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So what does a drum sander have to do with lathing you ask?

K

Kenny

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I am starting to create segmented woodturnings. I have 99% of the tools I need but can't afford a $500-800 dollar Drum Sander to perfectly flatten those strips of 1/8" veneers. (these are those pieces that are making up the fancy designs in the bowls.
What do you do to mimic a drum sander in order to get exact sized pieces to glue together and recut into fancy designs? 😱
 
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Kenny,
What other shop tools do you have (e.g. tablesaw, jointer, planer, etc.) in your arsenal? If your lathe and chop saw are the only arrows in your quiver, you may need to make a purchase or two.
allan.
 
Drum Sander

You can do without a drum sander. You'll have to figure out how you can
attach the ring to the lathe and turn the ring true. If memory serves me correctly, you should start from the base and work toward the rim adding and truing one ring a a time. The drum sander helps you avoid this tedium.

peace, out

A
 
I haven't tried this, but maybe a good flat sanding disk could be used. I'm thinking it could be MDF with sandpaper, and mounted as a disk onto your lathe. This may not keep the edges square or the faces parallel though.
 
Jeff Jilg said:
I haven't tried this, but maybe a good flat sanding disk could be used. I'm thinking it could be MDF with sandpaper, and mounted as a disk onto your lathe. This may not keep the edges square or the faces parallel though.
Click to expand...

I did the very thing you suggested Jeff. I made mine out of 1/8" solid fiber board, the material peg boards are made of but without the holes. I have a Shopsmith that will turn up to 16" so I made mine 15" in diameter. I have a solid metal 12" sanding disk so I used velcro to attach it to the hook and loop of the disk that uses velcro sand paper disks. To attach the sand paper to the fiber board I used spray on contact cement. The only thing I would do different would be to use 100 grit paper rather than the 150 I used. Works great though. You just have to keep a good grip on the segmented ring. I had one go flying and it broke into 4 pieces. I just had to glue it together again so it wasn't a big disaster. Just an extra day of waiting for the glue to dry. If anyone wants to build one they work well, you just have to adapt the design to you particular lathe and attachments. Good luck.
 

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Thick rings I flatten by either clamping them in cole jaws or hot gluing them to a large flat wooden faceplate. really thin segmented rings I flatten by hand sanding with a 2x4 that is perfeclty flat.
Either way I glue them up on a perfectly flat surface so one side is already almost perfectly flat. Usually it's just getting the excess glue off this side.
 
Rick - nice pics. What are you doing to keep the top and bottom faces parallel? I'm not a great guy at keeping things ruler straight. So I would be afraid that while sanding one face, that too much pressure might get put on one of the edges. This would make the faces out of parallel.

On the other hand if the sanding disk is just used for touchup then I suppose the brief encounter with the sanding disk wouldn't have a chance for that effect to occur.
 
parallel faces

i had used a disk sander but found the faces would not be parallel. A fellow at the turners club showed us his set up which is very simple. A "T" made from some MDF with a strip of cloth backed sandpaper #80 or #120. Clean any glue and un-eveness off the face with a gouge and then rest the T sander on the tool rest and apply to one face. that face is ready to be glued to rest of piece, and then true up outer face the same way. have made several Ts with various widths. For open segment pieces it's best to use a wider faced T so as to not knock off any segments with a catch.
 

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Try a sandpaper paddle

Make a handled paddle using MDF or cabinet plywood and affix two grits of sandpaper one to each side. Hold the item against the slowly turning segmet layer and flatten each section as you go. I tried sandpaper on a melanine square on my workbenvh it worked really well but was quite exausting.

John Taylor
 
Jeff Jilg said:
Rick - nice pics. What are you doing to keep the top and bottom faces parallel? I'm not a great guy at keeping things ruler straight. So I would be afraid that while sanding one face, that too much pressure might get put on one of the edges. This would make the faces out of parallel.

On the other hand if the sanding disk is just used for touchup then I suppose the brief encounter with the sanding disk wouldn't have a chance for that effect to occur.
Click to expand...


I don't put too much pressure on the the ring and I rotate the ring so each segment is held in my hands for about the same amount of time on the disk. I keep the whole ring in contact with the disk, that way the two sides stay parallel or at least parallel to the eye. I'm sure they weren't perfect but I couldn't tell just by looking at them. I guess the key is to sand at a slow speed, 700-800 rpm, and use lite pressure.
 
Kenny,
I am embarrassed to admit that I may have missed your intent when I read your initial post. If I did, please bear with me.

I assumed you wanted to mill stock (the veneers you mentioned) to 1/8†thickness, glue multiple layers of these thin strips together into a “sandwich†then cut this lamination into segments.

Building your bowl’s segments in 1/8†increments is economical, and if this method gives you the results you want, you’re good-to-go.

If you do decided to invest in some tools: a bandsaw or tablesaw and a drum sander or thickness planer, you can mill your own veneers from thicker stock or wood that you harvest. While the cost saved on wood may not equal the cost expended for tools, your design options will increase exponentially if you can mill your own stock. If you want to go this route with minimal expense, keep your eye open for good deals on used tools.

FYI, Delta’s new 12-1/2†portable planer is listed at $200.
allan.
 
anyone know where I can pick up 20" sanding disks?

I understand why the Rich and non famous own the drum sanders- I will not be one of them. I will try the long board version and then if that does not work I will try to buy the 20" disk 80 grit sand paper and mount it onto my lathe. ( anyone know where I can pick up 20" sanding disks? ) My origional question was dealing with small strips of veneer (homemade) that I will join together- thank you for all advice
 
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