Hi Guys,
Hope everyone had a nice CHRISTmas! Ours was fun, but went by too fast. One of our girls is living some 7,000 miles away in West Africa right now, but amazingly, via the magic of Skype and FaceTime, she was “with us” in real time while opening presents. The technology that can accomplish that just boggles my “vintage” mind!
Anyway, one of the cool gadgets my Lovely got for me, and that I’ve been wanting to try for a while now, is a pair of really nice sanding drums. I’ll use these primarily in the drill press, as they’re especially handy for sanding the edges of curved work.
This drum style appeals to my frugal side because it uses cut pieces of standard sandpaper sheets instead of those expensive, “maybe they’ll fit” sleeves you have to buy for most drums.
To use them with the drill press, I made a simple 3/4″ plywood box, open on two sides, that quickly clamps to the table. One side has a hole drilled out to 1-1/4″ to accommodate the 1″ drum. To use the 3″ size, the table is flipped over, and that side has a 3-1/4″ hole in it for the 3″ drum. Basically a poor man’s spindle sander, it looks like this setup will work very well for the occasional woodworking project I get into.
These drums came from Lee Valley tools, although I’ve seen them on eBay, too. I’m surprised they’re not more popular.
While we’re on the subject, when your sandpaper starts to get clogged with sawdust, a Buna rubber block like Grizzly’s $8 #W1306 (or an old sneaker sole) works well to clean it and keep going.
Hope that’s helpful. Have a wonderful New Year!
God bless you and yours in 2014,
Dave
www.DavesRepair.com
Amos 4:13
