I was playing around trying to make a better 1500 grit sanding drum today and managed to put somthing quite satisfactory together. I used a flap wheel from widget supply(I think it is discontinued now - one of the big hefty ones) if you put some electric tape between the flaps you can very tightly wind it round the wheel. then you can wrap a strip of sandpaper round the tape, leaving a slight overhang and a (very)small drop of superglue stick each end together.
It does leave a slight bump in the wheel but I didn't notice it.
The difference in using a larger wheel is significant and so far I haven't had one blow up on me like with the smaller ones so the paper lasts longer.
Its also easier to follow the regular grind marks than with the smaller ones.