lathe operated drum sander

[Frank Fusco]

This came up on another forum I belong to.
While clever, the idea strikes me as being: 1) not powerful enough (2) a potential strain on the lathe, not designed for this sort of use.
What say the jury?

http://www.woodturningonline.com/assets/turning_articles/lathe_mounted_drum_sander/lathe_mounted_drum_sander.html

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

I saw something like that somewhere else.

Power is I think the least of the problems.

I suspect that he's going to hurt his Jet Lathe. He won't kill it but it will suffer. The tailstock will fail first. He may not do too much damage to the head bearings if the tail stock fails fast enough. But I'll bet the head stock bearings are merely ball bearings and not tapered needle bearings as found on an engine lathe as found in a machine shop. That application requires really hefty side loading capacity. The bearings in the Tailstock of a wood lathe are not meant for high stress side loading.

[Lee DeRaud]

Oy. That's only a 1/2HP motor. I doubt it will put much strain on the lathe mechanism, as the drum is supported at both ends and the side loads won't get that high before the motor runs out of grunt.

Probably works ok for what they're using it for (truing up segmented turning rings), but certainly not a general-purpose solution.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

the side loads won't get that high before the motor runs out of grunt.

That's a cheery way to look at it.

Don't worry 'bout him breaking a leg in the race he can't get out of the gate.

You said it nicer though.

[Jim Becker]

Probably fine for craft work and sanding segmented rings, but definitely not for the "heavy duty" work as others indicated...drum sanding demands a lot of power.

[Tony Ward]

You may also use a variety of grades along the length of the spindle - one stop sanding?

[glenn bradley]

As my Dad often says "Just because someone has an idea (including me) it doesn't mean it's a good one". I would worry about the stress on the spinny-thing.