Shopsmith Forums

I don't have a drum sander and do not intend to buy a Shopsmith drum sander due primarily to its not being a standard size. This discussion sent me down a rabbit hole researching drum sanders. It seems to me that the sleeveless drum sander is the way to go. I have lots of sandpaper I could use on a sleeveless drum sander.

Some of the older Power Tool Woodworking for Everyone has plans for making your own. You basically turn a wooden one and wrap the sandpaper around it.

algale wrote: ↑Fri Feb 24, 2023 9:01 am ...or splurge on the Shopsmith 6" drum sander.

Yes, I have used this technique. It definitely works. You want to take thin passes -- barely making contact between the drum and the stock. Even still, it makes piles/clouds of sawdust that the dust collector struggles to keep up with.

It's been quite a while since I used this technique myself, and I don't recall what I did about dust collection. But after reading your post, Al, it occurred to me that you could also do this in vertical mode, with the sanding drum positioned above/in the drum-sander insert, and use the fence to back up the workpiece. That should give excellent dust collection, and probably make it easier to fine-tune the stock thickness as well.

BuckeyeDennis wrote: ↑Fri Feb 24, 2023 2:40 pm

algale wrote: ↑Fri Feb 24, 2023 9:01 am ...or splurge on the Shopsmith 6" drum sander.

Yes, I have used this technique. It definitely works. You want to take thin passes -- barely making contact between the drum and the stock. Even still, it makes piles/clouds of sawdust that the dust collector struggles to keep up with.

It's been quite a while since I used this technique myself, and I don't recall what I did about dust collection. But after reading your post, Al, it occurred to me that you could also do this in vertical mode, with the sanding drum positioned above/in the drum-sander insert, and use the fence to back up the workpiece. That should give excellent dust collection, and probably make it easier to fine-tune the stock thickness as well.

By my experience, Al is pointing out the key to making this technique work...barely making contact between drum and stock each pass. This means about 0.008 inch per pass. Good idea to try in vertical mode for better dust collection. Gonna have to try that. You will need the adjustable collar or the plain stop collars with feeler gages to keep each pass nice and thin. With patience, this method does work.

rlkeeney wrote: ↑Fri Feb 24, 2023 9:37 am I don't have a drum sander and do not intend to buy a Shopsmith drum sander due primarily to its not being a standard size. This discussion sent me down a rabbit hole researching drum sanders. It seems to me that the sleeveless drum sander is the way to go. I have lots of sandpaper I could use on a sleeveless drum sander.

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There are quite a few videos on diy drum sanders for the SS that are fairly straight forward and easy , I made one a couple years ago using 4in PVC and a few small pieces of plywood and 2 adjusting bolts and some piano hinge . it mounts to the SS in the lathe mode . FYI a piece of pvc is not perfectly round , removing the wobble was a challenge but not impossible . I was able to find hook and loop sanding strips , and wrapped the spindle , that was the most expensive part , replacing sand paper is now very easy and no mess . I do not think I had more than 20 - 25 bks in the entire thing excluding the different grit sand paper . this was the design I went with only for the shopsmith , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZg4_vNohI8

rlkeeney wrote: ↑Fri Feb 24, 2023 7:00 am I make small items that have pieces as thin as 1/8-inch. I have boxes full of short hardwood cutoffs with all sorts of thicknesses. A box where I want all the sides to be the same thickness comes to mind. I would resaw it to get the required thickness and sand it flat. To do this with a conical sander would be another tool in my box.

There is a Sawdust Session on thickness sanding with the conical disc and shop made sled: http://www.shopsmithacademy.com/SS_Arch ... anding.htm

Toward the end he sets it up to thickness veneer, so no issue getting to 1/8" thick. Nick suggests that coarse sandpaper supports max removal between 1/64" to 1/32" per pass. (That's more realistic than the 1/8" per pass mentioned in the description.)

Both the conical and drum methods sand with the grain and allow you to use finer grits to finish. So I'd expect both to produce better results than the cross grain flat disc method shown in the video at the beginning of this thread.

- David

DLB wrote: ↑Sat Feb 25, 2023 6:22 pm

rlkeeney wrote: ↑Fri Feb 24, 2023 7:00 am I make small items that have pieces as thin as 1/8-inch. I have boxes full of short hardwood cutoffs with all sorts of thicknesses. A box where I want all the sides to be the same thickness comes to mind. I would resaw it to get the required thickness and sand it flat. To do this with a conical sander would be another tool in my box.

There is a Sawdust Session on thickness sanding with the conical disc and shop made sled: http://www.shopsmithacademy.com/SS_Arch ... anding.htm

Toward the end he sets it up to thickness veneer, so no issue getting to 1/8" thick. Nick suggests that coarse sandpaper supports max removal between 1/64" to 1/32" per pass. (That's more realistic than the 1/8" per pass mentioned in the description.)

Both the conical and drum methods sand with the grain and allow you to use finer grits to finish. So I'd expect both to produce better results than the cross grain flat disc method shown in the video at the beginning of this thread.

- David

Thanks, I'll give the video a good look.