Drum sanding

[Modeler12]

Earlier I showed how I made my thickness sander for a drill press.

Go to the end of http://modelshipworld.com/index.php?/topic/244-using-a-drill-press-for-other-operations/  see post #13 at the bottom.

 

Because of space restrictions I settled on using a one diameter sanding drum. The first unit I bought at Woodcraft for about $26 was totally useless. As soon as I put it in my drill press, the little plug that holds the sand paper in place fell out (it is actually a piece of brass tubing crunched down a bit flatter, so when it rotates it is supposed to hold the sand paper against the wall). Besides that the unit wobbled like crazy. Back to the store, and I settled for the one inch diameter rubber drum shown below. Without sanding drums this unit cost me about $6.

 

Now I had another problem. The only drums available were 60 and 80 grit, way too coarse for my purpose. Even grinding the sanding surface down with a coarse stone did not do it. So, I made my own sanding drums. They are not pretty but work very well.

 

What I did at first is to wrap two layers of masking tape around a wooden dowel. They were spiral wrapped with no overlap. The sand paper was put on the same way. Another version used reinforced tape. In both cases I put the adhesive sides of the tape together. The sand paper was put on with spray contact adhesive. 

 

My point is that if you are interested in doing some drum sanding don' t buy the Woodcraft unit O6P21 or any of the other sizes. They are no good, in my opinion, despite the fact that they claim that they are good for making your own sanding drums. Maybe I got a reject, but even the store people were puzzled.

 

To give you an idea what I was hoping to do was to get wooden slats with a better edge than those that came with my kit. The picture below shows the result of using my thickness sander with one of the home-made drums. The bottom slats are un-sanded, the top ones were after a pass through.

Edited March 10, 2013 by Modeler12

[rummy]

I got mine from Harbor Freight for $25.The set has 4 drums 1,2,3,4,inch.They use the same type of locking system to hold the paper in.I have had no problem with it.I also use long board sanding paper as this is heavy duty.This is for air sanders they are self stick but I leave the covering on.I get 40 and 80 grit.

    Best Regards  Larry

[Modeler12]

I got mine from Harbor Freight for $25.The set has 4 drums 1,2,3,4,inch.They use the same type of locking system to hold the paper in.I have had no problem with it.I also use long board sanding paper as this is heavy duty.This is for air sanders they are self stick but I leave the covering on.I get 40 and 80 grit.

    Best Regards  Larry

Thanks Larry for your reply. I took a look at the Harbor Freight drums and found that they may have the same problem. I don't mean that they fall apart, which was my experience with the Woodcraft unit, but they may cause a bit of unbalance because of the mounting mechanism. Was there any vibrations or wobble when you used them?

 

Keep in mind that I really want some really fine sand paper on these things and 40 to 80 grit is pretty rough for our kind of work. And any kind of unbalance causes a dimpling effect on the surface of the plank.

[mtaylor]

Hmmm.... check Micromark.  They sell drum sander paper in grits down to 320 grit.  Size is: 2" diameter by 5.5" long for their thickness sander. Other places might sell the sander tubes also.