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Well last week I was starting to sand and scrale my guitar sides in prep for routing the binding channel and I thought there has to be an easier way. So I made rolling pin style hand drum sander that is driven by my battery drill. The hardest part was getting the shaft centered in the roller. Pretty hard to drill it dead on so I ended up making a turning jig for that purpose. The first jig I made from MDF with a 1/4" shaft. But the 1/4" shaft was small and it was pretty hard to get a piece of 1/4" that wasn't a little bent which caused runout problems . So I went to a 3/8" drill rod for the turning jig. I also used the jig to turn the handle. Put a drill at the other end and it make touch up sanding pretty easy. The idea was to drill the drum completly through and then mount it in the jig and turn it so the shaft will be centered. There is a nylon washer between the handle and the drum and a nylon washer and a 3/8" nylon locking nut at the end. I threaded the end of the shaft and the drum roller has a 1/8" pin 1" long going through the shaft to tie roller together. I just wrap it with self adhesive paper. Walnut handle with a coat of True Oil. Roller is walnut too with a seal coat of shellac. I'm going to make up some more and use maple. I had a piece of 2" walnut laying around the shop so I used it. The Roller is about 2" dia and the handle about 1 1/4".

Looks good Chris! So did you like how worked when sanding the sides?

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Formerly known as Adaboy.......

Looks like that works pretty slick Chris!
Just off the top of my head, I'd say it sure beats the tube of caulk with sandpaper I've been using.

Joe

It's pretty agressive and takes a bit of getting use too. A light touch on and off the work and keep it moving for sure. I think its best to get it down close and then finish up by hand to even /level out any irregularities. I'd like a lighter drill. But I think it cuts down on the sanding time for sure. Best to know when to stop with it though. And a dust mask or downdraft dust fan setup would be nice.
Edit:
Like Todd said with the tripod too. Nice idea.
I have the Grizzly 1" sander and it's too small for sides(nice for necks and such) my concern was if the bladder would cause a rounding of the edge. That's why I made a hard roller and also I have the ability of using any sand paper I want and not have to buy the sleeves. I bought rolls of adhesive backed paper. You can also wrap the roller with something to soften it if you wish. Maybe even valcro like drum sanders.
It's always nice to have some options for sure.

Todd, Thanks for posting that link as that is a good deal on the sanders. I could probably stand to have a 2" pneumatic drum too. I really can't tell if theirs are made with an interchangable handle and drum or the picture is just showing the drums they make? As you know it's always nice to have a tool around that might just be used from time to time to make something easier.
The turning jig might also come in handy for some other parts like outfeed table rollers or belt sander rollers. I might even be able to convert it into a little thickness sander if I run out of things to build.

Thanks Chris for this post.
And thanks Todd for your post as well.
My concern about those inflatable drums was along the lines that Chris mentioned--too soft? The hard drum appeals to me.
So one question might be: can those inflatable drums achieve the requisite stiffness to actually true a side?

Another comment: Chris, I'm just as impressed with your jig to make the drum, if not more, than the drum itself. How do you think this stuff up? Do you have a metal working shop?

Thanks,

Steve

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

Hey Steve, you can get the drum very firm(I may explode mine soon), I have not had an issue with rounding over and they do a good job of getting things flat....I do use a scraper as well.

Cheers,

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Gwaltney Guitars

No metal shop just a mini mill as far as metal working tools. A little about the turning jig. It's made of Cast Aluminum plate and this was the first time I used cast aluminum. I get it from a local metal supplier that has it as cut offs at $2.50 lb. It machines well and doesn't seem to gum up as much as some other Alu. stock I've used in the past and is nice and flat and the tolerences are good for this purpose. I would think Bob G. would know more about this then me though. The jig was made using drills and a 2" hole saw and taps and a counterbore. And a table saw with a 24 tooth Diablo blade. It's cuts the Alu. very nice like wood with a slower feed rate. Used my 6"X24" belt sander to deburr edges and round over the corners. The first one was made from MDF. I pretty much got the idea from a Shop Plans plan on making an edge sander where they used a simular jig to turn curved rollers for the edge sander.
I always like checking out jigs and tooling and fixtures to see how they handle certain jobs and store that stuff away as you never know where you might be able to use it or adapt it in the future. I worked for a couple of years in a small production machine shop that made hot stamp presses. You know those machines that stamp the gold foil on wedding invitations and match packs with the bride and grooms name on it. Don't see that much these days though. But it's basicly an arbor press with a type head with a heat cartrige in it that heats the type head and stamps the foil to the paper. The co. went from all manual machining to getting a CNC which I opperated for about a year before I left and went back to doing electrical work. I got a lot of exposure to tooling and the such and how things were machined in that place because we made 90% of the parts and I learned to set up the machines and then run 500 parts(that will make you brain dead after a while). Being exposed to that stuff helps if you're the type of person who learns that way and finds those kind of things interesting. It's fun for me to figure out some problems and when a jig design works out. I try to make them look as nice as is with in reason too. Just rounding over all the edges and deburring edges make a big differences and makes for a quality tool. Just think about it when you pick up some cheap tool where the edges are ruff or even sharp. That's one reason they're cheap because they don't want to take the time to do it right.

Thanks Chris, and you too, Greg.
So, Greg, how do you power your inflatable drum sander?
Just like Chris does in his video?
A friend from LINT uses an air powered die grinder.
What's your weapon of choice?

Steve

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

Hi Steve...I use a cordless drill(light weight and plenty of power), keep in mind that these rollers can take "meat" off very quickly, so I go slow and peek at my progress often. I usually mount the guitar in a holder I built, makes easy work of it all.

Cheers,

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Gwaltney Guitars

They state to only fill the blatter to only 8PSI. I use a small auto compresser that plugs into the cigarette lighter. Some use hand pumps. Some will inflate to 19PSI.
Either way they take a light touch going on and off the work and keep it moving.
Here's a link show one used to finish up a CNC neck.

I do not understand what is being sold in that picture. Looks like 3 different tools.

Hey Mike, I just called them and there is only one size they carry now. It is the one listed that is 2" in dia. and 4 1/2" length and then the 7 5/16" is the circumference. They use to carry a 8" length one and a smaller one but no more. That explains the difference in price from the 8" Grizzle some. The 4 1/2" is a bit small for my taste on an acoustic side. OK for a neck though.