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Main Boards => The Bowyer's Bench => Topic started by: Bow Bender on March 22, 2019, 03:21:09 PM

Title: Mechanical Feed for Homemade Drum Sanders
Post by: Bow Bender on March 22, 2019, 03:21:09 PM

I have a homemade drum sander that works just fine except I have a problem of maintaining a consistent feed rate by hand pushing material through it.  This causes a wavy surface on the material that is fed through.  Has anyone devised a homemade mechanical feed for one of these? Any ideas on how to make one?

Title: Re: Mechanical Feed for Homemade Drum Sanders
Post by: Crooked Stic on March 22, 2019, 03:40:01 PM

If your table is stationary and you adjust the drum up and own then you can rig up a roller on each end of the table and some sort of belt around it. then a crank on one of the rollers to feed with. If  not then you are better off pulling the stock thru instead of pushing it.

Title: Re: Mechanical Feed for Homemade Drum Sanders
Post by: BMorv on March 22, 2019, 03:40:59 PM

http://www.stumpynubs.com/two-stage-drum-sander.html

This is the only homemade one I've seen.

Title: Re: Mechanical Feed for Homemade Drum Sanders
Post by: Flem on March 22, 2019, 07:42:03 PM

I also have a homemade drum sander. The only time I get the scallops, is when I'm grinding 6' lams. I found its helpful to have a roller stand on either side of the sander bed, about 2' away. Ive though about mounting spring loaded rollers above the table to keep pressure on the indeed and outfeed sides also.
I guess I have got pretty good at being a human feed mechanism. Make sure you can move yourself smoothly from front to back while your grinding. They are not too hard to true up by hand afterwards.

Title: Re: Mechanical Feed for Homemade Drum Sanders
Post by: fujimo on March 23, 2019, 03:00:56 AM

the rollers that go on a conveyor belt system are really cheap from a castor and wheel supply place, and they have bearings in them already_ set them the right distance apart with a 4x36" 180gr sanding belt being your feed belt.
, as for a low speed motor to drive it, i would use a windscreen wiper motor used from the wreckers- we used to use them as the motor on our sheep and pig roasting spits- they last forever- lots of torque- hook up to a 12v battery.- or transformer.
set up a pulley system to power the one roller/
 easiest way i can think of

Title: Re: Mechanical Feed for Homemade Drum Sanders
Post by: Buemaker on March 23, 2019, 08:27:07 AM

I have springloaded pressure rollers on this one, no motor feed drive. I get very good results, once you get the hang of it.
(https://i1289.photobucket.com/albums/b506/timian46/0DC67B91-AD61-4DA3-A38C-6699496D99C6_zps9soy4ly6.jpg) (https://s1289.photobucket.com/user/timian46/media/0DC67B91-AD61-4DA3-A38C-6699496D99C6_zps9soy4ly6.jpg.html)