Thin walled aluminum drum

The drum appears to be a special extrusion. Duplicating it from tubing would be quite a feat.

Just repair it.
 
ezduzit said:
The drum appears to be a special extrusion. Duplicating it from tubing would be quite a feat.

Just repair it.
Click to expand...
Yeah it would be. I would wager many of the drum sanders of the time have the same drum. I don't imagine too many founderies were squeezing out too many variations of this tube. I assume it was specific to drum sanders.
Maybe.
 
Hukshawn said:
Holy crap... I wish...

I've been thinking about the DeWalt too. I think it's the 735? The one that looks industrial and squished into a lower package. Likely not helical as I don't have that kind of money.
I had a custom shop in my 20's. Not nearly on the scale you were, it sounds. I was surprised how many people were willing to pay quite a bit for a custom made piece of furniture.
But, I was a one man shop. Couldn't afford to grow, couldn't afford help, couldn't build fast enough to make more money to take the next step. It plateaued. Eventually, I closed up and went back to working factory.
Now, I dabble when it arises. Sometimes I think about getting back into it again. My boss wants to do custom live edge tables. The new fad that's going on. Live edge with metal legs.
Click to expand...
Yes that's the machine, its good but I hesitate to recommend it because of a very bad experience I had with DeWalt. I bought one of their job site table saws, used it a few times in a little over 3 years, then it conked out... took it to the service center they said it was out of warrantee and unfortunately the motor was no longer available (confirmed by internet), huh? then they tell me the only thing they can do is offer me a "discount" on a new saw, $100 off list price (about the same price the Home Depot had it for every day), of course I told them where they could stick their bs discount... The the use of proprietary motors in these machines makes their service life dependent on the DeWalts willingness to supply parts, which apparently, isn't very long...

Indeed the custom woodworking business is rough, the "profit" margins are way too tight. Add to that, taxes, insurance, workers comp, etc. and it simply isn't worth the effort. After 20 years, I got fed-up, I'm glad to be out of it.
 
I don’t have many dewalt tools, but the ones I have I do like. I’m a Milwaukee guy. Everything I own for work is Milwaukee. But I have the newer job site saw, the one with the metal cage/legs, but the higher of the two models. I like it quite a bit. But, I haven’t run into parts problems, yet. That’s a concern for sure... but that said, even the ryobi is tough for parts now. I can’t buy the blades anywhere but third party, and they’re unreasonably expensive for what they are as a result.

We will see. I haven’t made up my mind yet. And chances are, it’ll either be a Christmas present, (the only time of the year where I’m “allowed” to buy expensive things) or I wear the wife down and spend the money, but I have at least 6 months to wait since buying the surface grinder before I can even mention the word machine to her. Lol.
 
Eddyde said:
Yes that's the machine, its good but I hesitate to recommend it because of a very bad experience I had with DeWalt. I bought one of their job site table saws, used it a few times in a little over 3 years, then it conked out... took it to the service center they said it was out of warrantee and unfortunately the motor was no longer available (confirmed by internet), huh? then they tell me the only thing they can do is offer me a "discount" on a new saw, $100 off list price (about the same price the Home Depot had it for every day), of course I told them where they could stick their bs discount... The the use of proprietary motors in these machines makes their service life dependent on the DeWalts willingness to supply parts, which apparently, isn't very long...

Indeed the custom woodworking business is rough, the "profit" margins are way too tight. Add to that, taxes, insurance, workers comp, etc. and it simply isn't worth the effort. After 20 years, I got fed-up, I'm glad to be out of it.
Click to expand...

It's not Dewalts fault. It's our stupid congress people. They had changed the tax laws a number of years ago, and now every part is a taxable asset. So years ago before the change, companies used to stock parts, now they get taxed on them. So we have been forced into a throw away society. Your congress people at work.
Milwaukee same as Dewalt, same company... same managment. Both had been good companies at one time, both have suffered at the bean counter.
 
woodchucker said:
It's not Dewalts fault. It's our stupid congress people. They had changed the tax laws a number of years ago, and now every part is a taxable asset. So years ago before the change, companies used to stock parts, now they get taxed on them. So we have been forced into a throw away society. Your congress people at work.
Milwaukee same as Dewalt, same company... same managment. Both had been good companies at one time, both have suffered at the bean counter.
Click to expand...
100%
 
woodchucker said:
It's not Dewalts fault. It's our stupid congress people. They had changed the tax laws a number of years ago, and now every part is a taxable asset. So years ago before the change, companies used to stock parts, now they get taxed on them. So we have been forced into a throw away society. Your congress people at work.
Milwaukee same as Dewalt, same company... same managment. Both had been good companies at one time, both have suffered at the bean counter.
Click to expand...
That may be so, but they still should stand behind their product, for a machine that cost $500 to become unrepairable after only 3 years is inexcusable. Pass the taxes on to the customer like everything else.
Besides, I wonder who lobbied for that law to be changed... have to buy new instead of repair... hum, who benefits most from that?
 
Just a thought, when a cylinder is dented, there's usually some material displacement outward.
I'd fill the dent with Bondo, let it set as long as needed and before calling it finished I'd run a file (hold the file parallel the axis of the drum) over the whole repair to knock down any proud metal.
 
You’re right.
However, trade the file for a board or steel plate with sand paper attached fed across the feed belt, and you have the same thing, only more stable. I’d feed several times, lowering in tiny increments until satisfied.
I keep forgetting to go to the hardware store on my way to work to get bondo. Maybe I’ll set a reminder for tomorrow.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top