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Main Boards => The Bowyer's Bench => Topic started by: Pheonixarcher on April 09, 2015, 09:20:00 PM
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So, I can't take it anymore, and I'm gonna buy the 12" baby drum sander. For those of you who have one, what accessories do I need at the time of purchase? I plan on getting some 60 grit for lams (that's the coursest they carry), and some 180 grit for truing up riser blocks and take down limbs. I'm also considering buying their work bench for it. Is this a descent bench for the unit? Any other recommendations for me? Thanks in advance.
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I didn't buy any accessories for my baby drum sander. But you sissy pants glass bow guys may need some, since ya all are so delicate.. :laughing: 60 grit is fine in my opinion. Ya otta buy it tonight cause they are on sale for $575.00.. Mine was $675.00 16 months ago. Other recommendations are: They say to lube it with graphite, I just pour some PBR into mine every 10 minutes and it runs great and the PBR keeps the dust down... :)
But on a serious note, I love mine...
http://www.grizzly.com/products/12-Baby-Drum-Sander/G0459
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Thanks Roy. I think. Lol. I don't usually stock PBR, will Coors Light work? I've got plenty of that!
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Here is a DONT! Dont try to take off much when sanding.What ever you are sanding run it through before you turn your machine to make sure it doesnt have a big end that will bind up before you complete your first sanding pass.They are great machines but like everything you can mess up.They have a nylon gear in the conveyor motor and you can strip it out.Its much better to strip that gear than burning out the motor.
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Thanks snapper! That's the kinda thing that I need to know. And just an FYI, I work at a machine shop, and I'm in the process of finding out how much it will cost to machine some sleds on a cnc mill. If it doesn't cost a ton, I might be able to make them available to those who are interested. If it's a go, and the program gets written, it will be easy to change the taper rates, maybe even do a parallel section then taper to the ends.
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X's 2 on checking thickness on both ends.
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I would rethink the 180 grit thing. That's the kind of grit we would use in the cabinet shop for the final pass on cabinet parts in order to minimize hand sanding. You had to take super light passes not to burn the paper (and then the wood) and that was on a 36" drum sander. For truing riser blocks and limbs I don't think you need anything that fine. In fact, 60 grit will do just fine "truing up" anything. If you want a finer grit for less scratch marks in stuff, consider going to a 100 now which will make a nice clean-up grit to 60. I'll be surprised if down the road you still want to go finer for bow making.
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Just a couple thoughts.
I've seen some incredible deals out there on Craigslist and such for drum sanders at outrageous discounts. Like a jet 16-32 for $300. but new is always the best so...
I think Dave is right on with the sanding grit. A pass at 100grit and you'll have very little hand sanding to do.
Lastly, if you have access to a non-CNC vertical mill with sufficient table travel, I'd think you could make a simple jig to hold an aluminum stock at an slight angle and just mill the top surface down flat to create your taper. Wouldn't take very long, and I imagine the accuracy will be far beyond anything we need. So .... Any friends with an old Bridgeport? I'm only suggesting it cause time on a CNC is expensive, and so is setup.
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Thanks gents. As far as the sleds go, we have some pretty big mills at the shop, and can probably do a 74" or 76" sled for one solid one piece lams. The shop time should be free if I can get one of the opporaters to stay a little late after their shift. And we do also have a Bridgeport that I can use if the cnc turns out to be too expensive.
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Love my baby drum. You are going to need some dust collection. I started out with a shop vac but later bought a real dust collector from Grizzly. You will need the hoses and attachments.
Pretty sure Big Jim sells sleds.
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+1 on the dust!
180 is way fine. Just load yourself up with 60 and 80 grit.
Ben a 16-32 for $300......my car's tyres would have got hot heading to that address!! What a steal!
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I have the other one on the wheeled cart and love it. I use 80 grit for everything and it works fine.
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I had aluminum blocks made for sleds one inch thick at the butt and they warped they got just a little warm and bent, wood is much better. Also don't use the drum sander to tru up limbs of either take downs or one piece bows you will have crooked limbs.
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Just got a Griz sale catalog, will be on sale from Apr 15 to July 31 for $450 :D
JUST KIDDING!!
Seriously, actually it is on sale then for $550 and $79 shipping
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Thanks everyone! I have a dust collector, just might have to do a little rigging to get the hoses where they need to be.
