WOOD TOY NEWS SANDING DRUMS & JIGS ISSUE

WOOD TOY NEWS SANDING DRUMS & JIGS ISSUE toymakingplans.com June 11, 2014 Wednesday How to Make a Sanding Drum Jig for Smarter Toymaking. By Imants Udris Udie Our discussion begins based on the 5 piece standard sanding drum kit shown in the photograph to the right. It s an inexpensive kit that usually costs less than $20.00. The kit is comprised of 5 solid rubber drums and comes with an assortment of 50, 80 and 120 grit sanding sleeves. The kit comes in a handy and durable wood box with a hinged lid. The drum diameters are each English measurements that are standard in size. The sanding sleeves from the various manufacturers all share the same dimensions. This feature makes purchasing replacement sleeves for your 5 piece kit quite easy. Kits are available online from several different suppliers. Using Sanding Drums and Jigs for Smarter Toymaking by Imants Udris Sanding drum kits are available from a variety of suppliers. A kit like the one shown was purchased for under $20. Standard Sanding Drum Kit Drum sizes left to right: Drum Drum Diameter Length 1/2 x 1/2 3/4 x 1 1 x 1 1-1/2 x 1-1/2 2 x 1-1/2 Watch video at: http://ow.ly/xpmzb The sanding drums can be used with a drill press or a power hand drill. Either way, a sanding drum kit needs to be a permanent part of every smart toymaker s tool box. Don t start working without it! 1 June 11, 2014 Wednesday

My home-made sanding drum jig. Easily sand inside curves. Easily sand outside curves. This homemade Sanding Drum Jig has boosted productivity in my shop. It is quick and easy to make with common materials and it doesn t take up much room. It is easy to set up and to take down for a quick touch-up sanding job. And it is sturdy enough to last through long production runs. This one was crafted from scrap MDF. Read on and I will show you how to make a set of your own. 2 June 11, 2014 Wednesday

Extra Long Sanding Drum Kit Shown to the right we have what is called an Extra Long Sanding Drum Kit. Extralong refers to the extended length of the solid rubber sleeve. The rubber sleeve length is 2 inches. It is a 4 piece kit and comes with a compliment of various sanding grit sleeves. Extra-Long Sanding Drum Kit This kit has no box, is packaged in plastic and is very inexpensive, in the order of $8.00 to $12.00. The rubber sleeve diameters are 1/2, 3/4, 1 and 1-1/2. Your workshop will be well equipped if you have both the Standard and Extra Long Sanding Drum Kits. Let me explain why. Let s discuss the 1/2" drum diameter x 1/2" drum length sanding drum from the standard kit for example. The 1/2 diameter is exactly what we need to get into the inside radius of a curved piece, a window cutout or any cutout detail in our project. However the 1/2" drum length is limiting me to the thickness of wood I can sand from the top edge to bottom edge effectively. I would not be able use this sanding drum effectively on a piece of 3/4" thick. I would only be able to sand a 1/16 to 1/2" piece of quite comfortably. That is where the Extra Long 1/2" x 2 sanding drum saves the day, allowing me to sand a piece of 3/4 to 1-1/2 wood quite comfortably. If you are sanding a project where there are no inside radiuses to be concerned about then the 3/4" diameter x 1 drum length would be the tool to use, or any of the larger diameter drums. There are other issues which define which sanding drum to use. Those will be discussed further at another point in this article. 3 June 11, 2014 Wednesday

Drum and Sleeve Composition Drum compression nut Sanding Sleeve The Drum is what holds the Sanding Sleeve in place. The sanding drum is solid rubber with a 1/4 diameter bolt through the center allowing you to use it with a hand drill, powered flexible shaft or drill press. At the top end of the rubber sleeve is a left hand threaded nut. This is called the compression nut. After you slip the sanding sleeve over the rubber drum you tighten the compression nut against the washer that is on the top of the the rubber drum. By tightening the compression nut you are you are also compressing the rubber drum, forcing it s sides to expand, putting pressure onto the inside edge of the sanding sleeve. This pressure is what holds the sanding sleeve in place. Sanding Drum Selection: Which one should I use? Earlier I mentioned there was another issue to be concerned about when selecting which sanding drum to use. We must first choose the diameter and length combination. This is quite evident when using the sanding drum on a drill press. In the following photos I have mounted in the drill press the standard 1/2 x 1/2 and the 3/4 x 1 sanding drums for comparison. Against each drum I have positioned a piece of 1/4 and 1/2 for sanding. 1/4 1/2 x 1/2 Sanding Drum 1/2 1/4 Bolt touches work surface. 3/4 x 1 Sanding Drum 1/2 As you can see, I am unable to sand each piece of wood effectively from the top edge to bottom edge of each wood. The Drum Bolt Head inhibits me from sanding the lower portion of each piece, even the sanding drum bolt is touching the work surface. You could slide the sleeve down to touch the work surface but there would be no rubber drum support behind the sleeve. What to do? Shown in the photo to the right, a quick fix is to lower the sanding drum further and place it below the top surface of the work surface. Work Surface 4 June 11, 2014 Wednesday

