Another Drum Sander

[masonsailor2]

Here is my version of the SS home built drum sander. I needed to be able to sand cabinet doors flat and other projects. The body is ply, the platten is doubled up 3/4 melamine which was grooved to reduce drag. The drums are 5 inch 3/8 wall aluminum tubing which I had milled to true them up after mounting the end plates which are maple, which I turned on the SS. One drum is turned slightly larger than the other two to allow for the difference in the thickness between the coarser grits and the 150 grit. The platen is adjusted via the three fine threaded posts which have adjustable tensioners on each post using an o ring mashed between a fixed nut and a floating nut held in place with a 1\2 inch drive socket. Initially the paper was held on with snap ties which worked marginally. The final version shown is a clamp system my son printed on his 3D printer which works really well. The end result was too heavy to transfer on and off the SS by myself so I built a lift which via a piece of all thread I can roll the SS under it and lower it onto the SS and also lift it back off. I just acquired some bearings which are mounted on a plate with four bolt holes which conveniently have a 5/8 bore with two set screws which will replace the live center I use on the outboard end of the drums. The only complication is that after I mount them the drums will need to be re milled. The unit works really well and gives me cabinet doors that are within .01 inches from corner to corner.
Paul

[rjent]

That is outstanding! I will start working on getting a faceplate drive for my 10ER version. I can't quite figure out how your paper works. Is it wrapped around the drum (like mine) or ....

Nice doors

[masonsailor2]

The paper is spiral wrapped around the drum. I don't use PSA paper. I find it isn't necessary if the paper is clamped securely and with PSA it takes a lot longer to change paper. One of the biggest advantage of a SS drum sander over the commercial models is the ease of changing the paper. I can change the paper on these drums in under 5 minutes. The other advantage is the ability to have multiple drums with different grits and be able to change drums in seconds.
Paul

[algale]

Wow! And the results (doors) are proof that it works!

[tomsalwasser]

Nice work!

[TomH]

Incredible! When do the plans go on sale?