Home made Drum Sander

[Mountaincraft]

Gerry.. You da man!

[ger21]

What is the difference between a thickness sander and a drum sander.. They seem to be using the term interchangeably on line here and there, yet yourself and Ger imply that there is a difference...

A thickness sander is typically a drum sander. Although a thickness sander may use a belt instead of a drum.

And a thickness sander doesn't necessarily have to have a power feed.

But a drum sander isn't always a thickness sander. See Carveone's.

Imo, a thickness sander can be a much more precise device than Carvone's sander.

[Mountaincraft]

Can a thickness sander be used like a plane?

The one used to sand my doors certainly was.. but it was a beast in every way anyways..

[CarveOne]

A thickness sander is typically a drum sander. Although a thickness sander may use a belt instead of a drum.

And a thickness sander doesn't necessarily have to have a power feed.

But a drum sander isn't always a thickness sander. See Carveone's.

Imo, a thickness sander can be a much more precise device than Carvone's sander.

In the old days they had a hand crank or a horse drawn leather belt.

I agree. Mine has plenty of uses, but precision sanding to flat and parallel surfaces is is not one of them. Once again, there is not one simple solution to sanding. I have one of the Harbor Freight cast iron and sheet metal spindle sanders that works well for sanding inside of through holes - that the other two solutions just don't do at all.

Gerry, you just have no idea how much grief those links have caused me. Thanks buddy! ...........

CarveOne

[Mountaincraft]

Gerry, you just have no idea how much grief those links have caused me. Thanks buddy! ...........

For me, the fun is just beginning....

[CarveOne]

I'll tell ya, the more equipment you accumulate the more projects that appear from out of nowhere. It just doesn't end.

Skydiver guy's Bad Boy 60" mower has some bent blades leaving streaks in his yard, as does my Bad Boy 48" mower. Today I started building a hydraulic blade straightener to see if we can save some money instead of buying new blades. Sooner or later I'll have to design a blade sharpener that uses an angle grinder mounted on a CNCRP bearing carriage and rail. Like I said, it just never ends......

CarveOne

[ger21]

Gerry, you just have no idea how much grief those links have caused me. Thanks buddy! ...........

CarveOne

[CarveOne]

I was just revisiting Hack's thickness sander build log. Wonder where he got off to?

CarveOne

[Mountaincraft]

So when it's set up as a 'thickness sander,' how much is it reasonable to expect the machine can take off of a typical hardwood per pass? And what grits are typically used for this purpose, and how long can one expect the sand paper to last when used for this purpose...

Also, I'm curious as to the same questions with medium and fine paper when then being purposed for surface/finish sanding?

[ger21]

There's no such thing as a "typical" hardwood. You can probably be 2-3 times more aggressive with poplar than with maple.

As a rough guess, I'd say you might be able to take off .005"/pass with 120 grit paper? Maybe more with 60 grit paper.

Trying to take off too much will clog the paper and cause burning. And it'll only take about 2 seconds for this to occur.

Even a 20HP wide belt sander can't remove much more than .01" unless you have a rough belt.

I've never actually used a drum sander, though, so I can just guess. But I have used wide belt sanders for many years.

[jm82792]

40 grit with a Hummel
I don't know how much it takes off but it's incredibly aggressive.

There's no such thing as a "typical" hardwood. You can probably be 2-3 times more aggressive with poplar than with maple.

As a rough guess, I'd say you might be able to take off .005"/pass with 120 grit paper? Maybe more with 60 grit paper.

Trying to take off too much will clog the paper and cause burning. And it'll only take about 2 seconds for this to occur.

Even a 20HP wide belt sander can't remove much more than .01" unless you have a rough belt.

I've never actually used a drum sander, though, so I can just guess. But I have used wide belt sanders for many years.

[CarveOne]

I think of a drum or thickness sander as something to remove smaller amounts of wood to clean it up for finishing, not for removing large amounts of wood.

That's where a thickness planer with knives comes in. My 13" Dewalt DW735X planer has both a dimensioning and a fine setting. If the wood needs sanding after dimensioning I use the homemade drum sander for that. Final sanding is still done by hand for many things.

CarveOne