Belt Size needed for Drum Sander on woodmaster 718

[Drew Sanderson]

Does anyone know what size belt the woodmaster 718 uses when using the drum sander and the larger pully?

While on the topic. Any hints or tips for using the drum sander?

Thanks,
Drew

[Roger Everett]

Without going to find my owners manual ( which might only have a part # ), either go to www.woodmastertools.com (http://www.woodmastertools.com) and leave an e-mail or call them at 800-821-6651.

Roger

[Drew Sanderson]

I cannot locate my manual this morning and I think they are closed on Sundays. I found nothing on their website. I wish they would post PDFs of their manuals. I often look up pdf manuals before buying things to really decide if a tool or other things are right for me.

[Roger Everett]

Drew:
I just went out and checked my owners manual, and all it says in the drum sander allachment instructions, is install the belt that came with the attachment. The skematic on the machine doesn't list that belt either. Since when I bought mine, I also bought their 26" drum sander, I don't have that attachment to measure a belt. Maybe some other owner will chime in.
Roger

[Mike Keers]

I've got my 718 set up for sanding now or I could just measure the belt. I will go out and look and see if there are any part numbers on it and get back to you.

As for hints or tips, this is a rather new machine to me, and my first time sanding with it. I ran a bunch of 1x10x40" cherry boards thru with 80 grit after planing them, using it more as an abrasive planer than finish sander. It sure left a nice scratch pattern on the wood and took out the slight ripples from planing many of us have encountered, but it also seemed to leave ridges rinning lengthwise, like a chipped planer knife does. That's puzzling as the sanding 'belt' or strip is spiral wrapped on the drum. :confused:

I'd say from my limited experience so far, it'll do the trick, but it ain't a Timesaver. I have belts up to 220 I think, but for me it's faster to go rude with the 80g and finish with a big 4x24 PC belt sander, than to go thru changing up thru the grits on the 718.

Do you have the dust collector?

[David DeCristoforo]

"...Any hints or tips for using the drum sander?..."

Quoted from this Post: http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=89885

"Try this. First, lower the table so that only the pressure rollers contact the stock. Feed a piece of stock through the machine at the slowest feed rate and while it is feeding, raise the bed until you hear the drum just start to "kiss" the stock. Allow the piece to feed through and then raise the bed a bit. On my Woodmaster, a quarter turn of the crank is the most I will ever attempt at one pass. A full turn is supposed to be 1/16" so a quarter turn is approx. 1/64th. Run your stock at that setting, making two passes per piece. On the second pass, flip the stock over and reverse it "end to end". Continue in this manner until the desired result is achieved. If the stock is wide (or you are sanding very hard wood), you may find that lighter passes are needed as you progress since more of the stock will be in contact with the drum as the material is flattened. As you work, you will get a sense of how much of a bite you can take and how much you can increase the feed rate. If you start to get burning or belt slippage (the "Squealing" you mention) you need to back off on the "bite" or the feed rate or both."

[David Freed]

I have never used the drum sander attachment on my 718, but I did change the 3" pulley with a 6" pulley to slow down the shaft speed when setting mine up as a gangrip saw. I used the following formula to get a close idea (not exact) of how long the belt needed to be. This will work on any machine you are changing pulleys on. I don't remember the length of the original belt, so I will use 50" for a round number to explain the formula.

Length of original belt + (Pi * diameter of larger pulley/2) - (Pi * diameter of original pulley/2).

50 + (3.14 * 6/2) - (3.14 * 3/2)

50 + (9.42) - (4.71)

54.71

Most belts are measured in 1/2" increments, so rounding the answer to the nearest 1/2" would be 54.5" Substitute the proper original belt length in place of 50, and your pulley diameter in place of 6.

Among other modifications I made when setting up my saw, I added an idler pulley to tighten the belt. I spec'ed the 10 hp, 3 ph drive motor and the 23 fpm feed motor when I ordered my 718. I then doubled the feed speed to 46 fpm by changing pulleys on the feed rollers. With no idler pulley to keep the belt tight, I could stop the saw shaft without even putting a load on the motor.

I have never seen another machine that didn't have some way to tighten the drive belt. Woodmaster has a really good overall design except for that.

[Mike Keers]

and the belt that came with it is an MBL "Three Star", numbered 4L-590, which I'd assume is some sort of standard measurement or part number.

[Steve Clardy]

I've got my 718 set up for sanding now or I could just measure the belt. I will go out and look and see if there are any part numbers on it and get back to you.

As for hints or tips, this is a rather new machine to me, and my first time sanding with it. I ran a bunch of 1x10x40" cherry boards thru with 80 grit after planing them, using it more as an abrasive planer than finish sander. It sure left a nice scratch pattern on the wood and took out the slight ripples from planing many of us have encountered, but it also seemed to leave ridges rinning lengthwise, like a chipped planer knife does. That's puzzling as the sanding 'belt' or strip is spiral wrapped on the drum. :confused:

I'd say from my limited experience so far, it'll do the trick, but it ain't a Timesaver. I have belts up to 220 I think, but for me it's faster to go rude with the 80g and finish with a big 4x24 PC belt sander, than to go thru changing up thru the grits on the 718.

Do you have the dust collector?


Glued up panels?

[Mike Keers]

Yes, the panels are glued up. I needed over 9.25" width and I only had 8"~ so added a 2" strip to get my 10" working stock.

