Shopsmith Forums

I received the Shopsmith offer for the drum in question and I wonder it it could be used for surface sanding by running a board under it, over the table.
Whatever experiences you have with this drum sander, I will appreciate.
The offer ends Sunday so I want to make up my mind if is worth (for me) to spend the cash now.
Thanks

Didn't work very well for me after I made my own drum.

Issues: Have to work from the back of the table feeding into the drum.
When sanding, you can only remove the thickness of the grit on the paper. Also, you need to remove all grit from the table after each pass. Failure to do so may cause the grit to scratch the aluminum table.

First, it can be used as you describe but in my opinion with only some success and with a certain amount of compromise to safety.

When you trap a piece of wood between the table and the spinning sanding drum, the wood being sanded can very quickly become a projectile. Control the speed of the drum and the distance between the table and the sanding surface and this danger will be lessened.

I do this frequently and am sorta satisfied with the results but do it with care.

The inflatable drum is really intended for contour sanding as opposed to broad flat surface sanding.

I have one and love it for contour sanding and rounding wooden legs for rocking horses. It is a wonderful way to sand these legs. As far a sanding flat boards flat I agree with the above statements. Even when sanding the legs round I have had the wood pulled right out of my hands rather easily if not holding on tight enough. For contour sanding the only thing I don't like is the restricted space between the sanding drum and the way tubes. Larger peices need to be done on the top of the sander meaning you have to sand on the ohter side of the shopsmith so the drum pulls on the wood instead of pushing it.

Years ago I made a drum sander from plans in PTWFE. Yes, it would sand flat surfaces, and also engulf the garage in fine sanding dust.

Perhaps the best thing that came out of this "accessory" was that it convinced my wife to purchase a DC3300 dust collector for me as a Christmas present. At that time our laundry area was also in the garage.

I use my inflatable drum sander often. With the SS in the lathe position, I use the soft drum to round and shape intrasia and contour other projects. I prefer the custom shaping sanding creates over the uniformity of a router.
Inflating the drum was a bit of a challenge. The inflation port is short and very close to the center connector. Thus, many tips will not fit on the drum. I eventually used a double sided truck tire tip, sanded one side flat on a grinding wheel until it fit nicely for drum inflation.
In short, I found it a worthwhile investment for my use.

I was new to this type of sanding and one time had good results, but about a week ago was doing sand with it on small strips to make earrings. I didn't mind that the wood was shooting out into the drive way. but I did mind when somehow my hand got pulled under the drum and sanded off my finger nail. sanded right off.

I was being really careful, had leather gloves on, not sure if the tip got caught and pulled my hand, only know I no longer use my drum sander for that.

that's why it was different, I totally forgot that. Last time my wood never went for a flight.

thanks

I do allot of things with walking sticks and canes and the inflatable drum sander if great for smoothing out a walking stick after I have worked it with a draw knife to clean of much of the bark. I also have used it on other projects like bent table legs. As other have shared I would not use it on flat surfaces either.