Help with roughening/sanding the ends of plastic tubes, Drum sander?

I have an application where i need to sand the end of plastic tubes for bonding, and we are currently doing this with hand sanders, I want to add some automation with a drum sander.

tubes come in 4" and 6" heights as well as small 1-2" pucks. I have found a few models of drum sanders that will possibly do the job but one of the brands is DELTA, not sure on the quality. And then another is LAGUNA, not sure about them either.

The tubes range in Outside diameter from 2" - 9" ~0.375 wall thickness. I was thinking about building some jigs to hold the long skinny tubes.

I have never used a drum sander, but wanted to see if others had.

Concerns:
Kick back from the tubes being tall but not wide? I think a jig would solve this.
Poor sanding job by the sander.
expensive to operate?

Models i am considering
DDS|26 Sander | Laguna Tools
http://www.performancetoolcenter.co...MIiMeW7qGJ1wIVD7XACh3XmA5wEAQYASABEgIy6fD_BwE

I have never done what you are suggesting but it looks like the drum sanders are way overkill for what you are trying to do. I do have a Performax drum sander that is used for wood and it does not look like it would be easy to adapt to what you are trying to do. Those drum sanders are nice but pricey to say the least. If I was going to do this I might consider a much less expensive belt sander with some roller guides. Kind of like a centerless grinder. A length of angle iron as a trough to hold the tubing with the end you are sanding in a fixture made from two adjustable rollers. The friction of the sanding belt would cause the pipe to rotate and would be sanded fairly evenly. Of course you would need an adjustable stop as well to keep the pipe from walking out the end of the rollers.

Be careful IME if it's a wood sander, there's every chance it will need slowing down for plastics or they will melt.

IMHO you'll be better off with a flat platen vertical belt sander and a fixture with a dead length stop for holding the tubes.

Dang, beaten on the draw by Crossthread - again

Depends on the flavor of plastic, I suppose, but plumbing pipe and plastic electrical conduit are bonded (sometimes primed first) with a liquid that does not require any sanding.

Larry

L Vanice said:

Depends on the flavor of plastic, I suppose, but plumbing pipe and plastic electrical conduit are bonded (sometimes primed first) with a liquid that does not require any sanding.

Larry

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its fluro polymers

PEEK / PTFE

Are you roughing up just the end for a flat cover -- or is there a glued cap to the OD or ID as well as the end? PEEK/PTFE will want all the glue surface you can give it.

The drum sander will want you to pack the tubes tightly to keep from tipping them as they run through. Unless you gang them, you'll also likely get uneven sanding since the tubes present varying profiles to the drum as they pass under. You could make a jig to gang a bunch of them up and run them through together, but the price of the machine and time to sort this out are suggesting a large quantity?

A big disk sander might be your better bet, unless you hope to do dozens in one swell foop. And even then a carrier to run the ends across a disk would likely be more stable, especially for the smaller tubes. For small quantities, i'll just set the disk square and roll the tube once across the disk using a miter gauge at 90 deg. to keep it square left, right, up, down. It's pretty quick. If you go too fast on something like PVC and melt a bit, run a deburring tool around the OD and ID.

Belt sander could work as well, but my experience is that the disk is more likely to leave a flat and square surface for subsequent glue up.

If both the OD and end can be glue surfaces (e.g. you're capping them) -- and given the short tube lengths -- you might consider chucking them up in a wood lathe?? There are pretty compact and inexpensive ones for turning small bowls. A OneWay etc. chuck will easily handle the range; inside or outside gripping. Then you dial the speed you want, hold or jig-apply a bit of whatever grit paper you need and cycle through them in a minute or two each.

A primer-glue combo, as suggested above, is available for PTFE.

vettedude said:

its fluro polymers

PEEK / PTFE

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Aaaah? ....in that case I can tell you, you need what I know as an ''open coat'' abrasive, ......like the white sanding discs used in the auto body trade, .......I'd advise you talk to someone like 3M to find the right grade.

P.S. I don't know if you're glueing those materials, ...but if you are PTFE needs special treatments and adhesives, .both of which are ''nasty'' chemicals.

Limy Sami said:

Aaaah? ....in that case I can tell you, you need what I know as an ''open coat'' abrasive, ......like the white sanding discs used in the auto body trade, .......I'd advise you talk to someone like 3M to find the right grade.

P.S. I don't know if you're glueing those materials, ...but if you are PTFE needs special treatments and adhesives, .both of which are ''nasty'' chemicals.

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Sounds like Sami wants a green card to come visit for 6 months....winter is coming to his neck of the woods,
and Texas is nice this time of year (or so I hear).....

Limy Sami said:

Aaaah? ....in that case I can tell you, you need what I know as an ''open coat'' abrasive, ......like the white sanding discs used in the auto body trade, .......I'd advise you talk to someone like 3M to find the right grade.

P.S. I don't know if you're glueing those materials, ...but if you are PTFE needs special treatments and adhesives, .both of which are ''nasty'' chemicals.

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Etchant is not necessary we are just gluing the pieces to boards temporarily.

Maybe we should try some DA sanders to make this faster using those disks.

PeteM said:

Are you roughing up just the end for a flat cover --

You could make a jig to gang a bunch of them up and run them through together, but the price of the machine and time to sort this out are suggesting a large quantity?

Click to expand...

yes just roughing the face of the cylinder

We are gluing 2k+ a month jigs to support the parts going in a drum sander are not a problem.

I too think the disk is going to be faster than what we do now, but something like a drum that can do 20-30 at a time is where we need to be.

camscan said:

Texas may well be nice but let me assure you that he isn't.

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Agreed, look what a visit to Texas did to Gordo.....