[Viking]

Originally Posted by stuw

Nick
Looking good...I'm enjoying watching your build...

Stu

Thanks Stuw. Me too.

Originally Posted by viento

Hi,

is your drum sander reliable concerning the thickness you want?

That's a complicated question. I guess the answer is both yes and no. I had heard of folks velcro-ing their sand paper to the drum, and that the extra cushion helps the sander handle the wood better. I had also heard that a somewhat flexible piece of wood as the main adjustable table will achieve the same thing. In the interest of not spending any more money on the thing than I had to, I went with the later, as I had some half inch particle board lying around. That and the fact that the height adjustment is NOT directly under the drum, and there is a certain amount of give to the table. This allows the sander to not choke on the wood if the height is set a little too aggressively. But it also means that you can't just set the table at a particular location and expect your wood to be a certain thickness after a pass. For one, the wood has to come off more slowly than that. And for another, the give in the table means that it will take multiple passes before the height the table is set at ceases taking more wood off the work piece.

Make sense?

But mostly, I would have to say yes, it will be reliable in allowing me to come in very closely to a target thickness. As long as you have a caliper near by to measure the thickness of the wood after each pass or two once you get close to your target.

Originally Posted by KingCavalier

Looks great Nick, looking forward to seeing it complete.

Scott

I am as well. Though I have to say, I'd just be content making faster progress. But, needing to work through the how to on all these things means the work will go slowly for now. I imagine my second build will only take a third to half as long.