Drum sander use, advice?

[Robert foster]

I have just purchased a Steel City 16/32 Drum sander and would like some advice on how other members of the forum use theirs and what grits are used for what jobs. I got this at clearance price because they are not going to handle them any more according to my dealer.
Thanks
Bob

[Mike Cutler]

Nice Gloat on the Steel City 16/32, but where are the Pic's.:eek:

The 16/32 by Steel city is pretty much a clone of the Performax, and the Jet.

I have the performax 16/32 and have used paper from 80-220 grit. I use mine for finish sanding after planing, but I still sand by hand, or ROS prior to applying a finish.
I use the following method. Roughly.

1.Raise the drum up high enough for the material to clear.
2.Start the belt feed, but not the drum sander.
3.Lower the drumhead with the material passing underneath until the drum just barely starts to turn.
4.Continue to feed the material until it exits the sander. Make sure the drumm is still just barely turning, a light touch should stop the drum.
5.Start the sander and feed the board through.
6.lower the drum approximately 1/6th of a revolution of the crank handle. ( No more than a 1/6th)
7.Put the material through again. When the first side is sanded, flip the board over and do the other side. Repeat this for each grit. Kinda slow, I know.
8.Work through the grits 80/120/150. Each time you will have to redo steps 1-4. ( It goes pretty quick once you get the hang of it.)

The 16/32 is very nice, lite duty sander. The Perfomax model excels at veneer, and smaller stuff. Nice machine.
Once the boards get 6' and longer it takes a little finesse and feel to get it to work. I have sanded 11' long 14" wide pieces of 1 1/2" thick Jatoba with the Performax version.

I have a Steel City 25" dual Drum Sander now though. Most of my projects were just too big for the 16/32.

[John Michaels]

Robert,

How do you like the SC 16-32 so far. Does the 2 1/2" dust port work well enough. I know when I put the 4" hose from my Delta 1.5 hp dust collector to my contractor's table saw with the reducer adapter it doesn't pull nearly as much air as when I have it connected to a machine with a 4" port. I actually think my shop vac has more suction when I hook it to the table saw than my DC.

[Doug Shepard]

...
I use the following method. Roughly.

1.Raise the drum up high enough for the material to clear.
2.Start the belt feed, but not the drum sander.
3.Lower the drumhead with the material passing underneath until the drum just barely starts to turn.
4.Continue to feed the material until it exits the sander. Make sure the drumm is still just barely turning, a light touch should stop the drum.
5.Start the sander and feed the board through.
6.lower the drum approximately 1/6th of a revolution of the crank handle. ( No more than a 1/6th)
7.Put the material through again. When the first side is sanded, flip the board over and do the other side. Repeat this for each grit. Kinda slow, I know.
8.Work through the grits 80/120/150. Each time you will have to redo steps 1-4. ( It goes pretty quick once you get the hang of it.)
...


I use almost the same procedure except for some minor differences:

2.Start both the belt feed, and the drum sander.
3.Lower the drumhead with the material passing underneath until the drum just barely makes contact. You can hear this very easily. Send this back through for a 2nd pass at the same setting to make sure the leading edge gets touched the same as the rest.
4-5 essentially get skipped with the sound test.
6.lower the drum approximately 1/8th of a revolution of the crank handle on each pass.

[Jim Becker]

I largely only use my drum sander for surfacing natural edge slabs using 36 and 80 grit abrasives. I will occasionally put a table top through it to level if I was less than skillful in my glue-up...but am very careful if I do as it's easy to get gouging if the platen slips.