Random Drum-Sanding Thoughts

While drum sanding drawer stock for my bathroom vanity project, I realized there are a lot of small tips I picked up along the way that help make this tool even better.

In this video, I'll go through a number of tips and ideas.  If you have a drum sander, I'm sure you'll know some of them, but hopefully others will be new and useful to you.

I got lazy and didn't setup the softboxes so the lighting was a bit washed out; easy to get lazy in a 97ºF shop!  I think I'm still sweating from that day...



As a bit of an update to the vanity project, there are a number of small things to work on now that don't really merit a video.  I've sanded the two outside panels to P400 and we'll go over a wet-sanded finish for them; it feels like glass when prepared this way and so easy to do!  It's a great tactile finish especially to the sculpted surface that's purely there for the tactile experience.  Drawer stock is prepared and ready to become drawer boxes so those will be recorded this weekend.  Now, we'd really make progress if a cold front suddenly moved through the city :)

Sculpted Mahogany Vanity - Dimensioning Drawer Stock

I've been behind on this project for a couple weeks, but making progress.  In this episode, I demonstrate a quick way to remove your existing vanity!  :)  We'll prop up the top on the wall to take some measurements that will determine the sizes (depth) of the drawers taking in account the plumbing obstacles.  Plus it was motivating to see the top hanging off the wall!

We'll resaw and dimension the stock for the drawers and end with a discussion of the whole "wet the board and tent it" technique that I've been using throughout this series.  Some questions came up about it after the sculpting episode so I thought to better explain it here.

While this episode gets a few loose ends in order and prepares the drawer stock for joinery, the actual drawer joinery is the next episode.  That episode will be a set of smaller videos showing a number of ways to dovetail drawers.

Once the drawers are done, the rest should come together pretty quickly!  Well, I hope anyway... :)

Upgrading a Performax 16-32 to a SandSmart Controller

This project definitely comes out of left field...

I have a Jet Performax 16-32 drum sander that just predates the addition of a SandSmart controller.  When I first got the sander, I looked into swapping out the controller.  Well, the box of parts has sat for a long time, but I got it done this past weekend.

SandSmart is the controller that runs the conveyor belt.  It allows you to set whatever variable speed you want, but if you set the feed too fast for the drum, it automatically backs off the conveyor speed to keep the drum at full load, but not pop a breaker.  For anybody who has popped a breaker by taking too much off a board or hitting an unexpected high spot during flattening passes, you know why this controller can be a big deal.  When the breaker pops, the conveyor stalls almost immediately and the drum spins down very slowly.  The heat of the drum slowing will always leave a very large burn mark.

The "doesn't pop the breaker" benefit is the most touted, but not the best reason in my mind.  Drum sanding is slow, it's boring.  I like the idea that on the first several passes to simply 'hog off' stock, I can set the speed much higher than it could handle and let the SandSmart controller back off the speed to the maximum speed allowed given the abrasive, stock, and amount you're trying to take off.  That's why I want SandSmart.

In this video, we take a tour of the drum sander insides if you haven't seen one up close.  Below the video is a list of parts you'd need to accomplish this.  They are all available from Jet's replacement parts program.

Even if this upgrade doesn't interest you, if you have an older pre-Jet Performax drum sander, you might want to consider ordering the new dust hood with the 4" port versus the older 2.5" port.  The stock number for this new dust hood is 80-2002.  Depending on your older model, you may have a knob to open it (like you see in the video thumbnail) or a D-shaped handle.  If you want the knob (which the replacement dust cover is drilled for), the knob is 80-3137 and the corresponding latch 40-3168.  Note that the SandSmart controller assumes a 1.5hp motor. If you have an original Performax, you may have a 1hp motor, which will draw a maximum of 8 amperes. The 1.5hp motor will draw a maximum of 11 amperes.  SandSmart's hysteresis is based on current so the 1hp will never get in the self-regulation range of the controller.




Parts List:

Stock Number	Description
72-2250	SandSmart Controller, 1Ph 110V
72-2250-01	Knob - 2244Plus
72-2250-02	Label Speed Adjusting
40-4903	Bracket Base Controller
40-4904	Bracket Housing
40-4022W	Cover Base
20-0777 (qty 2)	Screw Pan Head Self-Threading

Parts desk: 888-804-7129

DC Hose Lift for the Drum Sander

While drum sanding a project yesterday, my pet peeve about drum sanders reared its head: that the dust port is on top of the door.  There's no good place to put the hose.  You put it over the carriage housing and it'll fall off changing the height knob or fall the other way and pop open the door to the drum, which sends dust in hundreds of directions (all towards your face).

I recently added a number of circuits to my garage shop specifically because I rarely used my drum sander... it needed to be plugged in the family room via extension to use the DC unit with it.  Now I needed to address the lack of decent DC connection.

The solution is woefully easy: a stick with a 1/4" groove in the edge to grab onto the carriage housing and the bottom end cut like a half-lap so I could fit a bolt into the drum sander's base.  On top, a spring-clamp-like holder for the hose.

Note that the top of my Performax 16-32, I put a Dust Right compatible connector.  The new hose I added also has a Dust Right handle since it will be handy for the floor cleaning attachment as well.

As you can see, I have a Ridgid 12" lunchbox planer installed into the Performax stand (if you want to do this, realize that you have to take the stand apart and build it around the planer... not fun, but a space-saver!).  I ran a hose up to the stick and mounted it with a similar spring clamp.  Now I can just move the hose connector over when I used the planer.  While this isn't ideal having to lift chips so far, I've found in the past it wasn't an issue.  If it is after this modification, I can simply disconnect the planer hose and lay it on the floor with the DC connected and use the spring clip as a convenient stow.

Now, my drum sander is very convenient to use; it'll touch every project here on out.