Recycle a planer?

[dehrlich]

Does anyone know if it's possible to reconfigure a bench top 13" planer into a drum sander? I think it should be possible to machine the cutter head so that sandpaper could be attached. Question is does it spin too fast to sand? Any thoughts? I've actually got two of the exact same planer so I would have plenty of parts.

[CNC Carver]

I have had same thought but have not tried it yet.

[Bigtyme]

I do think the rpms are too great

[RogerB]

you can control the rpm's the same way as the old routers. we used something like a dimmer switch.( can't remember what they where called)

[CNC Carver]

I have one of these for speed control. http://www.harborfreight.com/router-...rol-43060.html

[tierman]

A rheostat.

[rickyz]

uh oh...that's a good idea...got an old planer just taking up space...I'll have to take a peek......great idea....

[Digitalwoodshop]

Back in the mid 90's I did see a 3 blade parks planer converted to a drum sander.... They had a full machine shop and replaced the cutter drum with one that would take Sand Paper. It was used for this hard foam sheeting to make a RF Antenna Phase Shifter for the QualComm Truck Antenna.

The problem they had was pinching the foam on a wood carrier sheet and adjusting the sanding thickness. Since they had a single thickness as a end product they had different carrier boards with side rails stepping down the thickness. They would run batches. The 13 inch drum would extend slightly below the rails and the normal planer pinch rails would grip the carrier side rail and move the carrier board.

You would run into the same problem with your planer as the board needs to be pinched by the TOP rollers or metal rollers moving the board through with the cutter head between them. Making that fine adjustment between the the upper pinch rollers and the sanding drum would be interesting.....

I have a Thickness Sander and it uses a sand paper drive belt like the CW to move the board throught the machine. Smooth rollers on each side of the Sanding Drum MUCH LIKE the CW held the board to the sand paper belt.

It has a very fine thread to make the thickness adjustment AND it has a OVER CURRENT LIGHT on the sand paper variable speed control so when you try to GO TOO FAST... It comes on and I believe will slow the sand paper belt drive. I believe the Current Sensor is actually on the Sanding Drum Motor.

With ALL THIS..... One option.... Sell BOTH planers and buy a used thickness planer.... and Two... Convert a old CW into a Thickness Planer....

Sorry about the poor picture of the Qualcomm antenna... comes from the old Microwave Speciality site... They are now Rantec. The Copper lines placed on layers of specific thickness foam converts Circular Polorization of the Omnitracs RF Signal. http://www.omnitracs.com/history You can thank the Omnitracs for your Cell Phone of today... The QualComm money made from the Omnitracs paid for the research for CDMA that became the world standard. In the beginning each Cell tower Antenna could only have one phone call per antenna.... CDMA Multiplexed one antenna in to 16 converstaions then more later... 32, 64... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qualcomm

AL

[Dan-Woodman]

Your motor has to have brushes ( like a router) for the controller to work. Also match your amps. Some of thoughs controllers are 15 amp, some are up to 20.

[MikeON]

Check out the Woodmaster planer/sander/saw/molder to get some ideas how to convert your planer. I have the 18" model. It converts from planer to sander by removing the planer head and installing a sanding drum. The sanding drum also has a larger driven pulley than the planer head, to slow down the RPM. It has Velcro that sticks onto the drum in a spiral arrangement, and the sandpaper is felt-backed to stick to the Velcro. Both the Velcro strip and the paper are available from Woodmaster, if you want to convert one of your machines. I've only used the sanding feature once to sand 14 pine panels. Had to clean the paper a few times, but otherwise worked OK.