Trying to make an ultimate sanding drum!
Hey everyone, I am posting this topic on MYCNCUK because I have found this forum to be very helpful in the past. This topic might not relate to CNC's as such but I am sure you guys will have some answers for me. Recently I purchased an aluminium round bar with an inch wide diameter and 400mm in length. I reduced the diameter on one end down to 16mm using my friend's lathe. This was done so that I could fit the rod in my pillar drill chuck. I am currently using a 60 grit aluminium oxide sanding paper glued on the surface of the rod for my ultimate sanding drum.
The purpose of this sanding drum is to sand the inside of the bamboo poles I use for making bike frames. Now the sand paper that I glued to the aluminium surface has started to smooth out already after my first use. So I am tying this topic over here to get some advice really as I am not sure what I can do to the aluminium surface to make more like a filing surface. If aluminium is not a good surface for that then I can always buy a steel bar to do the job, but I absolutely have no idea what tool or method could make a shiny metal surface into something that is rough like a file. Any help would be appreciated greatly at this point as I am running out of options now :uncomfortableness:. Thanks
Re: Trying to make an ultimate sanding drum!
Re: Trying to make an ultimate sanding drum!
Hey Eddy, thanks for your quick reply I have actually thought of that but bamboo does not have a uniform diameter and the reamer will simply split the poll once it hits a slightly tapered part. What I am trying to achieve is a much wider and longer version of these http://file.maxtie.com/images/produc...5346989781.jpg. This will allow me to wiggle the poll side to side so that I can shave the inside of the poll nicely without cause the split. Thanks
Re: Trying to make an ultimate sanding drum!
How about these....
Microplane Rotary Shapers
You could make a carrier to take several of them in a row - a 10 / 12mm threaded bar with spacers trapped between nuts easy enough to make up. They're fairly expensive but good quality.
Axminster have them in stock but a trawl of ebay might turn up something cheaper.
Microplane Rotary Shaper Replacement Blades - Drum Sanders - Abrasives - Fixing, Gluing & Finishing | Axminster.co.uk
Re: Trying to make an ultimate sanding drum!
Hey FatFreddie, this is very interesting tool. I think rather than putting a threaded bar through the middle I might just put these shapers of my round aluminium bar. I might just give this a go and see what happens. Thanks a bunch man!!!
Re: Trying to make an ultimate sanding drum!
Hey Slim,
Would these be of any use to you: 20pc Drum Sanding Kit Fit Drill
I use these in my drill press all the time and they work quite well, I was thinking you could bore a hole in your current ali bar to fit the shank on these, this would then get the reach you may need?
.Me
Re: Trying to make an ultimate sanding drum!
Hey Lee, I do use them when I am not going deep into the bamboo pole but they don't last very long either. Fatfreddies idea of using microplane might be the way forward but after reading some reviews I am not too sure about those either as they are expensive and I am not too sure about the quality too. I wonder how they actually make the filing surface on the tools used for filing really. It would be the best option for my tool. I will keep pondering I guess. Cheers
Re: Trying to make an ultimate sanding drum!
you could knurl the ali bar, thou it might be more lasting if you did it to a steel bar and used that like a file.
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Re: Trying to make an ultimate sanding drum!
You could maybe use a grade of steel that's easy to harden, machine it to just under the diameter you need on a lathe, knurl it, then harden it.
Attachment 12320
That's pretty close to a file. You could mill/grind some flutes so the swarf has somewhere to go.
Re: Trying to make an ultimate sanding drum!
Thanks Jonathan and Tornado, I think I have my answer. Will get a steel bar and knurl it. Do the knurling tools come with various pitches so that I can knurl it in such a way that the protrusions are long a sharpish? Thanks