Author Topic: Drum/ Thickness Sander  (Read 90404 times)

Offline S. Heslop

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Re: Drum/ Thickness Sander
« Reply #75 on: February 10, 2015, 12:40:12 PM »
Drilled about 10 holes in a scrap of plywood trying to get one that's a good fit with these 47mm bearings. When I finally get one that seems good, I push the bearing in and then it falls out the other side. Turns out the hole cutter is cutting more of a cone shape.

I might maybe be able to take advantage of that, but I think I might try grinding the cutting tool to look more like what you get in commercial ones. As it is, it's still the shape of a lathe boring bar.

Offline awemawson

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Re: Drum/ Thickness Sander
« Reply #76 on: February 10, 2015, 02:13:48 PM »
Can you cut your hole, slice across a diameter, then screw to a board making a sort of split housing with a tight fit ensured by the kerf of the cut.

Andrew Mawson
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Offline S. Heslop

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Re: Drum/ Thickness Sander
« Reply #77 on: February 10, 2015, 06:07:02 PM »
Can you cut your hole, slice across a diameter, then screw to a board making a sort of split housing with a tight fit ensured by the kerf of the cut.

That's not a bad idea. I'll have to think about how best to do it though.



Took the table apart again to hammer in one of these threaded inserts. These ones have barbs to hold the thing in, rather than a screw, so i'm putting them in from the other side.


I added one more disk of 12mm plywood to make up the rest of the distance. Also screwed the ends on.


Hopefully i'll get the drum round tomorrow. I'm wondering if maybe I should true the drum to the table (after rough turning) by passing a board with sandpaper on underneath it. The drum is wider than the table surface, but I could probably stick the board with sandpaper on it between some parallels.

Offline S. Heslop

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Re: Drum/ Thickness Sander
« Reply #78 on: February 14, 2015, 12:04:21 PM »
I've had a cold over the last few days so not much work done. Mostly because the wood dust was killing me. Excuses excuses.


Figured out why the hole cutter cuts a tapered hole, the answer is pretty obvious; the adjustable bar just slightly rotates from the pressure of cutting. I cut a few trial holes to hopefully stop it from moving any further then cut the bearing hole. First one was a nice tight fit, but the second one wasn't so I expodied that bearing in.


Don't have a good shot of the turning setup yet. I've changed it around after this photo since the motor runs clockwise.


I made a pulley for the 20mm shaft the hard way. Ideally i'd just use the lathe, but i'm trying to avoid it for this project, so I'm cutting it on the router table. The one on the motor should be less of a challenge.


Used some wedged pieces nailed in to the board to get a close enough angle to match the pulley. It was still a ways off but hopefully it won't cause any trouble. If it does, i'll just cut it again on the lathe and lie about being successful with the router table!



Offline S. Heslop

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Re: Drum/ Thickness Sander
« Reply #79 on: February 18, 2015, 12:26:54 PM »
Turned the drum round.


Then removed one of the end pieces and cut a sector out of it. I cut my finger with a chisel fitting a door a few days ago, and it's one of those cuts that you just seem to bump on everything and keep re-opening.


Then a trapezoidal block holds the paper in. As a part that will probably see a fair amount of use, a threaded insert would probably have been preferable here. But I suppose i'll replace it if or when the thread wears out.


With the paper wrapped around I was able to find where to cut the other sector out. Fortunately it landed in between the screw holes.


No shots of it holding the paper on at both ends, since the first trapezoidal block split in half and is being glued back together. I'm using counter sunk screws in a countersunk hole, which wasn't a great idea. I've stuck a washer in the hole to hopefully stop it from wedging the part in half again.

Offline vtsteam

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Re: Drum/ Thickness Sander
« Reply #80 on: February 18, 2015, 10:01:12 PM »
Simon, what about a simple temporary makeshift wood lathe for the pulley vee -- like you used for the sander drum.

I've actually done that with a piece of 1/2" pipe for an arbor, screwed into a 1/2" pipe floor flange as a faceplate. Attach your pulley blank to the floor flange with wood screws and turn the pulley true with an improvised tee rest and add vee groove using a chisel, or home made form tool.

You can run that arbor in wooden bearings for the temporary lathe setup. And lag it right to the benchtop for a temporary rig. Actually, oiled hardwood bearings work very well even long term if the speeds are reasonably low -- as wood lathe speeds are for this size work.

I mention this because, well, that router table rig does look scary the way you're using it, and also, not everybody has that tooling either.

I love it when a Plan B comes together!
Steve
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sDubB0-REg

Offline S. Heslop

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Re: Drum/ Thickness Sander
« Reply #81 on: February 19, 2015, 08:48:36 AM »
Simon, what about a simple temporary makeshift wood lathe for the pulley vee -- like you used for the sander drum.

