Official Luthiers Forum!

Thanks so much for all the great reading on this forum. I've been researching here for several months in preparation for my first guitar build. I have read several threads regarding drum sander purchasing or construction. I can't yet present guitar work however I think some might be interested in my drum sander. I'm very happy with it and hope it might help and encourage others who follow.
I have consider purchasing versus construction and patiently waited to see how things might work out. Over the Xmas holidays a discussion with a brother in law combine mechanic yielded the idea that an old bearing roller out of a hay bailer would be suitable as a drum for a sander. The bearing, originally 6 feet in length was cut to 24 inch and bearings were installed into the 1/2in. thick outer drum. The outer diameter is 3 1/2 inches, wall thickness 1/2 inch with a 1 1/2 inch diameter steel shaft. The drum rotates on the internal bearings and the shaft is stationary. I was most happy to determine the runout or variance of the drum to be .0015 in. I constructed a simple cabinet and mounted the drum supported by plywood blocks on each end. I can adjust the drum height easily by altering these support blocks. The motor is mounted on a board supported on the back by a heavy door hinge and in front by heavy threaded shafts with bolts to allow for belt tensioning. I used Benedetto's piano hinge idea to support the work surface board to slide the work piece underneath the drum. It is adjusted easily for height and parallelness to the drum by the two adjusting nuts on the front of the boards. I have been very successful using duct tape to hold my cloth backed sandpaper in place retaining sufficient tightness. I have it set up in the pics with 80 grit on the left, 120 grit on the right. The jump in grit is really to much and I will soon try 100 grit. I could probably get 3 grit sizes on the drum at once if I work at it. There has been much previous discussion about "just building guitars" and safety issues. The cabinet took a few hours to build and 1 1/2 sheets of birch plywood. The drum was salvaged with $30 for machining fees. The motor is currently 1/2 hp and was from a treadmill purchased for very little at a garage sale. Safety wise, I can see the paper coming off and perhaps giving a guy a cut or scrape, the belt if it fails is constrained by the shelve. Both of those items will be covered by my dust collector which will fit over the top of the drum. I get great adjustability and flexibility and can experiment readily due to the cheap cost. Wrapping different grits and using only the necessary amount of paper limits that cost and is a great advantage over a Performax. I'll admit I was very lucking to find the right drum. Not many will be so fortunate. However, if not rushed some of you might also be successful. Final tweak I hope will be fabricating a flat pulley so I can use a flat built. A v-belt as shown slips too much and produces excessive heat.
Thanks again everyone for contributing. I hope this will encourage others and demonstrate how simple and inexpensive a good quality drum sander can be to make.

Robert Biggs