good sanding drums for drill press

I am only interested in drums for doing rough sanding on the handles, and maybe some touch ups on any concave parts of the handle pre HT
 
petercrowell said:
Forgive a possibly stupid question, but are you buying these drums to sand the edges of the newly made blank down flat?

I'm interested in that step also, and will need to get some of these drums myself.

Is 120 grit the right coarseness to start with just to flatten off the edge?
Click to expand...
I am only interested in drums for doing rough sanding on the handles, and maybe some touch ups on any concave parts of the handle pre HT
 
petercrowell said:
Forgive a possibly stupid question, but are you buying these drums to sand the edges of the newly made blank down flat?

I'm interested in that step also, and will need to get some of these drums myself.

Is 120 grit the right coarseness to start with just to flatten off the edge?
Click to expand...

I am only interested in drums for doing rough sanding on the handles, and maybe some touch ups on any concave parts of the handle pre HT

and Bladsmth:

i have one of these... that i could alter. its not the strongest, but if i am hearing you correctly this would be "better" than using my drill press and possibly hurting that.

 
So as a new college grad i am broke for a while. After HT and tempering I will dry fit the handle scales. I grind the scales on a cheapy old HF 1x30 first. Since it is a crappy 1x30 the flat platten is not so flat. You will see that it will favor grinding one side more than the other. So after removing 90% of the waste material I will use the sanding drum to square up the handle material to the metal. I have done it on the belt sander before but it is not as flat.

I would not use these on metal as per the reason Stacy has mentioned. Im sure a little is fine perhaps to remove some light scratches or flatten if it isnt to severe, but for any real shaping i would proceed with caution.

I use super low grit. as low as i can find. you dont get much life out of these so a low grit at low to medium speed lasts a tad bit longer.
 
What you don't want in drum sanding is high speed. The bench grinder, and many drill presses turn too fast.

The best alternative and what many very well respected makers use is a rolled up piece of sandpaper. You can roll it around various sized dowels, or eve a beer can if you wish, but hand sanding with a tubular piece of abrasive is very fast and easily controlled.

My spindle sander is sitting on the deck by the smithy with a tarp over it. The tarp hasn't been removed in many months. Even though I have the spindle sander, and a small wheel arm for my belt grinders that has wheels from 1/2" to 2".....I hand sand almost every inside curve.
 
thanks guys.

i am all for hand sanding. and have done my fair share in the past. so its pretty good advice you guys are giving because i have given it myself.

Bladsmth:
my drill press goes down to 600rpm. i know that to not really slow when talking about drum sanding, but it should work when i am just removing stock before final sanding.

that grinder i have spins like a demon, but i have plans to put a reostat on that thing so i can slow it down. kinda like a dimmer switch. i have used things like that in the past too. its not ideal and not what i want to do, but its what i have and what i can do for now.
 
bladsmth said:
The best alternative and what many very well respected makers use is a rolled up piece of sandpaper. You can roll it around various sized dowels, or eve a beer can if you wish, but hand sanding with a tubular piece of abrasive is very fast and easily controlled.
Click to expand...

Thanks for that. Just what I was looking to learn.
 
Drill presses and hand drills have thrust bearings which are not designed for a side load. Routers, shapers, and spindle sanders have side load bearings. Mills have both. If you use a drill press to mill or drum sand, you could loosen the chuck which might go air born.
 
mjderstine said:
thanks guys.

I am all for hand sanding. and have done my fair share in the past. so its pretty good advice you guys are giving because i have given it myself.

Bladsmth:
my drill press goes down to 600rpm. i know that to not really slow when talking about drum sanding, but it should work when i am just removing stock before final sanding.

that grinder i have spins like a demon, but i have plans to put a reostat on that thing so i can slow it down. kinda like a dimmer switch. i have used things like that in the past too. its not ideal and not what i want to do, but its what i have and what i can do for now.
Click to expand...

Won't work. Grinder or controller.....It will burn one or the other up. Most single phase motors can't be speed controlled. Dimmer switches and rheostats use one of two systems. Either they clip the sine wave to deliver square wave proportional power, or they lower the voltage to deliver less power. The clipped power is like turning the switch on and off many times a second. The load of any larger motor will likely burn up the triacs soon. The reduced power provided by a rheostat will quickly overheat the windings. Places like HF sell them and imply that they will give speed control to any motor...not so.

600 RPM on a drill press will be far better than a burned up grinder. Actually, it doesn't matter if you ruin that grinder, because it will still do what it does best in the shop..... be a door stop.
 
Stacy, you have a way with words.

wish i didn't sound like such a noob sometimes.

looking forward to gaining experience quickly.
 
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