Drum sander with warped bed

[Rich Friedeman]

I recently picked up a used drum sander (Performax 16-32) on Craigslist and have been getting it back in working order. Getting everything cleaned, turning, and aligned has been pretty straight forward. I'm not sure how to solve one issue with it, though.

The bed the conveyor belt runs on is warped. It's a little high at each end (ignoring the conveyor rollers), and low in the middle. I've been testing with plywood to ensure I have flat stock to start with. I've been running it through, sneaking up on the depth of cut until I'm sanding over the whole surface of the board. It's high at the front and back (ends that feed into and exit from the sander) and low in the middle by around 1/64 -- maybe a touch more. With a straight edge I can clearly see a slight dip in the middle of the bed which curves consistently from end to end and roughly matches the depth-error on the sanded board.

Any suggestions? It's old enough that I doubt a replacement part is available.

Thanks,
Rich

[David King]

How about filing the concavity with bondo and bonding a thin sheet of turcite or spring steel over that? I have the 22-44 and it has the same issue where the plate is very floppy and easily depressed by anything passing through. I'd love to replace my bed with a solid plate of aluminum, steel or even granite.
Worth checking with Jet/Tenex re the part, I'm betting the design hasn't changed.
http://www.toolpartspro.com/jet-parts/j ... nveyor-bed
At $118 I'd definitely look to coming up with a better solution.

[Rich Friedeman]

I like that idea, David. I'd been starting to think about filling the bed with something, but, as a wood-oriented guy, I never got to Bondo. That seems a good choice. And I'd never even heard of turcite, but it looks perfect for what I need. $118 is practically what I paid for the sander, so there's pretty much no way I'm doing that, even if I could. The technical drawing on the site makes it look like the attachment from the bed to the frame is pretty different than what I have now.

Thanks!