Need Recommendations for a Drum Sander

[Mike Henderson]

I'm going to have to bite the bullet and get a drum sander. But I don't know which are the best ones. What would you recommend? I mostly do furniture so I want one that's wide enough to the panels that you'd build for things like a chest of drawers (the sides and top before you put them together).

Any comments, suggestions, etc. will be appreciated. I don't know much about drum sanders so any advice is helpful.

Mike

[David Kumm]

I've used both the Supermax ( Performax ) 25x2 and 37x2 for years. Double drum is nice as a drum can't take much off so it saves some effort. Flat conveyor belt and AL drum makes it a good calibrating sander vs one with padding on the drum. Having said that, if you are in the 3-4K budget range, a 24" widebelt is a step up. The Perfomax machines run in the 1-3K range used for the double drum so the WB isn't much more. Dave

[Kelby Van Patten]

I had a Delta 18/36 for many years, then moved up to a Grizzly 18" wide belt. If you can afford it, there is no comparison between a drum sander and a wide belt; get the wide belt. If your budget dictates the drum sander, I was never happy with the Delta. It had tracking issues that I never could resolve satisfactorily.

[Rick Lizek]

http://woodworker.com/6-x-186-stroke...su-805-874.asp
A stroke sander is far superior to a drum sander. I've used every kind of sander you can imagine over the last 40 or so years in the industry. And one shop we had three stroke sanders and one wide belt. The problem with drum Sanders is drum leaves a ripple effect on the board and more Hand sanding is required before it's suitable for finishing. The stroke sander leaves a surface ready for finishing. A world famous marquetry expert who lives nearby uses a stroke sander to sand his marquetry panels.

A wide belt is a step up from drum sander but only if it has a platen. The stroke sander is the ideal sander for the custom furniture maker. Very simple machine with low power requirements and because most people don't know much about they can often be gotten for low prices. I picked up used Mattison stroke sander for $500 and installed it in a custom metal shop. The owner thought there was no machine that could duplicate his tedious hand rubbed finish. Was he ever mistaken

[Rick Potter]

Give me a shout if you would like to try out my Woodmaster

[Mike Wilkins]

Went from a Performax 16-32 to the Woodtek 25" double drum. Fine machine, giving you the option of running progressive grits on the 1st then 2nd drum. Most of the time mine has a 100 grit on the first and 120 on the 2nd drum. You have to remember these are finishing machines, not planers. Mine is used after planing to remove the planer marks, which are only very slight ripples.
One word of advice; do not run a piece of pine through the machine after you get it home as a first test. Gummed up the sandpaper really quick and was a bear to clean up. Drum sanders do not like resinous woods. Great machines for the budget; if lottery winnings are in your future, go for the wide belt option.

[Robb White]

I've picked up General Dual Drum Sander for 1.2k used from a hobbiest.

http://www.amazon.com/General-Intern...al+drum+sander

Sander.jpg

-Rob

[Mike Henderson]

Okay, a couple of you have mentioned wide belt sanders. I'd appreciate more information about those, especially in the 20" to 24" range.

I don't know if I can afford one but I'd like to know the options.

Mike

[Mike Hollingsworth]

After a couple drum sanders that were never satisfactory, I moved to the open end Powermatic wide belt. Had the elevation wheel not been so low I would have kept it. It just killed my aching back. Moving to the shop fox 20" gave me motorized elevation and digital sizing. Runs on a 30 amps fuse with enough left to run my 2hp Dust Gorilla. Drop by if you like.

[Bill McNiel]

I agree with everyone about the advantages of wide belt over drum but I couldn't rationalize the added investment considering the kind of use I projected. I did a bunch of research and decided that the SuperMax 19/38 was the best choice, Afdter almoast two years of CL searching I found a 25/50 SuperMax for a really good price. I've been really happy with it. Stroke sanders are really nice for a lot of applications too.

[Dave Novak]

I have a Performax 16-32 and I absolutely hate it. Used properly it will get the job done, but it takes far too long - it's underpowered, trips way too often and is just too touchy. Requires way more patience than I have, I'll take my work to a cabinet shop and have them clean them up before I fire this thing up again.

[NICK BARBOZA]

I have had a Performax 16-32 for about 9 years. I'm relatively happy with it for most applications, but there are some limiting factors with it. A few reasons why I'll be upgrading in the future are:
I think the open-ended design has too much give and it does flex even when taking light passes. I also find that taking advantage of the 32" capacity is a VERY fussy operation that is difficult to get flawless results. I mostly use mine to sand laminates for bent laminations which it does well with, however it is sloooowwwww. You have to take very light passes, I've only tripped out the built in overload a few times, but I'm pretty cautious when I run it.

Bottom line, the Performax 16-32 opened ALOT of doors for me and I would absolutely purchase again. At the time, this machine was in my budget and fit the bill very well. I've just out grown it. When I upgrade I'll look at a Supermax 37-2 or a wide belt in similar width; both in the used market.

[Bruce Page]

I went from a Delta 18/36 to a Woodmaster 2675. There's a night & day difference between the two.
I picked up the WM for $1500 off of CL. It was in near new condition with several rolls of paper included.
The only downside to the WM is the significant amount of floor space it requires.

[glenn bradley]

I too have heard that wide belts are the superior tool. I did not have room for one that would accommodate the width I was after. I went with the Supermax 19-38 and have been very happy. No tracking issues. No need to readjust once initially setup (of which there was very little to do). Easy paper changes and very good dust collection. The only downside for this machine is the same as all its cousins; the footprint is pretty big. Even still I would never give it up now ;-) I built a base for it with plenty of storage.

19-38-stand(24).jpg . 19-38-stand(25).jpg . 19-38-stand(13).jpg

I will add that a solid drum and hard abrasive belt are a must for me. I am sanding to a specific point and the mush of a rubber belt or hook-n-loop drum/paper won't work well for me. YMMV but, something to consider.

[Steve Peterson]

I have a Performax 16-32 and I absolutely hate it. Used properly it will get the job done, but it takes far too long - it's underpowered, trips way too often and is just too touchy. Requires way more patience than I have, I'll take my work to a cabinet shop and have them clean them up before I fire this thing up again.

I have a Jet 22/44 and really like it. I believe that it has a 1.75hp vs a 1.5hp motor, so not too much difference there. The belt slows down if you take too big of a bite and an LED indicator light up. I am not sure if the older Performax models have this feature. I have never tripped the 20A breaker or any overload circuit on the unit.

The only feature that I would like would be a locking bar for the open end. Everything is built really stout, but the open end sometimes appears to vibrate a bit on really heavy passes. I have never sanded anything wider than 22".

I picked mine up on CL for $750. I don't know if I would pay full price of around $1700 for one, but it is well worth it for $750.

Steve