final dimensioning with drum sander

[John TenEyck]

one more reason why I dont or would never do this process. You never machine material after you sand it because pieces of grit get left in the wood and it dulls your knives. I got crap for that in the first few weeks.

I see people say this all the time but just haven't found it to be much of an issue as long as you brush and vacuum off the sanded parts before any further machining. Even my hand planes don't seem to mind so there can't be many grains embedded in the wood.

John

[Steve Peterson]

I sometimes use a drum sander for thicknessing because it is a LOT quieter than my lunchbox planer. It has some serious limits, but I am willing to live with them so I don't get kicked out of my neighborhood.

You have to make several passes to remove much material. I have paper as rough as 36 grit, then move up to 60/80/120/220. Even 220 grit as a final step needs hand sanding or a ROS to clean up the lines left by the drum.

Soft maple is going to get burn marks as the paper wears. Take light passes and keep moving around to different areas on the drum. I like to run the pieces diagonally to use the complete width of the machine. You can sneak another board into the machine before the first piece finishes. Run the final passes straight with the grain.

[Warren Lake]

Larry Ive only met one person who knew not to run stuff on cutters after sanding, where do you see that all the time?