Sanding shapers

I know what you mean, but mostly have used the stationary belt sander. I think if you're doing relatively thin edges against a drum it may rapidly wear a very small area of the sandpaper.

An oscillating drum spreads the wear. I use one of these:

and flip the drum to double the usable life.

I have to flatten and clean-up doughnut-shaped pieces of steel (OK, big washers).

1) I find stationary 4x36 belt sander not that useful (holding the piece is surprisingly a problem) 2) I clean up the hole and sometimes shape it by using drum sander in my old drill press. I have a support for the bottom end of the drum s there is less sideways pressure on the spindle. 3) I do the rough face clean using sand paper in an angle grinder. I get better results with the old-fashioned flat pieces as opposed to the flappy ones. 4) I finish the piece with a small palm sander.

Does anyone use the drum style sanding shapers on a table that woodworkers commonly use? I'm going to make some large pieces out of 1/8' and 16-22 ga, and will need some dressing up on not so tight curves.

Steve

I've seen a flat top like a table saw with just a drum shaped sander sticking up from it. I've seen them on combos that come with a round flat disk sander and a belt stationary sander.

Steve

They're usually called "oscillating spindle sanders" and the key is that sanding drum oscillates vertically so you don't wear a hole in the paper with the sharp edge. You still might have trouble with cutting through the sanding drums, so you might need to fabricate new metal or hardwood drums to replace the rubber ones. Otherwise it should work well. Use the biggest drum you can get away with for less wear, and use high-quality sandpaper.

--I've used them for a spell. Used to have a monster floor-model Jet but now make do with the much smaller benchtop version; very satisfactory. One thing about the benchtop version: the stroke is reduced so, even with turning the sanding drum end-for-end you may wind up with unused grit. To solve that problem I made this widget:

--The only other thing I don't like about the benchtop is the limited number of drum diameters but it's a small matter. A good table tilting arrangement and good dust extraction is the key.

I can imagine making one out of an old table saw bed and a motor.

Steve