Any tips for new General Drum Sander owner

[Dan Chouinard]

Trying to get up to speed with my new General double drum sander. The method described in manual for aligning rear drum with front using gauge blocks did not work for me on 1st attempt. Lowering rear drum until "just touching" gauge blocks leaves a lot of room for interpretation. Any pointers for aligning drums would be greatly appreciated. I completely loaded rear drum paper trying to get it right. When the manual says "very light" passes they were not kidding.

[Mike Wilkins]

I have the Woodtek 25" drum sander, which is the same machine with a different paint job. I compared specs before purchase. Luckily I did not have to do any alignment of drums when I got mine; they were spot on. Trial and error seems to be the order of the day when it comes to alignment issues, as the sanding result is the best indicator of this. One thing I would caution you when it comes to sanding different species of wood; the 1st plank I ran through mine was some plain ole pine. I had to change the paper after the pitch built up to the point it was impossible to remove. And wear some leather gloves when you change paper, as the grit will remove your fingerprints quickly.

[Ron Bontz]

Well I have the General dual drum myself. I run 80 grit on the front and 120 grit on the back. I have run 120 and 220 before but the 80/120 seems to work the best for general use. Mine is adjusted so that the rear drum first starts to make contact ever so lightly. A little more turn and the front drum makes contact. I put pencil marks across a piece of flat plywood to make sure the left and right sides sand the same. You may also notice if you run the wood through twice on the same setting only the rear drum makes contact lightly the second time. If not you can adjust the drum height maybe one mark or less on the little dial indicators. You can also run two separate pieces the same thickness, one on each side. If one stops moving it may be slightly out. Caution. It may also be the belt slipping from excess saw dust. Also I keep a stick of the abrasive cleaner handy. I have been quite happy with mine since I had a Jet 22-44 before. Two different animals. Best of luck.:)

[Dan Chouinard]

Thanks guys.
My machine came with the rear drum doing all the sanding. The method described in the manual calls for the removal of paper from rear drum, lowering until it is the same height as front drum using gauge blocks, and then when paper is back on, raise rear drum 1/8 turn. Following this method did not bring front drum into play. Trial and error must be the way to go here. I will try this: 80 front and 120 rear. Raise rear so it does not come into play. Pass wood thru and carefully inspect the look and feel of the 80 grit. Continue to make passes while slowly lowering rear drum until evidence of 120 grit is shown. Question is do you stop lowering rear at 1st sign of 120 or do you lower it one more tick? It would be nice to be able to confirm that each drum is doing 50% of the work to achieve even belt wear. Any tips in this regard?

[Aleks Hunter]

Hi Dan,

You want the rear drum to oblitrate the scratches from the front drum, and it is tricky to get the heights just right. I have a Shop Fox double drum sander and the alignment procedure should be the same.

If you do not have a rotocator, you will need a gauge block, a piece of dimension lumber is ok as long as its jointed straight and square, and some builder's paper.

First disconnect the power. Tag it out if it is hardwired in!

step one, make sure the drums are parallel to the bed height wise.

Place the long block under the rollers on one side aligned with the path of the conveyor. lower each drum to touch. turn the drum by hand until you hear it make contact. Repeat on the other side and repeat again on both sides. Every time you adjust one end you will affect the other end a little so you have to go back and forth. you are now parallel to the bed.

To adjust the rear to .008" lower than the front. lower the bed. place the builder's paper under the gauge block and slowly raise the bed until the front roller touches the block. Again roll by hand and listen for the sandpaper to touch the wood. Check the other side.

Use a pencil to mark the exact position of the crank or wheel that raises and lowers the bed mark two lines on the background you are referencing to avoid parallax errors. lower the bed, slide the paper out and raise the bed to the exact same position then adjust the rear drum downward untill it to just touches the block. Go slow and listen for he sandpaper to touch the wood. Go back again and forth do each side at least twice and you should be good. the builder's paper is .008" thick and works like a dream.

[Dan Chouinard]

Thanks Alexs. I will try this. Not familiar with builders paper. Where would I find it?

[Aleks Hunter]

Its just construction paper, comes on a roll at building supply houses. used to protect the areas not being worked on. Kids construction paper works as well.