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Drum Sander Grits
http://www.luthiersforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10101&t=26133		 Page 1 of 1
Author:  John Hale [ Fri Feb 19, 2010 6:59 am ]
Post subject:  Drum Sander Grits
I'm making a home made sander as most of you would have guessed from my recent threads, and know I'd like to know what grit sandpaper you use on your drum sander and why? Also I assume you use different grades for different jobs and wondered a sort of what and where

I have some 60 grit which I assumed would be fine for roughing out backs and sides before moving to say 120, and I thought I may get some 80 to rough out tops and finish those with 120 too.
Author:  Hesh [ Fri Feb 19, 2010 7:33 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Drum Sander Grits
John buddy I use 80 grit for hardwoods and 120 for spruce/WRC and sometimes hardwoods when I am too lazy to change the paper and the paper is near the end of it's life anyway.... I wouldn't recommend 120 for hardwoods - just telling you about my reality here.... :o :)
Author:  Colin North [ Fri Feb 19, 2010 7:39 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Drum Sander Grits
What I like to use is 80 grit for hardwoods and 100 grit for spruce.
Then final thickeness with scraper, hand sanding up to 180 grit before it goes to the brace fitting stuff.
Author:  Mike Lindstrom [ Fri Feb 19, 2010 7:43 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Drum Sander Grits
Mine came with a big box of 80 and that's all I've ever used. I use a safe-t-plane for removing significant stock and use the drum sander to creep up on the last bit. Then I hand sand or scrape. Sometimes I think 100 or 120 would be good, but I bet it slugs up or burns pretty easily. I probably just need to get better at sharpening my scraper.

Mike
Author:  bluescreek [ Fri Feb 19, 2010 7:54 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Drum Sander Grits
A drum sander isn't a finish sander . Any thickness sander will build up more heat with the finer grits. Once that happens you glaze over the sanding surface of the paper. I now have a belt sander for this but I had a 2 drum thickness sander I would do a batch of tops and backs I would use 36 on the first drum then 60 on the back to start as this can hog down plated pretty fast. Keep in mind that you don't want to feel the piece heating up . The heat should be in the dust.
When I was .025 to finish I would swap to 60 front and 80 rear and finish off to the desired thickness. I stopped to within .005 to allow me finish sanding. The key to this is to match the feedrate to the cut rate of the paper. Once you feel heat building in your work cut back the amount of cut and increase feed speed .
Author:  stan thomison [ Fri Feb 19, 2010 8:41 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Drum Sander Grits
60 or 80 to hog stuff down. 120 to finish it with very careful raising of feeder so just taking little off and taking out big sand marks at that stage. Since build in batches, doing plates, braces, finger boards etc. is a long full day at the sander. I can tell because end of day my back and legs are wasted.
Author:  ChuckB [ Fri Feb 19, 2010 11:41 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Drum Sander Grits
I have always used 80 grit only. Thinking, as John said, that a thickness sander is not a finish sander. Works fine for both hardwood and softwood for me.

Chuck
Author:  Daniel Minard [ Fri Feb 19, 2010 1:23 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Drum Sander Grits
I just use 80 grit, but it leaves deep scratches in softwoods. I leave .010" at least to scrape or sand them away.
Thickness sanding "tip of the day"... I have found I get a much better finish & less heat buildup if I pass the workpiece though without raising the table, about every third pass. This is especially important when you are getting near your target thickness. Probably not necessary with the big dual drum manufactured units, but it really helps with my shop built sander.
Most people expect too much from a thickness sander... take really light cuts & be patient.
I use a safety planer to hog off the bulk on oily woods like cocobolo. Saves a lot of sandpaper.
Author:  WudWerkr [ Fri Feb 19, 2010 1:29 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Drum Sander Grits
80 grit is most commom here as well , dont try and jump more than 2 grits at a time IE 80 to 120 ok 60 to 120 not good , 120 wont take out all scratches from 60 g. Small scratches will show up in finish .
Author:  John Hale [ Fri Feb 19, 2010 4:44 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Drum Sander Grits
I know an abrasive expert who says and this was for metal "you can never jump grits more than double" ie 120 to 240 max or 60 to 120 like i say this was for metals and this is the guy I intend to by my papers from, do they have to be cloth backed the abrasives?
Author:  ChuckB [ Fri Feb 19, 2010 6:40 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Drum Sander Grits
"I have found I get a much better finish & less heat buildup if I pass the workpiece though without raising the table, about every third pass. This is especially important when you are getting near your target thickness."

Ditto.

Chuck
Author:  woody b [ Sat Feb 20, 2010 8:30 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Drum Sander Grits
I use 36-80-120 for hard woods, and 80-120-220 for softwoods.
Author:  Colin North [ Sun Feb 21, 2010 1:52 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Drum Sander Grits
John Hale wrote:
I know an abrasive expert who says and this was for metal "you can never jump grits more than double" ie 120 to 240 max or 60 to 120 like i say this was for metals and this is the guy I intend to by my papers from, do they have to be cloth backed the abrasives?

From what I have picked up cloth backed abrasives stand up much better with drum sanders. My drum turns at 1400 rpm and I don't think paper backed word stand up to the abuse very well.
Author:  WudWerkr [ Sun Feb 21, 2010 2:41 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Drum Sander Grits
Cloth Backed . Jwt is good on finer grits . Xwt is alot stiffer .
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