motor for homemade drum sander

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mickthetree

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Hi All
I'm looking to build a drum sander as I just cant afford what they go for even secondhand.

I am planning on using these plans.

It recommends a 1750 / 1450 rpm motor. I have seen a few motors that are 2850 rpm. The plans call for a 2" pulley on the motor shaft and a 5" pulley on drum shaft. I'm presuming I can alter the pulley configuration to get a 2850 motor to run the drum at the correct speed?

Is it possible?

Can anyone point me in the right direction to calculate this?
 
yay- somebody else making this.

I am also doing so, although somewhat backwards. I am making the drum bit first and am currently threading the circles onto the shaft.

I think that the motor you need is a 4 pole motor vs the 2 pole that you have seen. The speeds will be slightly different on the UK frequency. You could control it on pulley speed- I havent worked out my final sizes yet, but my drum is 4" rather than 5" because i bodged up!

The other bit of critical information that I am yet to find is the required surface speed for sanding. You really need this to calculate the drum RPM and then the pulley sizes. If you find a reliable source, could you share?
 
mickthetree":1ayf5vxz said:
Hi All
I'm looking to build a drum sander as I just cant afford what they go for even secondhand.

I am planning on using these plans.

It recommends a 1750 / 1450 rpm motor. I have seen a few motors that are 2850 rpm. The plans call for a 2" pulley on the motor shaft and a 5" pulley on drum shaft. I'm presuming I can alter the pulley configuration to get a 2850 motor to run the drum at the correct speed?

Is it possible?

Can anyone point me in the right direction to calculate this?

Google something like "pulley speed calculator" - there are lots on the web
This one looks like it will fit the bill: http://www3.telus.net/shebang/pulley_calculator.html
 
Katellwood that sounds brilliant. This whole project is going to test the old grey matter but my electrical knowledge is limited and I think that might be pushing it too far!

Marcros! Great to hear there is someone else embarking on this. What did you use for the shaft?

Thinking over this I might be taking it too far. Maybe I should keep it simple to start off.

Someone local has a 1/4 hp 1450 motor for less than a tenner, but I think that will be too underpowered. However I'm also considering making this much narrower than the plans show. I dont have a requirement for particularly wide pieces and this may also ease me into the world of drum sanders!!

niagra - I have just watched this video and whilst it looks excellent I have decided to keep it simple for my first build. But do keep us updated if you go down that route!!
 
i used 25mm (or 1", but I think I bought metric) bright mild steel round. I looked at various options, including some that was to much finer tolerances, but went with that in the end. IIRC it was £13 posted from an eBay seller. I got the bearings from eBay too.

I researched and researched and then thought that I was over thinking it so just started to gather some bits together. I have a motor- I think it is 0.5HP, I think that the 1/4 might struggle a bit. Mine is 16" sanding surface- I was going to make it narrower but I wondered whether I might need a little more than my thicknesser capacity, and the added width would help with stability. The shaft was in 100mm increments, so I used a 600mm because a 500mm was a touch too narrow, allowing for the pulley, bearings, a couple of gaps etc. I also wondered, but havent thought it through fully, whether I could have 200mm of one grit on the left, and 200mm of a different one on the right, obviously only if workpieces were 200mm or less.
 
Bear in mind that a 2" pulley is about the minimum size to use and still have a decent wrap angle and hence good belt grip.
Use a cogged V belt for best grip anyway.
So that makes the other pulley 10" for a 2 pole motor. Stick out for a 4 pole capacitor start, 1425 ish speed motor.
Three phase is an option but will cost more. I don't have any low power inverters for sale at the moment.
 
mickthetree":1tluyslg said:
Do you have a thread of the build? If not, why not?? :)

I havent really built anything yet- just cut some squares of ply, glued them together, clipped the corners and made them almost circular.

I drilled 4 of the 6 blocks and put these on the shaft. It was slow going with my hand cranked pillar drill.

I will do a few pictures when it starts to get interesting.
 
Makita here :-

Give a belt speed of
210 - 440 m/min, for the 9404
500 m/min , for the 9403
350 m/min, for the 9401
I don't know if that helps, but it may give a ball park figure to work with.

Is the variation with different

xy
 
Surface speed of small belt sanders for wood is around 8 mt/sec to 13 mt/sec. For metal grinding 12 mt/sec to 18 mt/sec is best for ease of control and speed. I'd keep surface speed less than 10 mt/sec to avoid burns.
 
I was looking for an induction motor with similar speed for another of Matthias' projects. (I'm slowly collecting the bits to have a go at his bandsaw at some point when the skill levels have improved, at least a bit.)

I bought a 4-pole induction motor. Its plate says 1410 rpm.
 
Mick,

I haven't decided whether to put Velcro on the drum and use Velcro backed abrasive or whether to use cloth clacked and an alternative fixing. The latter should be much cheaper. Have you looked at that aspect yet?

I think 120g seems to look the most useful git for me.

Mark
 
Well, you have encouraged me to buy the timber for the frame today. I was originally going to build it from hardwood but in the interest of keeping the costs of the project down I have just gone with some softwood. Travis Perkins finest. I even bought it planed to save a job. I am hoping to get that part made tomorrow.

I will start a new thread so I stop hijacking yours.
 
I have a motor! Turns out that my old bandsaw that I was planning on selling has a perfect motor for this setup.

So now to the bar. This chap on ebay sells all sizes of bearing shaft. Its £46 delivered for a 600mm long 25mm dia shaft.

I was planning on using these medium duty MP UCP housed bearings. There is a cheaper NP version, about half the price, but I don't want to have to replace them if they are not up to the job. I have plenty of wood for the frame so total build cost at the minute will be running approx £88 which seems pretty good to me. I have an NVR switch somewhere and dad (used to be an electrician) will wire it all up for me.

If I can keep the whole build under £100 I'd be pleased.
 
Mick
It might be worth exchanging notes. I'm about to start also. i'm going to use my metal lathe pulley motor (1425RMP) which means i can adjust the RPM. I'm not going to follow the Matthias plans but a variant on the four versions from his site. I'm also looking at gathering material costs so if you fancy PM'in me we can share notes on your research on hook and loop base, sandpaper and bearings.? I haven't worked out the maximum thickness of material of the Matthias version but it looks like 50-75mm which probably would cover everything i would do but i think i may like to go slightly bigger. I was also thinking of allow for 600mm width and doing it as a benchtop version.

i have no idea if the hook and loop and the sandpaper work together? but hey i'm going to give it a try.

PS check out this one for the shaft.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/303-STAINLESS ... 1309241745
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/UCF-Metric-Se ... 0888907945
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/100mm-x-1m-Bl ... 1253477742
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/240-GRIT-SAND ... 1488082377
 
I was following this thread because at some point I may build a disc sander and thought I might pick up some tips. Just a couple of points about drum sanders then I'll butt out,

-I use one of the American SuperMax drum sanders which are rebadged as an Axi tool. The finest paper I use is 80 grit. For my purposes (thicknessing saw cut veneers) it's a dimensioning tool not a finishing tool so coarser is better. And if you ever work with oily timbers like rosewoods then coarse papers reduce gumming up.

-Personally I only ever use cloth backed paper on a drum sander, tearing can be a problem so tough, heavy paper with the strongest possible tensioning mechanism is what works for me.

Good luck!
 
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