Sanding Drum Selection: Which one should I use? Continued... What if the piece you wish to sand had straight edges, curves and inside radiuses? There s a possibility that you could accidently tip the work piece down and into the drum causing an uneven edge. We need a solution to this problem. And there is a solution. In the next section I will explain how to make a quick and easy sanding jig that will efficiently solve these problems. 1/2 Extra Long Sanding Drum 1/4 Extra Long Sanding Drum No support for. Stock being sanded. Work Surface As shown above I ve inserted the Extra Long Drum into the drill press. By lowering the drum below the top surface of the work surface the entire piece of MDF can be sanded. As you can see with this method, there s no support for the piece being sanded, except right where it is touching the sanding drum. This condition creates a serious problem for many types of sanding projects. Below is a list of features and requirements for a flexible and efficient Sanding Drum Jig. 1. The jig must allow the compression bolt head and bottom of the sanding sleeve to be lower than the work surface in order to use the sanding sleeve to its full potential. 2. The jig must allow the inside cutout areas such as holes and cavities in the work piece to be sanded easily. 3. The jig must be able to accept all of the various sanding drum sizes which are available in the kits that you own. 4. The jig must provide a large flat surface on which to place various sizes of work pieces. 5. The jig must eliminate tipping the work piece into the sanding drum as the work piece is being sanded. Solution: Requirements 1, 4 & 5. The sanding drum bottom edge and the compression bolt-head are below the work surface allowing the entire edge of the 1/4 and 1/2 material to be sanded at one time. By using an Extra Long Sanding Drum this setup allows edge sanding up to 1-1/2 thick. Solution: Requirements 2, 4 & 5. This photo shows the sanding of an inside cutout which will be used alone or cut in half to produce 2 fenders. This jig allows for easy inside sanding. And, Requirements 4 and 5 are also satisfied. Work Surface Inserts provide various sizes of Sanding Drum openings. 5 June 11, 2014 Wednesday

Solution: Requirements 3, 4 & 5. The Sanding Drum Jig is built to be flexible, durable and to help achieve accurate sanding. Jig Base Sanding Drum Jig Above is shown all of the components of my homemade Sanding Drum Jig that satisfies all of the requirements listed below: 1. The Jig insures the head of the sanding drum adjustment bolt will below work surface. 2. The Jig provides the ability to sand inside work piece cutouts. 3. The Jig supports all the various sizes of sanding drums from one purchased kit. 4. The Jig provides a large flat work surface to support the work piece being sanded. 5. The jig eliminates tipping the work piece into sanding drum. Sanding Drum Jig Base An accurate Sanding Jig Base is the foundation of a useful jig. I elected to make a base that was 5-1/2 wide and 9-1/2 in length from 3/4" MDF. This size is just happens to be a right fit for my drill press table. Why these dimensions? That is what I had in the scrap bin and it works for me. I can always make a larger base if a specific job requires a bigger jig base. Centrally located in the base is the opening for the Sanding Drum inserts. I carefully cut a 3 x 3 hole in the base using the scroll saw to create the opening. This opening is where I ll be inserting the various cutout Jig blocks that will satisfy the different diameters of sanding drums. The next requirement in the base construction was to add something to the bottom of the base so that the cutout Jig blocks would not pass thru the base itself. See the next page. Remember, we want the entire work surface to be flat and on one plane. We do not want any uneven surfaces which might hinder us from sanding a perfect perpendicular edge to a work piece top and bottom surfaces. 6 June 11, 2014 Wednesday

Back side of Sanding Drum Jig Base. I glued free paint stir strips (available at Home Improvement stores) so that a lip inside the hole in the Sanding Drum Jig Base was visible from the top. This will prevent the cutout block from falling thru the 3 x 3 hole in the MDF and guarantees that with the surface of the installed block will be at the same height as the base top s surface. Then I added an additional two paint stir strips on each edge of the base to eliminate any tipping when used. To complete the Jig Base construction and provide a non-slip base I added a series of no slip stoppers. These are self-adhesive pads that are primarily used on cupboard doors to eliminate the banging noise when the doors close or added to the bottom of table top items eliminating the possibility of creating scratches. Self-adhesive pads applied to bottom strips help hold jig firmly in place on the drill press table. Front side of Sanding Drum Jig Base. Sanding Drum Insert Blocks Above are shown the four insert blocks that I created to fit the Sanding Drum Kits that I use with my Sanding Drum Jig. The insert blocks are fully explained in the next section. 7 June 11, 2014 Wednesday

