Archive for September, 2010
Drum Sander Basics – Enhancing Your Woodshop
First, What is a drum sander?
A drum sander is a particularly awesome woodworking machine designed to sand and finish large wood surfaces on a mechanism similar to a thickness planer. Drum sanders are available in a variety of sizes from 10″x20″ to 26″x52 inches. This means that although the sanding belt is only 10 or 26 inches itself, the machine has one open side which allows you to pass your panel through once, flip it, and pass it through a second time. You can beautifully sand or finish an entire piece (up to 52″) in just two passes. Within the drum sander the sandpaper moves on a continuous loop (like a planer) through a sanding drum. The abrasive sleeve is cylindrical and turns with motorized power on a cylindrical slotted drum. Drum sanders have a height adjustment to allow for around four inches, give or take, of thickness to be passed through. Operators adjust the machine’s feed rollers, and height to accommodate their materials, then simply pass the wood through. The looped abrasive sleeve sands or finishes the material as it gently moves or pushes it out the other side. Most drum sanders offer pretty simple sand paper changes and deliver great results with much less bulk and much less price than a wide-belt sander.
Dual Drum Sander:
A dual drum sander has two sanding drums. This allows operators to use two different sanding belts with different grits. This means you can sand your panel with a rough grit and it finish with a fine grit in the same pass; a wonderful concept – sanding and finishing simultaneously. The dual drum is a bit more expensive, but it does save a great deal of time and energy.
Drums and Bearing Edges
You may have heard an increasing amount of talk and discussion in the last few years about the ‘bearing edges’ on a drum.
Bearing edges are easily the most important sound producing components of any drum. Their purpose is to allow a contact relationship between the drum head and drum shell. To get a better view, the next time you change the heads on your drums, take the head and counter hoop off and set them aside. Run your hand across the top of the drum where the head was on the drum…
That is your drum’s bearing edge!
Use Native Drums As Rustic Tables To Create Chic Western Home Decorating
Do you love rustic furniture and decor? Native drums used as rustic tables are very attractive and a great way to bring true southwestern design and enrich western style in your home. Along with playing Indian drums in drumming groups and circles, you can use them to add decorative, rustic style to any home. I recently changed the decorating theme in my home, adding unique pieces of log furniture to give it an authentic southwestern look, and found that adding a Native American drum coffee table and drum end table together with other country style accessories, worked beautifully as accent pieces to my rustic furnishings.
Maybe you are like me and truly like Indian style floor drums and log drums to use as rustic tables in home decorating and interior design. Native Indian floor drums are definitely a very real representation of Indian culture and are widely-used by many Native American tribes for singing, dancing, spirituality and healing ceremonies. Rustic drums for many generations, have always been significant to the Native ceremony, such as the powwow, and have been fundamental in religion and spiritual beliefs for many Indigenous groups.
An Intro to the World of Drums
Drums have existed for a very long time. Some say they even date back to 6000 BC. It is no wonder then, that they have been used for a variety of situations and have evolved to create a wide range of different types. This being said, all drums, or ‘membranophones’ (the technical classification), consist of at least one drum-head or drum skin. This is stretched over a shell and beaten either by hand or instrument to produce its sound. Most commonly it is used as a musical instrument as a part of the percussion group, to be used in rituals or entertainment such as modern day’s rock bands. Throughout the world, drums have been created from many materials, including wood, metal, plastic and even clay.
The material of the drum skin can also vary from place to place, culture to culture. The skins of assorted animals such as goats, sheep and antelopes can be used as well as synthetic materials.