How to sand flat objects taller than my drum sander's capacity

[Alan Lightstone]

I've run into this scenario a few times recently. For example, I've just completed a nice jewelry box, but its height is greater than the capacity of my Jet 16/32 drum sander. I've run into similar scenarios with a table top with apron attached that needed additional sanding.

I would love to be able to do this with something like a drum sander, to get a perfectly square top without risking sanding over the corners.

What is the best approach for doing this?

[Andrew Hughes]

Hi Alan, what I have done n small boxes to get top and bottom of the lid flat is glue sheets of sand paper down to my assembly table and rub them flat.Its goes quick then I clean up the edge with a block plane.
If its too big for the assem table then I've used a piece of 8/4 maple jointed flat.Add the sand paper to the maple board and grind away.Hope this helps Andrew

[glenn bradley]

I cannot find it now of course but, I saw a pic in a magazine where a guy had built a particleboard box with a slot in it that sat over his drum sander and made it into something akin to the Sand-Flee (http://www.scrollsawer.com/reviews/sandflee.html). The top of the drum sander was opened to expose the top of the drum which was then elevated to just poke out of the slot. If I find it I will post it back here.
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Found it!

270194

[Alan Lightstone]

Fascinating.

What do people think of Sand Flees? I always though that feed rate variations (as you do this by hand) would cause irregularities in the sanded boards. Is this a legitimate concern?

[johnny means]

ROS? Sanding block?

[Alan Lightstone]

ROS? Sanding block?

Sanding block perhaps, but my history with a ROS in those situations is that I will slightly round off the corners.

[Kyle Iwamoto]

I've made sanding boards. Simple, just a nice flat 3/4" ply or particle board, 2 feet square or whatever scrap is available. I ran my ply through the drum sander just to make sure it's absolutely flat. Add self adhesive paper to both sides, different grits. Sand in a figure 8 patttern to rough off. Turn the box 90* every couple figure 8s, to prevent sanding one side more, due to human error. To be sure your box is 90*, you can make a fence that is 90* and clamp that down to the board. It would take a while to make the box absolutely square though.

[Jim Finn]

I have a "V" sander as pictured in Glenn's photo. I use it to square up my box frames
... (the sides) before gluing on the tops and bottoms. This is the only thing I use this sander for.

[Alan Lightstone]

I can see the idea behind the sander in Glenn's photo, but would think that, like a jointer, the outfeed side should be slightly higher than the infeed side. Otherwise, aren't you just riding a spinning hump in the middle with no surface to reference your object to.

[Adam Diethrich]

I think I wold agree with this assessment.

Seems to me that if that photo is a shop made item, one could easily make something that runs vertically like a traditional drum sander orientation without the table or "fences" getting in the way of the cut or "sand."

A.W.D.

[Alan Lightstone]

I just found a review of the Stockroom Supply V Drum Sander which said that the sandpaper isn't proud of the base until the unit is running. Then centrifugal force makes the sandpaper about .018" proud of the base, and this causes the sanding.

"Since the hook and loop is the same for each paper, and each moves the same amount from the drum, the difference in sanding is controlled by the difference in the size of the abrasive. For example, 220-grit will cut two thousandths of an inch, because that is the size of the grit. Eighty-grit will cut fifteen thousandths per pass.

If this is the case, then I would think infeed and outfeed sides could be the same height.

Interesting design. Anyone have any experience with it?

[glenn bradley]

I can see the idea behind the sander in Glenn's photo, but would think that, like a jointer, the outfeed side should be slightly higher than the infeed side. Otherwise, aren't you just riding a spinning hump in the middle with no surface to reference your object to.

I too have the concerns that Alan has mentioned. I believe the paper is very close to the level of the table and "floats" out due to force so that the sanding is somewhat controllable. Anyone else out there have this format of machine who could comment?

[Jerry Wright]

I have the Stockroom V 30" wide unit and it works well, though pricey. I just finish a dozen odd picture frames with a face frame attached to an angled box. Visualize a box 4" deep in upper lefthand corner, 2" deep lower righthand corner, all in same plane. Mitering the sloping sides of the box was fun. I used the stockroom sander to flatten the face of the box before attaching the face frames. Then used the sander to sand the outdides of the 20" squarevframes. It sands slowly but quite flat.
Jerry

[Jim Finn]

Alan Lightstone: I have a stockroom supply drum sander and use it for just one operation. You are right the feed rate is an issue. I feed the workpiece quickly as I can and make many, many passes. slowing it down causes ripples...in my experience.