The price of steel is down right now, so I might use that... But I'm not even sure yet if it's going to be a cost effective means for a sled yet, even with my access to the equipment. Just something I'm looking in to.
Why would truing up the limbs on the drum sander make them turn out crooked? I was thinking of building a sled with posts to hold the limb in one place as a put it through the sander.
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I like sleds about 1/4" thick made of a-boo or a-wood.
Thin enough if they bow a bit the pressure rollers will hold em down with the work and not make a lam thin in middle .
Have a set of milled alum. to check the everyday sleds once in a while.
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I had an old guy from Linneus, Mo make me up some pattern tapered lams with different taper rates. I lay one on a piece of oak and lay my lam on top and run it through the sander. Does a nice job. I think his name was Kennym or somepen like that.. :)
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Originally posted by Roy from Pa:
I had an old guy from Linneus, Mo make me up some pattern tapered lams with different taper rates. I lay one on a piece of oak and lay my lam on top and run it through the sander. Does a nice job. I think his name was Kennym or somepen like that.. :)
That guy sure got around back in the day.. :D
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Man was that a pain too. :saywhat:
Trying to make my sleds work with 1/16" per 3 feet measurements when sleds were in thousandth per inch.
But being respectful to my elders, I made something, knowing he couldn't tell any difference...... :laughing:
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You guys are too much! Lol
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I'm thinking I might have to bring the thumping list back out of retirement and add a can of whoop ass notation behint some ole boys name..
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Just my two cents...but can't help myself. I wouldn't waste my time on sleds longer than 40"s. this will give you more than enough room for a 36" taper and a thin block at the end to hold them in place while they run.
I know that there are still people out there that think they are doing something special by running full length tapers or veneers, but I couldn't imagine anyone who knew what they were doing going that route.
I have never heard of a bow failing due to a lamination splice.
Wood is more available in 33"-36" pieces and in many species you will never find it longer than that. Everything will ship cheaper when shorter too.
Show me a reason why a one piece lamination is better than a two and i'll prove to you your wrong.
I'm just learning how to do this though so I might have missed something.
I can't advise yey or ney on the baby drum. I have some Griz equipment that works outstanding and I have some that wasn't worth a boat anchor.
I would say stay away from grits smoother than 80 unless you plan on staining veneers and they should be run at 120..probably. 60 will do for laminations and riser blocks and pretty much anything else except glass.
Instead of buying accessories, group that money and purchase the best sander you can afford...or almost afford :) you will be happier.
Remember though, I was just throwing my two cents in there so this is just free advice and worth what you paid for it.
good luck, BigJIm
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Another reason to use spliced lams instead of one piece: Wood varies along its length. A bookmatched pair of lams splice together will give you a more naturally balanced set of limbs top and bottom than a single piece lamination running almost 6' long.
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I have to agree on the spliced lams.
I splice all of the lams on my bows and never had any problem. Since I, building all wood bows, my lams are thicker than most any lams for glass bows, and I also splice my backing strips together. The spliced section gets bent drastically around the back of the riser without problems. A thin overlay hides it all and adds more than enough strength.
I can't even imagine the hassle of trying to accurately taper a 6' lam, and Jim is right. You're not buying king wood or ebony in a 72" board unless you sell one of you kidneys.
My taper sled is a piece of oak that I had for a while and I knew was stabilized to my local humidity. I ground it to a taper I wanted and used. If it warps, I make a new one in 5min. Doesn't take any longer to make a sled really than it does to make a lam.
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Yup on 3' lams...
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No hassle whatsoever to grind a full length tapered lam on a 40" sled. I do it all the time for tri-lams and such. For glass bows I usually use 36" long stock.
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I've ran full length belly lams before on a 36" sled. It's easy like bowjunkie said. By the time the sled comes out of the sander, the lam is approaching the end of the riser and the lam drops down and doesn't get sanded. You have to be ready to hold up on the out feed end of the lam is all.
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Not gonna tell ya what happens if you're not ready..
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Thanks everyone! Guess I won't worry about the full length sleds. I'm currently only building take downs at the moment, but hope to build a one piece form soon.
Well, thanks to Roy, he scared me that the baby drum might come off sale soon, so I ordered it. Then Kenny tells me they are going to go on sale for even less than I just paid! Just can't win for losing with you two! Lol
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Ah what's Kenny know anyhow?
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Tim Finley I been using mine for blanking out TD limbs and running one piece longbows thru it for squaring it up. Don't think I have had any crooked limbs yet. ???