The wonderful world of mathematics, maths or math can work wonders on cutting your sandpaper to size for your drum sander. Sandpaper used is Hermes BW110 150 grit aluminium oxide paper 90mm x 10m.
Hi Sarah, I live in Belgium and bought me the PowerMatic PM2244 drumsander. Afterwards I had difficulties finding pre-cut sanding paper for this machine at a local store. The standard was a 76mm wide roll. I could not find paper with the same width, at least not locally. So I bought a Klingspor J-Flex roll with a width of 50mm which I could find here locally. Then I used the calculations on your video and BAM, perfect fit. Thank you for making this very clear video!!! Kind regards, Patrick
Big like for the series, and extra bonus like for the science part with math. Good example for me to show my daughter how math is applied in everyday things. A little tip regarding the clamps for the paper might be to have them spring loaded, so when loosening, they will pop up a bit for easier mounting of the sandpaper.
many thanks for this. got myself a drum sander and really don't want to pay the silly price (and wait an age for delivery!) when i can get rolls of sandpaper locally.
Thank you so much. I did a search to learn what you taught and all I got was pull the old paper off and use it as a template. I am building a sander for Ukulele making and I wanted to do it right this time.
A great build, perhaps the best drum sander one I've seen on youtube so far, If I'm allowed to throw in my little piece of adviice it would be to trim the sand paper back to match the shape of the end clamping block where it covers it restricting access, would only be a small trim. other than that I've learnt a few tips watching this build. Looking forward to your next build :)
+Andy Towning What I've learnt with paper backed abrasive is that you mustn't have any hard edges or corners that could catch or you'll rip the paper. You can trim the paper back but you must do it with smooth curves. This wasn't such a problem with cloth backed paper. I had a small rip occur where an edge caught but fortunately it didn't come off the drum - it did give the work a bit of a kick, but no damage was done. I trimmed the rip smooth and didn't need to change the paper. The Hermes paper backed actually works better than the expensive Abranet Max as it doesn't stretch, however it does clog. Abranet doesn't clog at all as it's an open mesh, but it stretches and becomes loose at the right hand edge so the depth of cut increases by 0.5mm - ok for narrow pieces but bad for sanding panels.
Great Video! A thought to help you with this and perhaps a future video; What about using a stepper motor to rotate the drum slowly. That way you could hold the end of the sandpaper taught and guide it while it does the work.
I,ve found using double sided tape (1/2") one my roller works very nicely to keep the sandpaper tight while installing . Love your videos . Thank you .
I was thinking of a line of spray adhesive across the entire length. It might give a little more holding power. It sounds to me like either system would work.
You got it a bit wrong. The tapered cut is not equal to the circumfrance as it runs obliquely and not straight around.So that cut edge will be longer than the circumfrance making the angle wrong and hence the following wraps.
That reminds me of learning pi to 200 places when I was a kid - then being made to recite and repeat it in class. 40 years later, I only remember 30 places...
Hi, another informative and interesting video.. You probably know this but dried up silicone sealant(old tube) makes a great cleaner for sanders.. Cut the end of the tube off and hold the dry silicone against the drum and move across.. Works a treat
+Heath Cope I'd seen the blocks you can get in specialist tool shops but I didn't know that silicone sealant is a substitute. I have a half used tube that's still liquid - I'd better get drying it out :-)
Susan Gardener you can't use a drum sander without using a belt cleaner after each pass, otherwise you will be changing belts every day😀.Dust extraction is not enough. I actually use mine as the wood is going through. They are on eBay and Axminster sell them. When I bought my drum sander years ago Axminster gave me one for free. I have one beside every sander, disc, belt and drum. My belts last for months. On you tube videos I rarely see them used.
Using silicon to clean sanding belts might not be suitable for guitar parts in that impregnating silicon into the wood may have an adverse effect on non-silicon finishes.
Great vid cheers, if you could lock the drum with a locking pin through the pully or with a different method it could possibly aid you when tightening the glass paper on the drum as i could see half your effort is used holding the drum still, just a friendly observation. Nice bit of kit all the same.
How about using a thin wedge near the first wrap to hold the drum still (like those made for shimming a door frame) once you are re-tightening the following wraps to the end. Btw. Did you consider using PVC or even steel pipe for a drum? Wood is your medium but it has properties that might make it a better material for a drum, e.g., less expansion from heat or perhaps a more balance drum due to a laminate, etc.
You'd need some sort of a stopper to prevent your roll from rotating during tightening the sandpaper. A nine inch nail in a pre-drilled hole at the end of the drum would work despite being ugly.
Just a thought; if the end disc was able to move on the shaft so that it could have the end of the paper clamped and then turned to tighten and then clamped to the main roller using similar bolts to the paper clamp. Next time!
You need some way to lock that drum and stop it rotating to help you get the sandpaper tight, a drill hole and a rod would be a simple way. :D Nice video, thanks.
Thanks so much for your video. It is very interesting. I tried to calculate a sand paper for my drum but i couldn´t do. I am using a drum of an old printer. It is 36 mm of diameter, 415 mm width, circumference 115 mm, diameter of the drum 36 mm. I think to use sand paper of 90 mm width. It gives me 530 mm lenght of paper, but I couldn´t calculate the cutting line for sand paper. It gives me 113 mm, but it doens´t work. I would appreciate if you tell me how to calculate it. Thanks in advance.
I tried this loo roll method and I'm just not having good results. A pack of Andrex doesn't seem to take much off a piece of timber. Should I be using Charmin Ultra instead? Ahem. Very useful video - thanks. It occurs to me that some sort of spindle lock (as usually present on lathes) would be quite useful when trying to tighten the paper. A wedge between the table and the drum (near the left side) would be a simple solution. Some sort of a pin that engages with the end of the drum might be better though.
+Mark McCluney It's a piece of library music called Vino. I don't think it's a published song. I'm thinking of re-recording it myself. Glad you like the Triton spindle sander - it seems a good piece of kit. Put some oil or wax on the deck - I got a spot of rust on mine