I've actually done that with a piece of 1/2" pipe for an arbor, screwed into a 1/2" pipe floor flange as a faceplate. Attach your pulley blank to the floor flange with wood screws and turn the pulley true with an improvised tee rest and add vee groove using a chisel, or home made form tool.

You can run that arbor in wooden bearings for the temporary lathe setup. And lag it right to the benchtop for a temporary rig. Actually, oiled hardwood bearings work very well even long term if the speeds are reasonably low -- as wood lathe speeds are for this size work.

I mention this because, well, that router table rig does look scary the way you're using it, and also, not everybody has that tooling either.

I think my hands were fairly clear of the router bit, it was a tight fit around the spindle and didn't risk spinning freely, I wasn't climb milling, and I was taking small cuts with each pass. The biggest risk seemed to be the clamps holding the board to the table vibrating loose and allowing the thing to dig in. With the flat cuts I doubled up the clamps to reduce the risk, and with the groove the router bit had a bearing that would hopefully prevent total disaster if the clamps came loose.



There's alot of ways I could've cut the part. One idea was to cut a temporary pulley on the motor, drilling the 3/4" hole out to 20mm, and using the setup to cut the drum itself as a lathe (driven by the temporary pulley) to cut a nicer one. Although the only 20mm drill bit I had was a spade bit. A plug of wood could've filled the hole but it couldnt be cut with a hole saw/ hole cutter due to the hole in the middle. So careful work on a bandsaw cutting a tall but narrow 3/4" inch plug, which seems like a fairly dangerous thing to do.

But then another safety concern is using chisels to cut deep grooves. With chisels you don't get the leverage you would with real turning tools, and making fairly deep grooves seems like a bad idea with a chisel and I wouldn't want to do it more than once.

I still think, outside of using the metal lathe in any way, the router table was the most convenient and the safest way to cut the part I had available.

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Re: Drum/ Thickness Sander
« Reply #82 on: February 20, 2015, 04:01:27 PM »
Nice going Simon  :thumbup:  interesting design and very resourceful in its execution  :med:



Rob   

Offline S. Heslop

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Re: Drum/ Thickness Sander
« Reply #83 on: February 20, 2015, 04:25:40 PM »
Nice going Simon  :thumbup:  interesting design and very resourceful in its execution  :med:



Rob

Thanks!

I did a bit more today and made the motor mount. The motor is extremely heavy and took some wrestling to get it into place. It's held on sideways so the capacitor doesn't foul the table above it.




Doubt that hinge would hold with it hanging from a V belt, so i'm probably going to put a block of wood under the motor mount once I figure out how big it'll need to be.

Offline S. Heslop

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Re: Drum/ Thickness Sander
« Reply #84 on: February 21, 2015, 04:12:00 PM »
My ever enlarging gut is in the majority of shots I take. It's like it's the star of the show.


More unflattering poses as I grind some sheet metal. I find it funny that i'm wearing alot of PPE and it looks over cautious. But problems in the past have proven that each item is necessary. Still didn't bother putting an apron on, even though i've set myself alight before.


These plates are to prevent wear on the wood when clamping the table.


With the table now lockable, I could attach the bearing flanges to the sides. I was checking to make sure everything was square as I was going, and everything seems to be aligned (or close enough!).


Unfortunately I can't hook the motor up at the moment since i'm waiting on some money to buy a belt. I think I'll start working on the dust hood next. But it's really nearing completion now.

RobWilson

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Re: Drum/ Thickness Sander
« Reply #85 on: February 21, 2015, 04:16:02 PM »
Thats a canny kite Simon  :lol: :lol:


What size belt do you need ,,,,,,,,,,,I possibly could have one that you could have   :coffee:



Rob

Offline S. Heslop

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Re: Drum/ Thickness Sander
« Reply #86 on: February 21, 2015, 04:50:05 PM »
If i've calculated it right, an 884mm outside length belt or close enough should fit.

RobWilson

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Re: Drum/ Thickness Sander
« Reply #87 on: February 21, 2015, 05:14:08 PM »
I will have a look tomorrow  :thumbup:

Rob

Offline vtsteam

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Re: Drum/ Thickness Sander
« Reply #88 on: February 21, 2015, 06:33:07 PM »
Rob, have you gone up or down?  :)
I love it when a Plan B comes together!
Steve
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sDubB0-REg

RobWilson

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Re: Drum/ Thickness Sander
« Reply #89 on: February 22, 2015, 02:41:40 AM »
Rob, have you gone up or down?  :)

 :lol: :lol: :lol: Fooking up   :Doh:


Rob

RobWilson

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Re: Drum/ Thickness Sander
« Reply #90 on: February 22, 2015, 01:10:50 PM »
Hi Simon

The smallest I have at home is an SPA1000 ,  I will have a look at work tomorrow .


