Charnwood 10" Drum Sander ?

[tom1asz]

Good evening/morning,
I'm planning to buy a this drum sander but I'm not sure if this model will be suitable for my project.
I need to achieve high precision of the polished element, i.e. 3.2 mm, and the dimension must be repeatable with larger quantities.
The wood is dry-spruce (whitewood) 38 mm wide and 200 mm long.
I will be grateful for your advice.
Thanks
Tom

 

[Blackswanwood]

I’m not sure what you mean by the polished element but you can certainly achieve accurate dimensions that are repeatable with a drum sander.

It’s a big investment for one project - what is it that you are making?

Edit - there is another thread on the forum about this machine which says the minimum thickness of stock is 5mm. To achieve 3.2mm you will need to sit your piece on a board which is faced with fine sandpaper and adjust the height accordingly.

 

[tom1asz]

Hello, the Specification for this drum sanders contains information about the minimum thickness of the processed material: 5 mm. I would like to make sure if it is possible to change it. I read somewhere that it is possible to change this through regulations. Your suggestion is good too.
I have a lot of waste, several thousand pieces of varying thickness from 4 to 6 mm. I'm going to roughly cut it on a table saw, and I'm planning on using a drum sander to be exact.

 

[Yojevol]

How precise do you need the thickness to be? Wood is such a variable material and you will be doing well if you achieve +/- 0.1mm within the same piece of wood. With such a large quantity to process, wear of the abrasive will be another variable.
Have you got dust extraction? If not, wearing a good quality mask will be essential.
This is not going to be a quick process. Will you have to sand both sides?
What standard of finish are you aiming for? If you want to polish the final surface you may need at least 2 grades of abrasive.
If you can give us more details of your project we may be able make some alternative suggestions.
Brian

 

[tom1asz]

The project is some like Kumiko, so thickness is important for connections, but I think the accuracy you describe will be ok. The only thing that I worries is the minimum thickness of the sand element in this machine. Maybe one of the users of this forum has this model and could give advise.

 

[Yojevol]

Using a support board as @Blackswanwood suggests you will be able to go much thinner than 3.2mm
Brian