What do you use your drum sanders for?/ Which model?

[Edward Garrett]

"I know I'm stepping on some toes here, but I don't get the drum/wide belts being used to finish doors (outside of a production shop). If you need more than a scraper and/or a ROS to flatten out stiles and rails you need to work on technique...."

Kevin - using a ROS sander to finish the doors and drawers tends to leave deviations in "flatness", specifically at the corners due to the concentration on the intersection of the rail and stile. When building full inset doors & drawers (which is most of what I do), this deviation becomes very pronounced when trying to match the face of the frame to the face of door/drawer. Using the drum sander has allowed me to get a uniformly flat surface across the entire face of the doors and drawers in a fraction of the time/effort....even though I am not a production shop, it has made getting to the finished piece more enjoyable and more aesthetically pleasing.

[Loren Blount]

Thanks for all the advise. So far I believe the consensus is the Delta is more prone to problems (for most but not all users) The Jet/performax 22-44 pro is receiving better than average reviews. Buy as much or more than you can afford, and don't expect more for the tool than it is designed to do. I like the looks of the 22-44 pro over the plus, but it is quite a bit more cash. I think I will also look at the General as well.

Thanks Again I've learned a-lot keep the opinions coming

Loren

[Rick Gifford]

Maybe you'll put it up at the right time when I have recovered from this SawStop purchase. I'd like to pick up a drum sander. I've spent so much lately when I mention anything my wife gives me that look. She might have to go up on Craigslist if she stands in my way Im a fool for tools.

Actually even with all her rolling of the eyes when I explained the SS purchase, I came home yesterday and she was in my shop showing off the saw to a friend of ours. So I might not have to put her up on Craigslist right yet...

I own the Performax (now Jet) 22-44 Plus. It's a great machine. That said, I rarely use it and am considering selling it to free up the space it takes in my shop. I anticipated more use when I bought it, but that has not been the case.

[Joe Jensen]

"I know I'm stepping on some toes here, but I don't get the drum/wide belts being used to finish doors (outside of a production shop). If you need more than a scraper and/or a ROS to flatten out stiles and rails you need to work on technique...."

Kevin - using a ROS sander to finish the doors and drawers tends to leave deviations in "flatness", specifically at the corners due to the concentration on the intersection of the rail and stile. When building full inset doors & drawers (which is most of what I do), this deviation becomes very pronounced when trying to match the face of the frame to the face of door/drawer. Using the drum sander has allowed me to get a uniformly flat surface across the entire face of the doors and drawers in a fraction of the time/effort....even though I am not a production shop, it has made getting to the finished piece more enjoyable and more aesthetically pleasing.

I don't understand where you have to concentrate the sanding? Are the joints between the rail and style not flat and even? This is where truely flat and straight stock revolutionized my craft.

[Chris Padilla]

Just to continue this thread, I just found a Delta 18-36 for sale locally to me. I've emailed the seller with questions but if I end up visiting the residence of this drum sander, what should I be looking for? Should I bring a gnarly piece of wood to sand? Also, how to check for some of the classical problems with this sander? I don't know how old this one is but that was one of my questions for the seller. He wants $500 for it.

[Peter Quinn]

I don't understand where you have to concentrate the sanding? Are the joints between the rail and style not flat and even? This is where truely flat and straight stock revolutionized my craft.

When I make a few cabinet doors at a time in my own shop and the time between milling/shaping/assembly is minimal a card scraper is all that is required to flush any minor deviations. When ever possible I avoid machine sanding doors as I loath sanding out cross grain scratches. And yes, most of my cabinet doors are inlay not over lay these days. But when I do experience alignment issues the drum sander is a great help. I'd guess that when you glue up a cope and stick door the end grain on the rails often swells more than the edge grain on the styles and stays that way once the glue is cured. Bad technique or the nature of the exercise?

