Mod to my Performax 16-32 drum sander

[Norm Zurawski]

Been wanting to do this ever since I bought this. I am not a furniture maker but do make boxes for special purposes. I had a Sand Flea and worked pretty good. I had my eye on a Grizzly unit that could go up to 8” but was discontinued by the time I saw it. I had thought of all kinds of things to make it do this. One thought was a column and rack from a drill press. For some reason I remembered a bunch of drawer slides from some ATM machines I had stripped out years ago. These slides are heavy duty and handle this with ease and no play. At the highest point you see in the image the head is still stable. I was thinking I may need to add a brace to the open end but after sanding some 5” high boxes yesterday I don’t think I will need to. The slide will let me go higher than you see in the pictures but was limited by the jack. May think of a work around, I think I can get another 5-6” out of it if needed. I can raise the unit to about where I want it and still have the 3" of adjustment with top screw. Only real costs for me was the $25 for the jack at Harbor Freight, I had everything else I needed. Sweet :-)
Just thought I would share.

[Bruce Page]

Ingenious! The slides certainly look heavy enough to carry the torque load!

[Alan Lightstone]

I've been wanting something to do this for ages. Ingenious. I went and bought a Stockroom supply Flatmaster to do this, and incorporated it into my outfeed table, but it doesn't work nearly as well as a higher capacity drum sander would.

Well done.

[Norm Zurawski]

After sanding some 12" high stuff today, you have to be a little lighter on your passes but way better than by hand. I also didn't feel a need for an additional support on the open end. I made a sled to help me hold material square. I may modify this set up further if I get the itch. My thinking now is one or two gas shocks and a slide post with holes for pinning/locking in position. Right now the slides are easy to lift head up and down, just a bit heavy. So my thinking is I would be able to just lift the head unit with one hand to the opening I need and just pin the slide post and lock it down. Sometimes I think too much.

[Paul Stoops]

Very innovative! Those are indeed heavy duty slides -- closer to being ways............. :-) Great use of the HF trailer jack. Good job! Does the box want to tip when you are sanding the ends?

[Norm Zurawski]

This was my set up yesterday sanding some almost 13" long boxes. I had to hold the clamps like handles to be sure the boxes didn't tip while running through. Easy to do and plenty of room to hold then while sanding. Boxes came out nice and square. Also had to take lighter passes to keep it manageable. I would turn the sled 180 degrees each time I passed it through checking to see how far my tilt was off. So close I didn't bother to try and adjust. I would feel the top of the wood to see how warm it was, and it was pretty consistent. Still beats doing all with my belt sander as I did some 16" long ones that way earlier. I need to add a ruler to it too so as I adjust so I know where to go without holding my tape measure to do so.