| I built this sander after seeing the webpages
of other folks who had done the same. Everything is homebrew, with
the exception of the actual drum assembly, which I obtained from
www.stockroomsupply.com
Their kit came with the drum, an assortment of
velcro sandpaper, two slightly cheesy pillowblock bearings, two pulleys,
and a nice length of do-it-yourself linkbelt. Overall, I was quite
pleased with their product and service. |
| I didn't take a bunch of
pictures while building it. Actually, I took no pictures, so you'll
just have to gaze at the finished product to get any ideas how you'd like
to build yours. Mine is fairly conventional compared to the other homemade
units out there, with the exception of the mechanism to raise and lower the
table, which you'll see in the photos below. It's built
out of baltic birch plywood and solid oak, so things shouldn't be flexing
too much. The table is two layers of MDF with a top surface of hardboard,
all glued together. It's slick and flat. |
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Here it is boys and girls.
The drum length is 18", with the entire carcass measuring roughly
22 inches square by 18 inches high at the top of the dust collector. I
use a small General dust collector which easily sucks up all
the dust, which is considerable. The large notches in the sides near
the open end are what I call an ECO, or Engineering Change Order. Some
people would call it a mistake, or change of plans. The common wall
switch is pretty cheesy, but it's ok by me. It's not visible, but there's
a piano hinge on the left end of the table which it pivots up and down upon.
Next let's look at the mechanism which controls the table height. |
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The doowhopper
which controls the table height is a simple scissors jack. I used
this method instead of the others on the internet because I felt it would
better support the entire width of the table. Plus, it's weird. Built
from scraps of oak and maple, with bolts for pivots and allthread for the
screw. It's not that tough to build, if you do all the arms at the same
time to keep them exactly alike. If any of them are different lengths,
it wouldn't work too well, but this one works perfectly, with a finer control
over the table height than if a simple screw lift were used. |
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Here are some links to other woodworkers who
have built their own drum sanders. Their explanations are generally
more complete than mine, so you'll get a better idea of how to construct one
yourself if you wish.
Ray Lanham's drum sander Ukeleles by Kawika's drum sander A forum on homemade drum sanders Dominic's drum sander, very complete plans |
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