Drum sander experience/question.

[Earl Creel]

For the past few years I have had an old 2 drum Kuster sander in my shop.
For my work the second (rear drum) is not used. It is just too much trouble
to wrap both drums and get their relative heights set correctly. With the
second drum not being used a shorter drive belt was installed that only
drives the front drum. This results in the belt contacting 180 degrees of
both the motor pulley and the drum pulley. This increased contact area has
cured all tendency of the belt to slip when making heavy cuts.

I have no complaints with the way the old sucker sands but I wish the boards
came out of the machine clean instead of covered with a layer of packed down
saw dust. It takes longer to clean the boards between passes than it takes
to sand them. Each time I look at that unused drum just sitting there I
wish it were a rotating brush that would clean the boards as they exit the
machine. Anyone with a dual drum sander have similar thoughts or have
devised some other way to make the boards exit dust free?
Earl Creel

[Tom Woodman]

Just a thought.... where is this sawdust coming from? Is your DC on? Is
it working efficiently? When I get too lazy to turn mine on for a board or
two, I find the sawdust builds up all over the inside of the housing and
falls down onto the next board.

"Earl Creel" <ecr...@cox.net> wrote in message
news:A45Cf.10319$NE.7124@dukeread12...

[GeeDubb]

"Earl Creel" <ecr...@cox.net> wrote in message
news:A45Cf.10319$NE.7124@dukeread12...

try using the rear drum and eliminate the front from the sanding step. I
use both drums on my GI machine and get very little dust but then I have a
large DC that works quite well.

Gary

[Earl Creel]

I have a 2HP dust collector with a 6 inch pipe and it is just a few feet
from the sander. Almost no dust escapes from the machine and the inside
stays very clean. The machine has three pinch rollers to hold the boards to
the conveyor belt. One roller is in front of the first drum, the second is
between the drums and the third is after the second drum. I believe it is
the second roller that catches the heavy dust flow just behind the cut that
is trapping the saw dust and packing it down and sticking it to the board
being sanded. I have reduced all the openings to the extent possible so
that air velocity into the machine through the openings is maximized.
Pretty sure any dust that gets air borne is removed. Removing the second
pinch roller would probably help the stuck dust problem but would likely
produce unacceptable snipe. Tom with your DC on do your boards come out
clean?
Earl Creel

"Tom Woodman" <tomwoo...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:11thu6r...@corp.supernews.com...

[Leon]

"GeeDubb" <gee...@qwest.net> wrote in message
news:_R8Cf.563$635....@news.uswest.net...

> try using the rear drum and eliminate the front from the sanding step. I
> use both drums on my GI machine and get very little dust but then I have a
> large DC that works quite well.

I am clueless as to what the solution will be but geez GeeDubb that has to
be way too simple. LOL If it was my problem I'd be looking for a much more
complex solution like hanging the sander from the ceiling. ;~)
Good call.

[GeeDubb]

"Leon" <removespa...@swbell.net> wrote in message
news:pVqCf.28367$PL5....@newssvr11.news.prodigy.com...

It's a lot easier to look at somebody else's problem and come up with a
simple fix. My wife does it to me all the time after hearing the crash and
profane language that often occurs when I'm trying to over analyze a
solution.

Now if I could just get my drum sander to stop burning the wood......

Gary (I know it's a simple fix........)

[Leon]

"GeeDubb" <gee...@qwest.net> wrote in message

news:aUsCf.192$wS5....@news.uswest.net...

> It's a lot easier to look at somebody else's problem and come up with a
> simple fix.

I really love it when an on looker starts with "All you gotta do is"...

>
> Now if I could just get my drum sander to stop burning the wood......

Internal sprinkler system. Another splendidly simple answer. :~)

[Tom Woodman]

About 90% of the time they come out clean and I am nowhere as careful as you
are about the DC setup. 10% of the time I have some sawdust n the board as
you do. I just brush it off with a counter brush. Now I'm thinking the
paper must be holding onto it then dropping it.

"Earl Creel" <ecr...@cox.net> wrote in message

news:DPdCf.10382$NE.2721@dukeread12...

[Earl Creel]

I could try using the rear drum instead of the front but I would have to
remove the drums to install a belt on the rear drum. But the rear drum and
pinch roller arrangement is really no different than the front drum. My
Kuster is the only drum sander I have ever looked at closely. I am
wondering if there is some basic difference in other makes that I am unaware
of. The people who made the machine expected sawdust to stick to the
boards. Here is a direct quote from the Kuster owners manual: "It should
be noted that all sanded material will probably not be removed by the dust
collection system; all airborne particles should be caught, but it is normal
for a thin , even layer of dust to cling to the board as it exits the
machine. Remove this dust with a brush before feeding the work in for
another pass."
If I were to post a picture or two on a.b.p.w. would some of you be so kind
as to look at the way the Kuster is made compared to your machine. Perhaps
you have something under the hood that the old Kuster lacks.
Earl Creel

[David Termini]

The second Trump needs to be adjusted properly I have a Kuster I have had for over 30 years The trick to adjusting the second drum that I discovered is pretty cool I said it up as close as I can it Hass to be a little bit lower than the first drum.IUse thin strips of aluminum flashing folded a few times do you have a hole through it and use them as shimsWhat’s cool is you can adjust as you compress and tighten the nuts until you have it just write the aluminum give you a little bit of compression and you can adjust just by tightening if you screw up you have to take them off and put new ones in and do it again to get it right but once you get that drum set up right where the final paper on it it’ll work forever good luck it’s worth having a second draw it works once it’s set up right

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