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I don't have the space (or budget) for a fancy store-bought sander. I am looking at making my own.
Are there pitfalls I can avoid here?
Anyone have experience with the URL=https://www.stockroomsupply.com/VSander.asp]"V" Drum kits[/URL]?
Does anyone use a table-top planer?
       As usual, TFL.

I once built a drum sander from plans I found in an old "fine Woodering" magazine. That thing was large and made mostly of particle board and it scared the bejeebies out of me. Once it threw a side onto my neighbors roof. I tore it apart and bought one.John How38531.900162037

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Tickle your guitar daily, and it'll tickle you back.

Mine is made from 2" x 4" framing timber bolted together with a 32mm thick melamine coated mdf table (with a couple lengths of angle iron screwed to the under side to stiffen it, very sturdy, very accurate. The main consideration is to use a good axle and pillow blocks (I used a 1" axle) and put that together with a decent motor - 1HP should be plenty. Have a look at the specs for the commercial models, I think the middle of the range has drum speeds of around 2800 ft/min, this is the sort of speed you should be aiming for, so it makes sense to decide on your drum diameter after you know the speed of your motor and the size of the pullys you can easily obtain. Your local scrap metal merchant might have most of the bits you need for just a few dollars.

The most important thing of all is your safety. If you have all the moving parts properly gaurded, you shouldn't be able to get anywhere near the drum or pullys when the thing is running - without gaurds mine scares the cr*p out of me, with gaurds it's still worthy of respect, but far less dangerous.

There's a ton of info over at mimf on making drum sanders, basically you can go as high end as you like - they aren't the most complex of machines. I built mine based on a photograph I found on the web.

I built one which I used for years and then Bought a 25" duel drum General. The homeade worked well but the General is well worth it when You can afford it. I also looked at the Import ones (Grizzley, Toolex etc.) but wasn't impressed by them at all. Very poor quality. Building one is easy and cheap (mine took me half a day to build and cost $.17. Didn't have a power feed but did a great job.)

Jimson, I build a homemade drum sander and happy with it for the amount of building I do.

A number of people on the MIMF have used the stockroom supply drum with success. The reason I didn't go with the Stockroom supply drum is its not a very large diameter and was concerned that it could easily overheat and burn wood. I opted to purchase a 25-inch 5-inch diameter General International drum (rather than making a drum out of MDF as many do) and their pillow blocks and run it with a 1 hp motor.

If you are looking for ideas on how to build one check the MIMF library or do a google search on Drum Sander.

Mine is pretty simple I use two pieces of 3/4" ply with formica laminated to the top with a piano hinge for the infeed table. My infeed table is raised with 3/8" threaded rod. One thing you will need to factor into your design is a shroud with a connection to a dust collector as these puppies throw off a lot of dust.

As long as you don't try to take to large a cut your neighbour's roof will be safe. When I operate mine I always stand to the side just in case it grabs stock and sends it flying back at you.

If I had a bigger shop and unlimited funds I probably would have purchased a 16-inch Performax or a Delta.

Good luck

I'm sure that homebuilts can be built safer than the one I made. For starters, some sort of spring loaded hold down bar would be in order. Mine just relied on a backer fence to hold the top/back/side in place but that gets sanded down with each pass so if you have a piece of wood that is slightly warped it is easy for that to slip off the stop. ANother incident with mine, which used a wide belt type abrasive was that the trailing edge of the belt came loose once and while it did no damage made a very loud pop that took several years off my life I'm sure.

I'm not trying to discourage anyone from building a drum sander but make sure you think it thru and give some thought to your and your families (& neighbors) safety.

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Tickle your guitar daily, and it'll tickle you back.

The only incident I've had with mine was when I put the first roll of Kingspor paper on the drum, I wrapped it the wrong way and turned it on without the dust cover on. Well the paper let go and started unravelling and whipping around as it unwound. Needless to say I hit the deck and crawled on my hands and knees to unplug it. That was good for a few grey hairs.

I don't have spring loaded hold downs on mine. I appreciate the cautionary note about warped wood. The best way to avoid something whipping back is to take very small cuts at a time. It takes longer but worth the extra time.

Hopefully you aren't discouraged about a homemade unit. A lot of luthier pros and amateurs use homemade drum sanders. Anthony Z38532.8685532407

I made one a few years back and it worked pretty good.
I was thinning down some maple one day with some 36 grit paper and got my fingers a bit too close. The drum pulled in my little finger and proceeded to sand it to the first knuckle. Took the whole nail with it and bled like a stuck pig. That was the last time I used it.
Now I have a delta...

What ever you build... PUT A GUARD ON IT !!!!

Gary

ouch! ouch! ouch!!!! did you utter any evil words?

Thanks for the input folks! I appreciate the warnings.

Between the GAL 'Tools' book and the Benedetto Archtop guitar instruction manual, I have plenty of direction for building my own sander. In fact, the picture of Benedetto's homebuilt is exactly the size I want. Speaking of books, Cumpiano shows how to plane your top & back but I confess to not being able to handle a plane competently.

I agree the V-drum diameters seem a little small - I did think about making my own but I like the idea of getting that part ready-made. I've done some work with motors but my experience with belts & pulleys is limited to dressing or replacing a belt.

Thanks for listening - Happy Birthday America!

Lots of evil words...
Worst part of the whole thing was we were leaving for Key West for 3 months the next morning (driving)
Talk about uncomftable driving. I had wacked my finger over the next few days and uttered more bad words.

Gary

the salt water would have promoted healing, not to mention the rum ... no ... er ... sum... er ... ah... sun, that's it, sun.

did the damaged digit get in the way of some good bonefishing or other recreational activities?

Beer and looking at the ocean help all sorts of problems...
It healed up in about 2 weeks and took almost 3 months for the nail to grow back but didn't hinder any activities....
Still had a great winter in the Keys..

james taylor did say in a song that that rum was the only drink suitable to mankind - but i din't want to suggest to strongly that you you were in agreement with him. amongst others, good ale goes down well also, particularly when one is in pain!