We all know even with the best intentions or techniques sometimes wood fights us :rolleyes: and the glue joints do not align perfectly; Normally I'd hand plane, scrape or run it thru the planer if I had extra thickness to burn. My S4S cherry finished out at 'exactly' 3/4", and the 718 did the trick to smoove it all out without the losses even a very light additional planing might incur. This is a Queen Anne/Chippendale style piece with a picture frame-style molding around the drawer fronts, so by the time I trim that 2" kicker down, it's hidden under the trim molding. I'd post a pic but I think we're heading up the hijack on ramp here.:D

I realized after a previous post above about the 'ridges' the sanding left, that the spiral belt has no effect on that :o, if there's a piece of crud or something on the sanding drum of course it's going to make an inline minor defect. I probably need to pop the hood and use the rubber belt cleaning stick on it.

[Rick Fisher]

You can calcualte the length of the paper, circumfrence x drum lenght / paper width. The problem is the tapered ends of the paper.

Now, I just wrap the drum from a roll, when I get to the end, I cut the taper on a small scrap of plywood and install.

3 hands is ideal for this but its easier each time you do it.

[Steve Clardy]

Yes, the panels are glued up. I needed over 9.25" width and I only had 8"~ so added a 2" strip to get my 10" working stock.

We all know even with the best intentions or techniques sometimes wood fights us :rolleyes: and the glue joints do not align perfectly; Normally I'd hand plane, scrape or run it thru the planer if I had extra thickness to burn. My S4S cherry finished out at 'exactly' 3/4", and the 718 did the trick to smoove it all out without the losses even a very light additional planing might incur. This is a Queen Anne/Chippendale style piece with a picture frame-style molding around the drawer fronts, so by the time I trim that 2" kicker down, it's hidden under the trim molding. I'd post a pic but I think we're heading up the hijack on ramp here.:D

I realized after a previous post above about the 'ridges' the sanding left, that the spiral belt has no effect on that :o, if there's a piece of crud or something on the sanding drum of course it's going to make an inline minor defect. I probably need to pop the hood and use the rubber belt cleaning stick on it.


Glue lines cause those ridges. A dab of glue gets embedded into the paper and there it stays. Belt cleaning sticks help sometimes, but not always

[Mike Keers]

Ahhhh, and I here I thought you were taking an interest in my project! :D

Glue lines cause those ridges.I eliminate as much cured glue as possible from joints before further machining of course, but you're right, hard glue plays hell with sanding media, and planer knives!

With a hand-held belt sander you can keep up with the accumulation to a point with the rubber stick, but with the hood down on the 718 you can barely even see the sanding drum, so it doesn't get as much attention (none so far). Also, this was a used machine and the strip was used too, so it could have something I failed to see. It was all a medical experiment up to now, I have very little time on the machine as a planer or sander.


You can calculate the length of the paper, circumference x drum length / paper width...The manual says 3" x77" for the length for those calculating the purchase of rolls from various sources, either by length or width.

For those sanding, do you buy the rolls from WM or other sources? Just curious, I always use Klingspor, and I haven't even looked yet to see if they sell an appropriate roll of paper--most likely they do since other machines use the Velcro method. I have maybe four large rolls of various grits plus the used 80g and another used 220g from the previous owner, so I don't anticipate needing any soon.

[Drew Sanderson]

I'd say from my limited experience so far, it'll do the trick, but it ain't a Timesaver. I have belts up to 220 I think, but for me it's faster to go rude with the 80g and finish with a big 4x24 PC belt sander, than to go thru changing up thru the grits on the 718.

Do you have the dust collector?

I think you might be right about the time issue. As I stood next to my machine I got it going (albeit with the wrong pully/speed) I was enjoying the machine doing the work but not impressed like I am with the moulding and planning capabilities.

I bought my machine used (thus not having the correct belt) and think I might try and put new velco on the shaft.

What do you use to tape the paper on?

Yes I do have a dust collector. I can't imagine not having one when planning. I would be swimming in the stuff. Also a used purchase off cl (craigslist). I would like an Oneida but I have to get my tools out of the garage/build a shop before I can set it up properly.

[Steve Clardy]

Ahhhh, and I here I thought you were taking an interest in my project! :D






I'm always interested in other peoples work. ;)

[Mike Keers]

I'm always interested in other peoples work.Well how else do we get all the great new ideas, right?


What do you use to tape the paper on?Drew, I assume you mean install the new Velcro? The manual says to remove the old stuff, and clean the drum well, then it gives application instructions. It's implied the Velcro has an adhesive backing since nothing is said about an adhesive. I may have misunderstood, since the manual does say something about applying a piece of 1/4" or 1/2" packing tape to one end of the sandpaper strip. I didn't, but I've only used it sanding for the one job so far

I asked about the dust collector not with planing in mind, but sanding. I believe I read in the manual they strongly recommend, if not require one to remove the dust or it just clogs the paper up pronto. I owned a lunch box planer before I had a DC, I know what you mean about buried! :eek:

Do you have the Owner's Manual? I may have missed a comment upstream on that. I'd think WM would be happy to provide one if you don't. If you'd like some scans of specific pages or info, you can PM me.

[Steve Clardy]

Yep. New and great ideas ;)

My grizzly dual drum, I used 1/2" wide packing tape. The stuff with the string in it.


Yep. The velcro has adhesive on the back of it. Don't misplace it on the drum. :rolleyes: Its hard to reposition. I used Woodmasters velcro and also the paper they sell.