Sanding Drum Insert Blocks & Base The photo to the left shows the set of five blank interchangeable Sanding Drum Blocks that were made from the same 3/4 MDF used for the Jig Base. The final dimension of each block is slightly under 3 x 3 to allow the block to fit into the cutout in the base like a puzzle piece. The blocks need to fit closely in the opening but not with a snug or tight fit. A slip fit is best. The photo to the left shows one of the blocks installed into the base. The remaining four blocks shown have openings that fit each of different sizes of sanding drums from the sanding drum kit. The Jig Insert Block corners have been rounded to reduce friction when inserting the blocks into & removing the blocks from the Sanding Drum Jig Base. The next step of our project is the construction of the Jig Insert Blocks. Each Block receives one of the diameters of each of the sanding drums in one kit. Jig Block corners are rounded to reduce friction when inserted into Jig Base. The Blocks are made from the same material as the jig base. The 3/4 MDF blocks are cut into 3 x 3 squares. Creating the Jig Block Hole size, see the next page... 8 June 11, 2014 Wednesday

How I created each hole sized for the Sanding Drums with the Sanding Sleeves attached to the Drums. The first step is to mark the center of each block and then create a hole large enough to allow the rubber drum with an attached sanding sleeve to pass through it. Drill a hole that allows the drum and sleeve to slide up and down with no resistance. Allow just enough clearance between the drum and the edge of the hole to accomplish this. Forstner Drill Bit Set I used my Forstner Bit set to cut the holes out for the various drum sizes of my sanding kit. The list below shows the sizes I used for the five Jig Blocks. Drum Forstner Diameter Bit Used 1/2 3/4 3/4 1 1 1-1/4 1-1/2 1-3/4 2 2-1/8 Install Drum and tighten Chuck. Install the sanding drum & sleeve into the drill press chuck and tighten the chuck with the drum securely in place. Position the sanding drum/sleeve over the intended hole and lower and raise the assembly insuring it s a good fit. Math Compass and Hole Diameter Template The hole can either be drilled out or cut out using the scroll saw. After making the hole use sandpaper to round the lip edge around the hole on the top and bottom of the block. Lower the sanding drum/sleeve into the hole and lock the drill press in position and you re done! You can now safely sand the entire edge of any work piece. Notice that the Insert Jig Block surface is on the same plane as the Jig Base. No accidently tipping the work piece is possible with this design. And there is a lot of room on the base surface to keep I prefer a math compass or a hole diameter template to draw the diameter for the hole that is to be cut into the blank Jig Block. Round off edges with fine sandpaper. you work piece flat at all times. I love it! 9 June 11, 2014 Wednesday

OK! I can hear you say, Great, another dang thing that I have to store in my workshop. What drawer am I going to store these in and will I remember where I stored it? How am I going to keep everything together and insure I do not crush the sanding sleeves? These are all great questions and I have a solution for you. Good old fashioned peg board is the answer. The shaft diameter of the sanding drum is 1/4 and that matches the hole diameters in this piece of 1/4 thick peg board. Pick a hole and shove the drum shafts in the holes. As you can see in the photo to the right, by adding a couple pieces of 1/4 dowel in a few holes you can hang the sanding sleeves of various grits and also store the Jig Blocks for the Jig Base. And if you really want to get fancy you can drill a hole in the base near the top, add another dowel to the peg board and hang the Jig Base also. Hammer in a couple of nails into the side of your floor joist and use the peg board holes to hang it all there. It ll be easily accessible and you do not have to remember where all the pieces are hiding. All you have to do is just look up. Enjoy! Imants Udris Udie Udie can be contacted at: udris@cogeco.ca Don t forget to watch the video! Using Sanding Drums and Jigs for Smarter Toymaking by Imants Udris Watch video at: http://ow.ly/xpmzb Continued next page... 10 June 11, 2014 Wednesday

Tip: Use a Hardware Store Crepe Block to keep the sandpaper drum clean. On a side-note: I also use loose blocks resting on the drill press table as a make-shift sanding jig. This piece of scrap 2 x 4 is just right for making it easier to sand the edges of small parts. Crepe Block Scrap 2 x 4 block As you can see from this photo, the scrap 2 x 4 makes a nice surface to rest small parts on while sanding the edges with the drum sander. I make sure that the drum sander extends below the surface as it does here. I can perform really accurate sanding this way. Using Sanding Drums and Jigs for Smarter Toymaking by Imants Udris Watch video at: http://ow.ly/xpmzb 11 June 11, 2014 Wednesday