My homemade drum sander is finished!

[mreza Salav]

Some of you know I have been building a drum sander. I reported some progress earlier:

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...ht=drum+sander

Well, today I finally finished it. It took a bit longer because I had to do new electrical wiring in my basement shop just to be able to run it.

It has a 2HP farm duty motor and a 150lb/in conveyor motor. The maximum width I can sand is more than 28.5". Below you can see some pictures of it:

fin1.JPG fin2.JPG

The next picture shows the main motor and the elevation mechanism. I initially had connected the handle directly to one of the screws but changed the plan because: 1) it was heavy to move it up/down 2) it wouldn't allow for fine adjustments. Now every full turn of the handle will raise/lower the table by 1/32".

fin3.JPG

The following picture shows the drum and pressure roller bars (after I removed the dust-hood cover). The roller bars are 5/8" thick solid bars with a vinyl/plastic tubing over them for friction.

fin4.JPG

More pictures in the next post...

[mreza Salav]

fin8.JPG

There are 3 switches and a nub for controlling the belt speed. The left switch
turns on the main motor and can turn the conveyor too if the middle switch is in ON position. The other switch will turn the conveyor directly.

fin9.JPGfin10.JPG

In the following link you can see two movies showing the sander in action.
First one shows the elevation mechanism. The second one shows how a piece of board is sanded.
Sorry about the quality. I had to hold the camera with one hand all the time.

http://good-times.webshots.com/video...03474875BxfVqF
http://good-times.webshots.com/video...03474875zVoHBU

The following two pictures show the thickness of the board I just sanded on it's two sides:

fin6.JPGfin7.JPG

Can't be more accurate than this!

[Matt Hutchinson]

Wow! That's very impressive. The accuracy is quite astonishing! Great work. BTW, how much did this cost to make? I am wondering how it compares with commercial sanders.

Hutch

[Dewey Torres]

WOW!

I knew this was going to be good but....

WOW!

Dewey

[Tim Malyszko]

Very cool. It's so neat seeing someone make their own major power tool. I too would like to know how much it cost in materials.

Nice work!!!

[brett gallmeyer]

Thats Great!
I have been drawing up plans to build my own based on the 16-32 tyle drum sanders. I know it might be a bit more difficult but I cant afford the square footage one of the big machines would take up. Luckly I have welding experiance and all my metalworking tools. What horsepower motor did u use? i'm planing on 1 1/2 hp because I dont have 220v. Also where did u get the conveyor setup or did u build your own?

Awsome work though!

Brett G.

[Jerome Hanby]

Congrats on building a great machine. Your pictures and detail text are just about perfect. Every question that popped into my head, one or the other covered.

Thanks for sharing. I'm re-inspired. I'm going to spend part of the holiday weekend cutting more mdf disks!

[mreza Salav]

Thanks everybody for the complements.

Wow! That's very impressive. The accuracy is quite astonishing! Great work. BTW, how much did this cost to make? I am wondering how it compares with commercial sanders.

Hutch

Well, as usual, it went over my estimated cost by 50%. Total came around $600. Main reasons were: I was looking for a used motor but ended up buying the 2HP motor new for $200. The other big ticket items were: DC motor and controller for $65 and around $180 for shafts/bars/sprockets/chains. Even at this total price, I think I am better than buying a used one. Up here, anything used around this size or even smaller is well over $1k.

Thats Great!
I have been drawing up plans to build my own based on the 16-32 tyle drum sanders. I know it might be a bit more difficult but I cant afford the square footage one of the big machines would take up. Luckly I have welding experiance and all my metalworking tools. What horsepower motor did u use? i'm planing on 1 1/2 hp because I dont have 220v. Also where did u get the conveyor setup or did u build your own?

Awsome work though!

Brett G.

The motor is 2HP (farm duty), you may get by with a 1.5HP too.
I built the conveyor setup too (see the link to work in progress).
I tend to think building an open-ended one, even using steel/welding might have more than acceptable deflect. As far as I know, most commercial models of this type have heavy castings.

Congrats on building a great machine. Your pictures and detail text are just about perfect. Every question that popped into my head, one or the other covered.

Thanks for sharing. I'm re-inspired. I'm going to spend part of the holiday weekend cutting more mdf disks!

Glad to hear it was helpful. My suggestion is not to use MDF for disks: it is too soft and it is VERY heavy.

[Douglas Brummett]

Great looking project. I wonder how it will fare over time. I would imagine composite lamination would be better with respect to humidity/temp effects (picture the rock solid plywood bench from FWW that was made almost entirely of plywood).

[Jerome Hanby]

Glad to hear it was helpful. My suggestion is not to use MDF for disks: it is too soft and it is VERY heavy.

I hear what you're saying. But I've got a ton of little MDF scraps leftover from a bedroom "doll house" bed I'm building for my little girl. It's just not in me to waste it

[Dave Lehnert]

WOW! Look out JET.

[Jeffrey Makiel]

You are a very skilled dude. Nice going.
-Jeff

[Phil Thien]

That is absolutely awesome! You should make kits of these using 8020 extrusions and sell 'em.

[Jerry McFalls]

Excellent work!

I was wondering if you could provide the specs of your conveyor motor. HP, voltage, etc.

[mreza Salav]

Thanks all.

Excellent work!

I was wondering if you could provide the specs of your conveyor motor. HP, voltage, etc.

it is 90VDC gearmotor, 19rpm, 150lb/in torque. It is the following one:
http://www.bisongear.com/detail.asp_..._A_skuid_E_314

but I could get it off e-bay brand new for $15+SH
You need a controller to control the speed (and provide the 90VDC).