Question for drum sander owners

[Dave Monk]

Got my stimulus check and decided to to help stimulate the economy by buying a drum sander.

What is you favorite grit of sandpaper and where do you buy it?

[tgiro]

What drum sander are you getting and what are you sanding?

[Dave Monk]

25 minutes ago, tgiro said:

What drum sander are you getting and what are you sanding?

I bought a Supermax 16-32.  It came with 80 grit.  I bought an extra 220 grit. I have a planer so I plan on using it mainly to finish things up. I already know that I probably won't use the 80 very often.  I sanded quite a bit today and sure do like it.  The 220 seams to load up pretty quick. What grit do you mainly use?

[jollyred]

You might want to invest in a sandpaper cleaner, one of the gum rubber sticks.  They work pretty well, I use one a lot on my sanders and even on hand sanding.  They will let the sand paper last a lot longer.

Tom

[Terry Jay]

A source is Klingspors woodworking Shop  https://www.woodworkingshop.com/.  They have bulk rolls.  From 80 grit to 220 grit, the usual progression is 120, 150, 180.  The bulk roils are marked cutting guides for the various sanders.  Depending on your desired degree of smooth and the wood, somewhere between 220 and 320 is a nice finish.  The planer will likely be about 150.  You will get sticker shock, but you get a lot of refills for the price. Have fun.

[tgiro]

Good choice on a sander - I got one of those. My old planer got relegated to the garage. I only pull it out if I have really thick roughcut wood.

I use the SuperMax just about every other day in the shop. When I used the planer, I had to put on earmuffs and it threw chips all over the place - even with a 1=1/2 horse DC connected. The sander is much quieter and rolls out of the way when I don't need it.

For smoothing rough cut or weathered wood I start at 80 grit. For final demensioning I use 150grit. I don't use it for finer grits than that. If I need finer I switch to an orbital sander.

I, also get my rolls from Klingspor. I get the 25 yard rolls which gives me 9 strips for the sander. And the eraser will give your paper a much loger life.

[JAC1961]

I have a Jet 16-32 and have always bought plain rolls from Klingspor and cut them to fit myself.  I generally stick to 100, 120 or 150 grit and have found anything finer to be more problem than it's worth.  You have to run the very fine grits very, very slow and they still build up heat.  But that's just me, experiment and find what works for you.

[amazingkevin]

Great to know #150 grit is tops for the drum sander!!!

[OCtoolguy]

On 4/17/2020 at 4:41 PM, Dave Monk said:

Got my stimulus check and decided to to help stimulate the economy by buying a drum sander.

What is you favorite grit of sandpaper and where do you buy it?

Dave, I wish you lived closer to me so I could come over and use your new sander. I'd love to have one.

 

[Dave Monk]

2 hours ago, octoolguy said:

Dave, I wish you lived closer to me so I could come over and use your new sander. I'd love to have one.

 

I wish you did too. I love it. Now all I need is a band saw. Hopefully I have some shows this winter so I can justify buying one.

[OCtoolguy]

Just now, Dave Monk said:

I wish you did too. I love it. Now all I need is a band saw. Hopefully I have some shows this winter so I can justify buying one.

That was one of the first tools I bought after coming in off the road. That and a 12" compound miter saw. That's before I got interested in scrolling. I was just into wood carving and I wanted to be able to cut my own basswood into rough outs. Then along came the scroll saw bug. It has taken over everything. I have a fortune sitting in my closet in knives and other carving tools that I hope to get back to someday. What size/brand of saw are you looking at? Mine is a Delta 14" without the riser. I have toyed with adding that 6" but so far have not needed it. I'm going to try my luck at harvesting some walnut from a log that my neighbor's son brought to me. It's about 10" with the bark on it and will be down to about 6" after I debark it. Should be interesting.

 

[Dave Monk]

6 minutes ago, octoolguy said:

That was one of the first tools I bought after coming in off the road. That and a 12" compound miter saw. That's before I got interested in scrolling. I was just into wood carving and I wanted to be able to cut my own basswood into rough outs. Then along came the scroll saw bug. It has taken over everything. I have a fortune sitting in my closet in knives and other carving tools that I hope to get back to someday. What size/brand of saw are you looking at? Mine is a Delta 14" without the riser. I have toyed with adding that 6" but so far have not needed it. I'm going to try my luck at harvesting some walnut from a log that my neighbor's son brought to me. It's about 10" with the bark on it and will be down to about 6" after I debark it. Should be interesting.

 

https://www.woodcraft.com/products/rikon-14-deluxe-bandsaw-model-10-326

[OCtoolguy]

11 minutes ago, Dave Monk said:

https://www.woodcraft.com/products/rikon-14-deluxe-bandsaw-model-10-326

That's nice. And it will only cost one stimulus check. Well, there is the sales tax. 

[barb.j.enders]

I bought the Rikon 10" last year with the idea that I would try band saw boxes and to rip some woods into thinner pieces.  Cost was a part of why I didn't go with the 14".  I have done 1 box only.  I need to get a movable stand because it is such a pain to drag out of it's current spot.

[John B]

You have probably already all the answers you need Dave, but (there is always a but) I use 120g on my Sander. I also have a couple belt cleaners and make sure I clean the paper after every use, sometimes during as I mostly use pine. I have learnt my lessson though and try to find timber without lots of knots or resin.
Have fun with you new machine mate.

 

[Foxfold]

On 4/18/2020 at 3:27 AM, jollyred said:

You might want to invest in a sandpaper cleaner, one of the gum rubber sticks.  They work pretty well, I use one a lot on my sanders and even on hand sanding.  They will let the sand paper last a lot longer.

Tom

Just seen this thread so a bit late to the party.  Must say I use my old rubber Crocks to clean my sandpaper, it works a treat. I never knew you could buy stuff to do it 

[JimErn]

3 hours ago, Foxfold said:

Just seen this thread so a bit late to the party.  Must say I use my old rubber Crocks to clean my sandpaper, it works a treat. I never knew you could buy stuff to do it 

Yep crocs, flip-flops, tennis shoe soles, anything made of rubber or a composite work great

[don watson]

Old garden hose can be used as well.

[amazingkevin]

Roly gave a tip to keeping belt sandpaper like new!!! A flip flop shoe and lasts along time.180 paper is on my drum sanders from the factory.