I was just in my shop going thru some boxes of stuff I had squirrled away in the loft area, when I spotted a box marked AMT shaper kit, Hmmm , then I remembered it was given to me by a friend , his father in law had it and never used it.. looking at it, I thought hey this would make a great Drum sander, all I need to do is hook diffrent size drums to the shaft, its a 1/2 threaded shaft, soo I can find diffrent size drums to thread on it.. I have a extra stand and a motor & belts soo if I get drums Im in business… But i have a queston, what size drums do you find helpful for sanding your projects….
Thanks.. ToolDoc
Replies
Doc,
Are you really talking about a drum sander with changeable drums, or a sanding drum? (I think the former is used for surfacing, and the latter for edge/contour sanding.)
Jeff
My guess: he's talking about a spindle sander (non-oscillating). Seems like RPMs might be a little high, no?forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
Forest Girl hit the nail on the head-- a spindle sander type drum sander rather than a thickness type drum sander--sorry for the confusion there..Jamie I figure I can regulate speeds with the pulley set up,by changing belt on the pulleys..I have a few motors laying around just waiting or shall I saying begging to be put on a new machine in the shop..LOL.. Now I just need to figure what size drums to get..
ToolDoc
OK, Doc, my "new" oscillating sander came with 1/2", 3/4", 1", 1-1/2", 2" and 3" spindles. Oughta work with anything I can dream up to make. Have fun!forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
Jamie; Thanks for you help, you are a true PAL.. 1/2 thu 3 inches sounds great, I have to run to woodworkers warehouse tomorrow , I remember seeing drum sanders there in diffrent diameters, they had them that would thread on a 1/2 shaft plus the type that went over a plain shaft and thightened with allen screws also, were made so you could rig em up on a motor..I had been using drum sanders on my drill press with a wooden table, but think this will work alot better, doing lots of scroll work with my Delta band saw and Dewalt scroll saw...
ToolDoc
HI Forest Girl; Thought I would explain a little about this set up, Im going to power this with a 1 hp motor 1725 rpm, Iwill use 3 or 4 step pulley to change speeds should give me a decent speeds.. the AMT shaper was made by American Machine & tool Co. in royerford.PA. not sure if they mfg it or if they were imports, at one time many.many years ago they had a line of low cost power tools, saws.lathes,jointers,sanders, everyonce in awhile i run across some in my travels.. as a matter of fact I still have one of there Lathes in my shop that I bought when I was in High school, for the unheard of price of $49.00, of course that was with out the motor.. yep it still runs, and its fun to fire it up everyso often.. the shaper kit cosited of a casting with a threaded shaft assembly and a pulley, plus a fence, thus you ended up with a low price shaper..LOL...I dont need another shaper soo thought I would rig up a Drum sander.. Hey I will let you guys know how it comes out..
ToolDoc
I finshed the Drum sander today,soo its up and running,and I must say it works great, was a great way to use some left over supplies, I had laying around the shop, just gathering dust..
ToolDoc
A friend of mine did the same thing with an old washing machine motor. It doesn't oscillate like a true spindle sander, but he reports it gets the job done. As for drum sizes, the bigger diameter the better when it comes to sanding convex edges. A larger diameter drum will offer a smoother contour in less time. Of course with concave edges, drum size is determined by whatever will fit in there.
Tool Doc,
If your motor is powerful enough, try to pull the rpm's down to about 500-600. You'll get nice sanding action with no burning and good control.
Jeff
I salvaged a nice thick counter top with formica on it at work today, Im going to use it for the drum sanders table, I will make a cut out in the middle and put a piece of lexan in there with a cut out for the drums, found some drums at woodworkers warehouse and am going to order other sizes from McMasters..Looks like a nice weekend project..
ToolDoc
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