Grizzly 12" Drum Sander

Does anybody have experience with the Grizzly 12" Baby Drum sander? I am looking for opinions good, bad or indifferent. I know of a used one and the price is right.

Thanks,
Andy Kertesz

Andrew,

I had one it is OK, you are very limited on what you can sand. Most woodworkers sand is panels wider that 12" panel for cabinets, furniture sides etc. I outgrew the little sander quickly. Consider saving the money and watching for a sale on an open ended drum sand Like Jet, Grizzly, Delta. CPO tools has a sale 16-32 Jet for 999.99 plus $100 rebate plus free shipping grizzly is $74. so $825.99 VS $669 for the 12" sander. I have the 16-32 and have sanded paenlw up to 32 inches wide. Hope this helps.

Joe

I agree with the prior poster. Unless you are a luthier or miniature maker, I think you'll regret buying a machine only 12" wide. I have an 18" open ended Delta, that I bought used with very few hours for $500, and I'm glad it's not any smaller. It's amazing how often I make something that's just a little wider than 18". No problem with the open ended design. Even so, I often wish it were even wider. This sander has dramatically increased my productivity and quality. Since it's now easy to sand boards and panels, I do, and completely remove planer marks and bring everything to a constant thickness prior to milling parts to final dimensions or cutting joinery. Sanding after glue up is also much less now as long as I get the joints to fit correctly. You won't regret getting a drum sander as long as it fits the type of work you do.

I would just say that although I dont have experience with this sander it could be useful depending on the type of work you do. For instance sanding strips of thin edge banding for plywood, sanding thin hardwood plys after they've been sliced on the bandsaw, for glue up for bent laminations. Also of course if your into endgrain cutting boards they are typically not wider then 12" and this would save immensly on time in terms of flattening and smoothing. 2cents.