Sanding drum

[woodpig]

I'm thinking a small sanding drum, probably 50mm diameter by 75mm deep might come in handy in the workshop.
A quick google though and there seem to be several different types available. Are there any I should definitely avoid? I'd like to use my own abrasive paper if possible unless experienced users advise otherwise. I'm also thinking it would be handy if I could fit some kind of bearing at the bottom if not already fitted then I could also use it for thickness sanding of small parts with a suitable fence.

 

[rafezetter]

Personally I would make my own - I've made a couple and it's really simple to do - there's one design where ther retaining mechanism is very simple, just a small bar and a notch.

Then you can pretty much do whatever size and diameter you might need for curved detail sanding.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Adding-Neoprene-Rubber-to-Homemade-Drum-Sander/

I've also done this with the neoprene to soften the drum, which makes the sanding action much smoother.

 

[Steve Maskery]

The Carrol sanders are very good, if a bit pricey. You just have to be careful when using the clamping bar not to round over the head for the Allen key, it's easy to do. In fact, by the time you have bought a couple of Carrols, you could get a small bobbin sander on offer, I should think.

 

[PhilM]

The Carroll sanders don't seem to be around any more. Steve, do you have a link?

 

[Grumpy gardener]

Hi Phil,
PM sent with possible contact.
John

 

[Steve Maskery]

No sorry, I don't. We have a couple a the Community Workshop, and they were fine until somebody abused them and removed all the rubber and screwed up the key.
I had a couple myself, at one time, they were good. Perhaps Mr Carrol stopped making them because bobbin sanders had become so cheap.

The one in that YT clip looks good. Just don't use rubber that is too thick or too soft, or your flat surfaces will get rounded over at the edges.

 

[woodpig]

Thanks for the info guys. If I can find some thin rubber in the workshop - I had some somewhere - I may try making one from some ply.

 

[Eric The Viking]

Sadly Carroll seem to be no more. I have one and it's great - I was looking for some different sizes, and found a note somewhere about the company ceasing to operate (no, don't have a link it was about six months ago). It's disappointing that nobody bought the tooling, but it seems to be the case, nevertheless.

Axminster and Rutlands both sold copies of slightly lower quality than the genuine Carroll ones - they may still. At a guess, both brands came from the same factory in China. The loading attachment was a bit different, but not hugely so.

E.

 

[AES]

If it helps, I'm going to be making a couple of sanding drums soon (for use in the pillar drill - for which I've nearly completed a "combi drill press sanding/drilling add-on table" which I hope to be posting details of very soon now).

For the "rubber" on the sanding drums I was thinking of using offcuts from an old bike tyre inner tube which I THINK (not tried the idea yet) should be OK. A drop of contact adhesive spread between the inner tube and the MDF/ply drum should fix it I think, and then the sand paper to be attached by means of a "key" through an off-centre axial hole, just as Marius Hornberger and that Instructables clip show.

FWIW, I did buy the smallest sanding drum from Axi recently. IMO it's "OK" but I think ("think" please note) that I can do better. The "retaining key" in the Axi drum is nothing more than a length of distorted ali tube. There must be a better way?

HTH
AES

 

[woodpig]

Inner tube sounds like a reasonable idea. May be a bit thin but certainly worth a try.