Last week I posted a message about truing the drum, which I finally got
squared away. Today I received the velco strip and 100 grit velcro
sandpaper... I think it's 25' of each stuff.

The velcro strip was a bit hairy to get on without any bubbles, and I
wasn't sure how "tight" the spiral should be edge to edge. Turns out I
believe you could have a good 1/8-1/4" spacing without worry.

Once I got the velco on, I put the sandpaper spiral going the opposite
direction. I cut a slot for the start of the paper to go into (only
about 1/2" wide), wrapped it as tight as I could, and trimmed it off.

This thing works like a freakin' charm! I can't believe, I'm so happy.
I have 4 white oak panels which are 20x20 to sand down... After the
panels dried there was a slight cupping of the entire panel (wet wood,
perhaps?). I put the cupped side down, so it began to sand in the
center of the panel. I drew a bunch of lines on the board with pencil
so I could see high/low spots. I pushed it through with 1/2" MDF
piece.. kinda like a giant pushblock.

By the time I was on the 3rd panel, I had the technique down flat.
Took me 5 minutes to do each panel side... and they are FLAT!

I'll try and get some pics up on my website this week to show how it
works. Still need to put some finishing touches on the stand, such as
side edging for the table, a guard for the belt, and a power switch.
This thing will do 24" panels... I could certainly see upgrading this
in the future to do 30 or 36" now that I have the confidence that it
will work!