Cleaning Drumsander Abrasive Gunk

[Tarhead]

This is a great idea if you sand lots of tropical hardwood:

 

[chris_goris]

Or maple!

 

[drw]

Great tip...I'll have to give it a try.

 

[Willemjm]

Oh boy, we don’t have time for that.

Drum sanders have their place in a small shop. But really the solution is to use them only for what they are capable of and not getting the sanding rolls clogged in the first place, by following best practices. Stay below 150 grit and take small, very small cuts.

 

[Berta]

I suppose that falls under the, penny saved is a penny earned category.
I do use a sandpaper eraser after every use. Every power sander has an eraser nearby.

 

[pcooper]

I watched the video, my first impression was I'd never ever let my abrasive get that plugged up to start with. I do use the sanding eraser, but the buildup in that video was unbelievable. To get that bad, what did the wood look like coming out? I wear out the abrasive before it ever gets plugged up that bad.

 

[Tarhead]

Oh boy, we don’t have time for that.

Drum sanders have their place in a small shop. But really the solution is to use them only for what they are capable of and not getting the sanding rolls clogged in the first place, by following best practices. Stay below 150 grit and take small, very small cuts.

I agree for run-of-the-mill American hardwood and trying to use them as a planer with fine grit abrasive. This is a totally different situation. Run a Tropical hardwood back and side set for an acoustic guitar through and just remove a few thousandths with 100 grit on your drum sander. It will leave a smear of resin just like in the video. I've soaked my gummed up abrasive in a cut-off 2L soda bottle with Simple Green in it and then using a brass suede brush on the stubborn parts. Replacing an abrasive on a drum sander takes much, much less time than trying to scrape and sand them level and to the same thickness. To paraphrase the famous Sweet Brown: "Ain't nobody got time for scraping and hand sanding that!"

 

[pcooper]

Run a Tropical hardwood back and side set for an acoustic guitar through and just remove a few thousandths with 100 grit on your drum sander. It will leave a smear of resin just like in the video.

Either I'm lucky or I take far less than most, I rarely ever have resin buildup at all, and I run a lot of exotics through my sander. I've had a small bit of resin on the edges once in a while and I think that is due to how tight my abrasive is on the drum (loose spot on the end of the drum). I certainly don't try to plane off thickness, I just try to sand flat. I only take about 0.005" at most, sometimes a lot less than that if it's exotic stuff.

 

[Charlie]

Either I'm lucky or I take far less than most, I rarely ever have resin buildup at all, and I run a lot of exotics through my sander. I've had a small bit of resin on the edges once in a while and I think that is due to how tight my abrasive is on the drum (loose spot on the end of the drum). I certainly don't try to plane off thickness, I just try to sand flat. I only take about 0.005" at most, sometimes a lot less than that if it's exotic stuff.

Try some Bloodwood sometime. You will see how quickly it builds up resin. Usually the first pass.
And yes, I only take about .005" cuts.

 

[pcooper]

Try some Bloodwood sometime. You will see how quickly it builds up resin. Usually the first pass.
And yes, I only take about .005" cuts.

I use bloodwood a lot. I wonder how much dust collection and feed rate affect this issue? I have a 6" collector blowing outside and no filters, only 4" for the last four feet of hose to the sander, and I go pretty slow (I know you can go too slow/fast). I do agree that some woods are pretty sticky/oily, my biggest problem wood is maple or cherry, not so much exotics for some reason. There's got to be some technique that is different between all of us for some to have more of an issue than others. Very interesting discussions.

 

[Charlie]

I use bloodwood a lot. I wonder how much dust collection and feed rate affect this issue? I have a 6" collector blowing outside and no filters, only 4" for the last four feet of hose to the sander, and I go pretty slow (I know you can go too slow/fast). I do agree that some woods are pretty sticky/oily, my biggest problem wood is maple or cherry, not so much exotics for some reason. There's got to be some technique that is different between all of us for some to have more of an issue than others. Very interesting discussions.

Oilyness (sp) can vary from board to board of the same species.
The present BW I have is terrible.

 

[Tarhead]

I use bloodwood a lot. I wonder how much dust collection and feed rate affect this issue? I have a 6" collector blowing outside and no filters, only 4" for the last four feet of hose to the sander, and I go pretty slow (I know you can go too slow/fast). I do agree that some woods are pretty sticky/oily, my biggest problem wood is maple or cherry, not so much exotics for some reason. There's got to be some technique that is different between all of us for some to have more of an issue than others. Very interesting discussions.

The resin melts as the temp goes up. Most drum sander drums are Aluminum and it conducts heat. I wonder if the extra flow keeps it cooler than using a shopvac or a lower flow DC?

 

[Skymaster]

keep the same cut but try increasing the feed thru, may reduce the heat.

 

[mkepke]

Southern Yellow Pine is another wood that will ruin sandpaper in a hurry.

Maybe because I was experimenting with dimensional lumber and the wood isn't KD at a high enough temp or long enough for the dried sap to withstand the heat generated by sanding...

-Mark

 

[Tarhead]

I also posted this video on our FB page and got Mike Ziegler from Klingspor to chime in.
Klingspor Mike
"The abrasive for the wraps is made in Germany, then converted to rolls, then Cut-To-Fit wraps here in Hickory, NC. The only issue with this video is that the wrap he used to demonstrate with is an open (Untreated) cloth backing. Klingspor X-Weight closed coat to be more accurate. This will curl when wet and load very quickly with oily/resinous woods. Our wraps are CS311 XY or a poly-treated cloth backing. That means it's waterproof and if you really want to save money, take them to a pressure washer and skip the chemical bath. $40 a gallon for the CMT or $5 car wash and be done in 15 mins. There are options to address loading on the drum sander so please reach out if you have questions because these are very long-lasting if treated right."

 

[avikb]

I like the way he compares it to a colonoscopy <grin>. How does that affect the paper part of the abrasive material?

 

[Tarhead]

I like the way he compares it to a colonoscopy <grin>. How does that affect the paper part of the abrasive material?

It's on a cloth backing, not paper.

 

[Willemjm]

For the folks who like numbers, measured today:

Jet 16/32

Klingspor sanding roll, with about 50% life left 150 grit.

Soft (Red) Maple 9” wide.

Feed speed set on maximum, let the Sand Smart controller do it’s own feed rate thing.

Maximum cut 0.2mm about a 38 degree turn on the handle. That is pushing the envelope, about as much as this little machine can handle.

After milling through a 15” planer, using conventional straight knives, one pass of 0.2mm each face through the sander completely cleans up the board.

For solid color finishing using a primer, that is good to go.

For a clear coat, (pre-cat) it will need light RO sanding 180 grit so no sanding marks show through the finish.