review of oscillating drum sander

[reible]

Just so we are all on the same page this is item number 555754, you can check the catalog or do a search online to check it out. Since you can all read I will not cover the description given by shopsmith.

If it is not yet clear to you the shopsmith is set up in the drill press mode and one of the various sanding drums are mounted in their normal manor. For now we will talk about using the 2-1/4" drum sander (505552) that most of you have. You will need either the drum sander table insert (505509 or 555119 depending on the model of your shopsmith) or a home made piece that provides the same function. While this will work as it is you might want to get the vacuum attachment (555168) to help collect the dust.

So far this is a sanding set up and works well enough as is... but not as good as it could. Picture what would happen if you had enough arms to guide the workpiece while at the same time moving the quill handle so the drum would be going up and down at the same time it is sanding.... yes you spread the wear of the sandpaper, help to keep it unclogged, and at the same time this would be helping you from leaving sanding marks and burning the wood.

Since most of us don't have 3 arms or someone we can rope into standing by the machine moving the quill while we do our sanding what are we to do? You spend the money and get the oscillating drum sander right? That is what I did, soon after it appeared in the catalog and have enjoyed it ever since.

The "gearbox" that sits above the headstock converts the direction of rotation to a shaft the has an "arm" with a place for a cable to attach. A second "arm" attaches in place of the quill handle, a cable is attached between them and as the machine runs the quill goes up and down. You can select the attachment point on the lower arm which adjusts the length of the quill movement.

Set-up is easy. The process takes maybe 2 minutes and removing it is even faster. Why even two minutes? First you need the correct accessory hub on the headstock, so you might need to swap hubs, Then you need to preset the upper arm position at what is called the "11:00" position, depending on where it last stopped it might be a couple of turns to get to "11:00" or maybe it is at "5:00" which means more turning to get the right place. At this point things go a lot faster, the attachment is slipped on the accessory hub and the carriage clamp is put in place. The quill is lowered 1-1/2" and the lower arm is attached to the quill feed at the "2:00" position. Now all that is left to do is attach the cable and make sure the quill lock is unlocked and adjust the table height so the bottom of drum never comes above the table.... this is a quick summery but all the details are covered in the instuction sheet shopsmith sends you and of course you need to read and understand and follow those instructions. Anyway figure on about 2 minutes for setup and if you're good less time.

I was working on some patterns for model airplane parts today. Did a quick cutting job on the jig saw (yea the old jig saw) and then moved to the disk sander for the outside angles followed by the oscillating drum sander for the inside angles. Since the pattern pieces are 1/4" thick tempered hardboard the sanding goes really fast and I save a lot of time over trying to get it really close on the jig saw. I have also worked on stock 1-1/2" thick cleaning up the edge from bandsawing and shaping to the line. It does almost all of it when you add the other drum sanders that shopsmith sells.

I have run into some drum sander issues and they spill into this product as well. Take the case of doing a curved cut on the bandsaw using a tilted table (some thing like the top support on an adirondack chair Norm style at least I think it is his plans??) it would be nice to use the same angle on the shopsmith table and drum sander... you are limited due to the size of the table opening...... and drum size and what the angle is, I'll let you picture this yourself and you can decide if this might be an issue for you. And yes there are work arounds.

If you are like me and find the sanding parts part of a project not all that much fun this is a tool to put the fun back into the project! If you have questions or comments please post them.

Ed

[fixit]

I recently bought the sander when it was on sale. I have only used it a couple of times but those times it performed well and saved me a bunch of time. Like Ed, one of my least favorite tasks in woodworking is sanding so this accessory really helps because of the time it saves me. It still takes me more than a couple of minutes to set it up but I'm sure I'll get better at it in the future.

I'm building the craftsman end tables from Woodsmith Magazine and the bottom stretchers and rails have curved lower portions. The OSS made short work of those!

Now that I have it I'm wondering why I didn't buy it long ago.

[bkhop]

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[reible]

"For curves, it is superb. I wanted to see what it would do on straights so I got out the split fence (555475) and set it up so the paper was just ever-so-slightly proud of the fences (kind of the way the SandFlee® is set up) and it worked beautifully!"

In case you missed it I have my "almost sand free" set-up with the oscillating attachment and you're right it does do a great job.

I'm glad to see some more positive posts about this item. Maybe we need Nick to demo it and then more people would learn about it... and of course buy one.

Ed

[bkhop]

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[paulmcohen]

[quote="bkhop"]The longer drum might be the problem, though]


If the drum got longer you would need to support it on both sides and than the oscillator would not work. If you really want to do something like that Performax sells their drum as a "spare part" depending on the model they run about $100 complete.

[reible]

If you missed the rest of the post about the sand almost free then look at:
http://www.shopsmith.net/forums/showthread.htm?t=863

The limits are either the 3" drum or the 6" drum... you might be able to use the inflatable drum as well but that would take some modifications to set the whole thing up like a lathe and I'm not sure how well that would work.

The interesting thing to think about is when you hand sand you might well have a pad that is only 3" wide and yet you can sand a piece 12" wide with no problem... so from what I have found the sand almost free does the same sort of thing. You are just taking off the finest amount of wood so it is much like hand sanding.

Since this is so easy to build I would say go ahead and make one and try it out. If you want to get or make a larger one you can still do it later on. Once you have the concept down I know you are going to like it.

By the way I check and the maximum stroke of the oscillating is 3/4" but it works well at a much smaller amount... and the final passes should be done with it not oscillating (un-hook the cable and lock the quill).

If I get some time I'll add some photos of my Performax so you can see what the drum looks like on it... I have the 10/20 which was about as big as I could fit in my shop... but it is a very different machine then the sand almost free.

Ed