Thinning boards

Talk about musical instrument construction, setup and repair.

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printer2
Kauri
Posts: 35
Joined: Sat Sep 27, 2014 12:28 am
Location: Canada

Re: Thinning boards

Post by printer2 » Tue Oct 28, 2014 1:08 am

Quinny wrote:Thanks Chris, for the detailed hand planing tips. I think I will get some practice in.
Thanks printer2 (sorry don't know your first name) for the photos and detail for the build. Think it is the way to go as a home made drum sander can be used for so many other projects I am sure.
Anyone know the best place to get a motor for a home made drum sander?
My name is Fred, have been called printer for over 10 years on all kinds of forums I am just used to it. I don't know what you have for heating or cooling systems for your housed, here it is generally forced air furnaces. Here usually a person's heat exchanger gives out first and an HVAC company comes to the rescue. The motors are usually still good and that might be a good place to get a 1/2-3/4 hp motor cheap (I am real into cheap). I have a 1/4 hp motor on mine and it does the job if you are not too aggressive with removing wood. One thing about the 1/4 hp motor is that If I make a mistake and feed too much in the motor does not fire the wood back out at me but stalls instead. Dust collection is a great thing and makes building much more pleasant. Even a shop vac will get the majority of the dust and is well worth having.

Quinny
Myrtle
Posts: 75
Joined: Mon Oct 06, 2014 1:16 pm
Location: Box Hill, Melb

Re: Thinning boards

Post by Quinny » Tue Oct 28, 2014 9:53 am

Thanks Rob, looks like a good lead. Will check it out further.

simso
Blackwood
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Joined: Mon Apr 25, 2011 10:36 pm
Location: Perth WA

Re: Thinning boards

Post by simso » Tue Oct 28, 2014 10:18 am

Out of curiosity, I ran some rosewood as low as I could through our thicknesser

At 10mm it was a consistent thickness over the length
At 7mm the very ends were fractionally thinner
At 5mm it sounded scary like it was going to just shatter, but just the ends were fractionally out
at 3mm the ends for a distance of 65mm on each end were very inconsistnet l;ike 1.6/2/2.5/all over the place, the board was also a little inconsistent over its length
at 2mm I didnt have a board

Steve
Steve
Master of nothing,

Do your own repairs - http://www.mirwa.com.au/How_to_Series.html

Quinny
Myrtle
Posts: 75
Joined: Mon Oct 06, 2014 1:16 pm
Location: Box Hill, Melb

Re: Thinning boards

Post by Quinny » Thu Jan 08, 2015 12:35 pm

Post script.
Thanks to Wayne for the link to the plans for a drum sander, and thanks to Fred for his photos of his model.
I got the courage to build one and here it is. It now has a dust cover and the hook-and-loop sandpaper on it. It worked well thinning my boards from 5mm downwards.

Andrew
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auscab
Blackwood
Posts: 650
Joined: Wed Jan 12, 2011 1:12 am
Location: Melbourne Australia

Re: Thinning boards

Post by auscab » Thu Jan 08, 2015 12:52 pm

Nice one Andrew , that looks like a good project well done .
Where did you end up getting the motor, bearings and shaft from ?

Rob

Quinny
Myrtle
Posts: 75
Joined: Mon Oct 06, 2014 1:16 pm
Location: Box Hill, Melb

Re: Thinning boards

Post by Quinny » Thu Jan 08, 2015 1:26 pm

Hi Rob,

I decided to get a Chinese motor from Conon Motors. It was listed on eBay but found they were located in Glen Waverley (Melbourne) - only 20 mins from me. So I went down and got a 2Hp motor for $140 (a 1.5HP motor was less $$). Hopefully it doesn't give me any trouble.

I had trouble matching the shaft size to bearings and pulley, but got there with 30mm sizing.
- 30mm bright steel shaft from RD steel in Bayswater for $30.
- Bearings from a W.A. via eBay for $20 each. Found out later that I could have got the pillow bearings at Melb Mach Co for $30 each.
- Pulleys from Melbourne Machinery company (thanks for that lead Rob). They only had the 30mm in double pulleys but that was fine. They were top quality steel at $40 compared to the Aluminium ones that were $10 each without a grub screw.
- Had trouble finding belts as I didn't know the types and measurements but I got there. Got belts from Rydell in Moorabbin.
- The only large sheets of adhesive backed industrial hook-and-loop was from The Sandpaper Man online - not cheap Velcro backing!!

Overall I had fun making something light industrial. The plans were good, but they forgot to mention one thing: to ensure you put the motor and pulley on the side that causes the shaft to rotate towards the wood as you feed it in. I ended up having to swap my motor to the other side as I realised it too late - all part of the fun!! :mrgreen:

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56nortondomy
Blackwood
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Joined: Sat Jan 14, 2012 11:56 pm
Location: Melbourne western suburbs

Re: Thinning boards

Post by 56nortondomy » Thu Jan 08, 2015 4:22 pm

Nice job Andrew, looks way neater than mine.
Wayne

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Taffy Evans
Blackwood
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Joined: Wed Apr 30, 2008 6:54 pm
Location: Charters Towers North Queensland

Re: Thinning boards

Post by Taffy Evans » Sat Jan 17, 2015 10:59 am

HI, pity you are so far away I sill have the drum, bearings and motor from my old shop built sanding thicknesser you could have. I think I used it for about ten years before I updated.
Taff

MattW
Myrtle
Posts: 72
Joined: Wed Apr 27, 2011 9:42 pm

Re: Thinning boards

Post by MattW » Sat Jan 17, 2015 8:26 pm

I have a 1/3 hP washing machine motor i scrounged out of hard rubbish a couple of years ago, its either going to be a thickness sander or small wood lathe motor at this point. A lot of washing machines are belt drive so fairly easly to pick up, just a couple of 15mm bolts to undo, and it comes with a pulley already fitted.

Remember to leave enough wiring loom on it to get the Run capacitor as well, it should be mounted next to/on the motor in this pic the cap is the metal cylinder on the left. If you do this be careful to not zap yourself with it.

Image

I used the motor I had to spin up 400mm diameter plywood wheel i made for my homemade band saw, and was going to use it to run it as well, except I got given a 2hp motor instead. Plenty enough power/torque.
Cheers

Matt

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