all, I decided on the 25" width due to a few reasons. One reason in the fact that 98% of everything I do is 24" or less. This includes cabinet doors, endpanels, plaques, etc. Very seldom do I do a table top or something similar needing a larger sander. Second is the HP required for such a large sander. The motor I have on hand for the drum is only 2 hp. I thought that going to a bigger drum width would tax the motor.

I am looking for options on the drum still. I had originally figured on MDF and it will work, but I do have a budy with machine tools and could do a metal drum. Time will tell, but I intend to use MDF as of the moment.

So far I roughed in the table out of 1020 extrusions. It measures about 25 1/2" wide by 32 1/2" long. The next picture is the bearing blocks that will bolt to the extrusions on each end to hold the rollers for the conveyer. The bronze bushings are an oilite that I had laying around 1" ID. I figure the conveyer to turn at 0 to 20" per minute max which would convert to about 8 rpm max. The bronze bushings should last along time at that rate. These blocks will be modified more at a later date as I work on the tensioning / tracking mechanism for the converyer.

And of course a couple of pics for eye appeal.

[devincox]

Can't find the link at the moment but I saw a page where a guy used PVC pipe for his drum. Cheap and light. Just a thought.

[CarveOne]

Can't find the link at the moment but I saw a page where a guy used PVC pipe for his drum. Cheap and light. Just a thought.

I was considering that as well, but there is a risk of high static voltages building up on the drum and having loads of dust stick to it. A static discharge can cause a sanding dust explosion under the right conditions. I'll have a 24" drum cabinet based on the Stockroom Supply drawings completed later this afternoon. Still not sure what to use for the drum, or whether to buy the kit from StockRoom Supply.

I'm more interested in seeing what Hack comes up with though, even as I don't have the kinds of uses for it that he does.


CarveOne

[Hack]

Well I was able to make a bit more progress over the weekend. As everyone has probably figured out, this might take me a while. An hour here, and hour there.....hey any time in the shop is a good thing.

Was able to route out some rollers for each end of the conveyer. 64 pcs total. They are 2.75" OD with a 1" hole I.D. These will eventully be placed onto a 1" steel shaft. I have the steel shaft, but need to do some machining to them first. I will then epoxy the MDF to the shaft and glue it to each other. Then I have a few ideas as to how to true it up using my cnc router as a lathe. Thats all to come.

The little ears you see on the discs are the tabs I left in place while machining on my router.

[Hack]

Well just to show that I haven't fallen asleep on this project here are a couple of more pictures. I made up all 4 of the legs for the sander. Put some adjustable feet on them to help with any issues with uneven floors. It may not be much, but it is progress.

[CarveOne]

Hi Hack,

I finished mine today. As far as I can tell, it is going to be a very useful tool to have around the workshop. I couldn't be happier with how smoothly the drum rotates after lathe turning the PVC pipe drum. If you can do that by all means do it.

Keep at it, I'm still watching.

CarveOne

[Hack]

Thanks Carveone,

Been following you builds (drum sander and cnc) and you do good work. I plan on turning the drum and truing it up with my cnc router when the time comes. Unfortunately I am not as fast as you at this stuff.

Again, great builds and thanks for following along.

Dan

[CarveOne]

Thanks Carveone,

Been following you builds (drum sander and cnc) and you do good work. I plan on turning the drum and truing it up with my cnc router when the time comes. Unfortunately I am not as fast as you at this stuff.

Again, great builds and thanks for following along.

Dan

Thanks Hack. The drum sander is the fastest project I think I have ever completed. My two CNC machines have been the next slowest. A year for each of them, but at least one has been finished and the other will be completed by year end. (If they are ever really finished.) Many of my past projects took years to be finished after storage in a closet and losing interest in them for long periods. Some were never finished.

I'm definitely interested in what you are building. There is another woodworking tool project on my list for next year. The Pakistani scroll saw photos that Khalid posted is something that I will re-engineer and build for my work shop. It will probably have a 36" throat depth and use commonly available blades. I already have a 1/4 hp motor reserved for it.

CarveOne

[jcoats]

I think he was wanting a moderately heavy pipe for the drum.

This may be crasy, but if you want it heavy, think about the PVC
drum, get your axle right, then pull it out, stand it on end and cast
it full of concrete. If you do, get some long fiber (like the Grace
product Struts or equivalent, your local ready mix plant knows) or
use the 'high strength' Quickcrete as the mix.

One bag of cement mix does about one cubic foot, and that would be a
pretty good at filling 4 or 6' PVC and would do all you need. ...

Let it harden for a week to a month before trying to use it.
Concrete is about 70 percent strength or so after a week , and
pretty much full strength in a month.

[Hack]

Was able to spend a bit of time this weekend working on the machine. My main forcus was to finish the 8020 frame and get it assembled. You can see by the photos it was a good weekend. Frame is mostly 3030 extrusion with a bit of 1530 thrown in. I will eventually tear it back apart and include some panels to enclose it to keep noise and dust down, but this is how I will leave it during construction.

I also was able to cut a bed for the conveyer. It is also shown. May not stay with the MDF due to swelling etc, but I will seal it and see how it goes. I am considering a sheet of 1/2" aluminum that I have, but I really don't want to use it for this application.

I am working on the height adjustment mechanism now. Machining the blocks for the screws to mount to for the up / down motion. Perhaps over Thanksgiving weekend I can make some good progress.

All for now.

[CarveOne]

Looks like a good start Hack. That will be a sturdy foundation to build on.

CarveOne

[Hack]

Well it has been a bit over a month since my last post. Still working on it, but with it getting cold in the shop and the holidays, I haven't made much time to work on it.......until today.

Started working on the height adjustment. I made up 8 (only 4 in the picture) blocks with bushings in them. These will accept the 4 screws for the height adjustment. All 4 corners of the table will be adjustable. Each screw will be connected with a set of timing gear pulleys and a belt.

I also made some angle iron and attached it to the table. I will drill and tap this angle to accept the screw for the adjustment. I am going to use 3/4 - 10 screw as it makes for easy math when cranking up and down. You can see that one side is solid and the other is split. This will allow me to tension the belt as I go.

A few pics below. Included is a picture or 2 of my mill machining the angle to size.

I hope to ge the screws turned this week and have them mounted on the sander next weekend. Then I can get an accurate length of the belt and order it.

Dan

[Hack]

For some reason only 4 of the pictures uploaded, so here are a couple more.

Dan