Rob

Offline S. Heslop

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Re: Drum/ Thickness Sander
« Reply #91 on: February 22, 2015, 03:34:06 PM »
Hi Simon

The smallest I have at home is an SPA1000 ,  I will have a look at work tomorrow .


Rob

Thanks for looking. Don't worry about it too much though.

In all honesty I probably won't have a chance to visit in the next week or so since i'm on call for my grandparents. My grandma isn't doing so well.

RobWilson

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Re: Drum/ Thickness Sander
« Reply #92 on: February 22, 2015, 04:09:52 PM »
Sorry to here your Grandma is not doing to well  :( ,

 I would drop the belt off or stick it in the post .

Rob

Offline S. Heslop

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Re: Drum/ Thickness Sander
« Reply #93 on: February 23, 2015, 01:02:09 PM »
If it's not too much of a hassle, i'd appreciate that. Should I PM you my address?

RobWilson

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Re: Drum/ Thickness Sander
« Reply #94 on: February 23, 2015, 01:44:48 PM »
Aye good Idea  :thumbup:


Rob

Offline S. Heslop

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Re: Drum/ Thickness Sander
« Reply #95 on: February 24, 2015, 12:21:14 PM »
Started glueing together the dust shroud.


I didn't pick the best way to do it. Making a fixture would've been most sensible but I wanted to see if this way would work.


Once it's dried I'll cut into it and glue some splines in place. It probably won't stay together for long as is.

In other news, I was looking at Matthias' website and saw this. http://woodgears.ca/sander/lucian.html

It's weird seeing a replica of something i've built. It's even weirder when the guy's done a better job at it than I did.

Offline dsquire

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Re: Drum/ Thickness Sander
« Reply #96 on: February 24, 2015, 01:50:00 PM »
Started glueing together the dust shroud.

.
snip
.

In other news, I was looking at Matthias' website and saw this. http://woodgears.ca/sander/lucian.html

It's weird seeing a replica of something i've built. It's even weirder when the guy's done a better job at it than I did.

You are making a fine job of that sander. I followed the link to Matthias' website and there are a lot of good ideas in there for DIY woodworking machines. Thanks for sharing.  :D :D

Cheers  :beer:

Don

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and your better best

Offline S. Heslop

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Re: Drum/ Thickness Sander
« Reply #97 on: February 25, 2015, 12:25:30 PM »
You are making a fine job of that sander. I followed the link to Matthias' website and there are a lot of good ideas in there for DIY woodworking machines. Thanks for sharing.  :D :D

Cheers  :beer:

Don

Yeah that guy has a nice website. It was a huge breath of fresh air when I found it, since it's fairly down to earth compared to alot of woodworking stuff out there.


They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder...

I'd started figuring out how to try get the splines all nicely spaced and staggered with each row, and decided something along the lines of 'sod it' and just cut them in wherever. I'll sand it flat and fill any gaps with body filler, and hopefully nobody will know once it's painted.

Speaking of painting, i'm still thinking about when would be the best time to start painting it. I feel I should do it before I have the thing actually working, or i'll never want to disassemble it. I'm also nervous about paint making stuff stick and increasing the thickness of the wood to the point that things that are currently tight end up jamming. Maybe i'll just do a token effort and paint the outside.


Also my dad found this on the road and took it home. He saw a pizza paddle in it but i'm not so sure. But i've got no idea what it is. My best guess is it's something for beating out brush fires, but then how did it end up on a road. Does anyone know?


Offline awemawson

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Re: Drum/ Thickness Sander
« Reply #98 on: February 25, 2015, 01:01:46 PM »
Why not use a wax finish - no significant thickness build up, and helps rather than hinders movement.
Andrew Mawson
East Sussex

Offline S. Heslop

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Re: Drum/ Thickness Sander
« Reply #99 on: February 25, 2015, 01:09:46 PM »
Why not use a wax finish - no significant thickness build up, and helps rather than hinders movement.

That's a good idea for parts like the belt tracking adjustment. But for where the table contacts the frame, I kind of want that to grip a bit. As it is, it seems perfect.

Honestly, i'm not sure if it's necessary to paint stuff like this. It doesn't have to look good. But i'm only tempted to for the sake of the video. It might also help things stand out in the garage. In alot of shots i'm taking i'm noticing that stuff is blending into the background clutter.