Making a Drum Sander - Part 5 - Abrasives

Last week I did not write an article because I was very busy and it was only late in the evening on Sunday that I realized it is not Saturday anymore. I guess I am getting old.

When I started making the drum sander, I planned on simply gluing on an abrasive belt. Thus as a first test, I simply wrapped one around it and attached it with rubber bands.

The belt was long enough so I tried to fix it better. On both ends, I inserted it into slits and fixed it with screws.

With a belt fixed this way, I could test a few more things. For example, I found out that the slit and screw are needed on the leading side (in this case right) but not on the trailing side. On the trailing side, it was enough to fix the belt with a double-sided adhesive tape. However, at this stage, I was informed that I could use velcro. That sounded like a great idea because that way I could change abrasives quickly and easily and thus use the drum sander not only for material removal but for surface finishing as well. My excitement abated a little when I saw the price of velcro. Nevertheless, I decided that it is worth it and I dug into my pockets and bought velcro with an adhesive layer and some velcro abrasives with different grits.

First I attached an abrasive belt with P40 grit for material removal. On the leading edge, it is attached in a slit with a screw, on the trailing edge it is held in place only with the velcro. By mistake, I forgot to add the screw to the leading edge and it ran for a few hours without problems, nevertheless, I will make a better attachment system on that side anyway.

Next time I will write about dust collection.