When I worked in a production mill work shop making passage door (1 3/4-2 1/4 thick) typical runs were 10-40 doors, things were done in stages, and wood moves, even mahogany and walnut! The chances you can count on that much lumber staying perfectly straight over a few weeks here in New England are frankly minimal, and the cost of building the doors in smaller lots is prohibitive. Some how between very good milling, accurate shaping and gluing by well trained professionals things moved enough to be a problem. I am talking about .016" or less, but that's still not flush. Sanding all the intersections on a 6 panel door with a ROS creates an unsightly scalloped effect, I don't care how good your technique is. The drum/wide belt flattens and levels doors beautifully in virtually no time at all, then a little light work with the ROS produces a surface ready for finish. Charging a client $75-$90/hour to sand doors flush with a ROS would lose you a lot of business.

My thinking is a typical wood worker doing things over time on nights and weekends winds up working more like a production shop than you might think, albeit the quantity of items made might be smaller. At home I try to stage my production in logical steps that get me from final milling to glue up quickly, I keep anything that must sit over night wrapped tightly in shrink wrap, and still things don't always turn out perfect. I don't think a drum sander or wide belt is essential for a hobbiest, but for a small professional shop it is a luxury that is hard to live without, and for a production shop it is often the difference between between profit and failure in a competitive market place.

Just my $.02 plus a quarter.

[Chris Weishaar]

Just to continue this thread, I just found a Delta 18-36 for sale locally to me. I've emailed the seller with questions but if I end up visiting the residence of this drum sander, what should I be looking for? Should I bring a gnarly piece of wood to sand? Also, how to check for some of the classical problems with this sander? I don't know how old this one is but that was one of my questions for the seller. He wants $500 for it.

Chris,

I would try to get an honest answer from him as to why he is selling it. I bought that machine shortly after it came out and keeping it aligned was a nightmare. Luckily the shop I bought it from took it back after a month or so and gave me a good deal on the performax 16/32 that was their last floor model as Jet bought them. This was several years ago and I only had the machine for a month so I can't really let you know what to look for. Hopefully one of the earlier posters on this thread that still own the machine can lend you a hand.

He may just not be using it much. I don't use mine as much as I thought. It is still a great machine and I will keep it and use it because I hate sanding. I generally take the wood up to 150 grit in the performax and then start at 150 grit in the random orbit sander. It takes nothing with the RO sander to get the marks out, just the weight of the sander and a couple of passes.

Chris

[Chris Padilla]

He's had it for two years and it hasn't been used too much. "Pretty good alignment" is what I got back. They sanded a buncha fir for inside the house and mahogany doors but they haven't used it beyond the 18" capability so no comment on sanding wider stuff. He is looking for the manuals.

I have more questions into him. The sander isn't too local so I'm trying to see if it is worth the drive or not and besides, I couldn't get out there until the holiday weekend anyway so someone more local than me could snap it up. That's life!

[Anthony Whitesell]

My primary use for my performax 16-32 is short pieces of rough stock. I can get 1 sqft exotic pieces for $1 ea. The problem is that my Delta planer needs 14" minimum length. The drum sander requires only 2 1/2".

After reviewing the options I first settled on the Jet (the 10% off sale a WoodCraft did hurt the decision either), due to the fixed table. I opted for the 16-32 size based on 'chance'. In other words, what are the chances that I would need to sand a piece between 10 and 16 inches wide. I thought the chances were pretty good as 12" width would be in that category. So that ruled out the 10-20 unless I wanted to deal with the two pass sanding on a regular basis. Then I evaluated what the chances were that I would need to sand something between 16 and 22 inches wide. I didn't think the chance were high, also noted what are the chances I would need to sand pieces between 32 and 44 inches, I haven't done anything that wide yet, and don't forsee it any time soon. I bought the 16-32 and couldn't be happier.

[Robin Cruz]

The Laguna Tools open end drum sander 16/32 is the least expensive at 595. It a tweeked version of the Steel City or the discontinued Ryobi drum sander. Laguna must have negotiated with the OEM to make some improvements as with the 4" dustport, table extensions and roll around wheels. http://www.lagunatools.com/platinumsander2.htm. One of the woodworking mags gave the Ryobi an excellent review.

[Kevin Newman]

I have owned a performax 16/32 for about 10 years or so. I have considered selling it on more than one occassion until a couple months ago. Up until a couple months ago, it seemed to be a waste of money. Surfacing on the sander is very slow and time consuming and I personally have not had good results with sanding or surfacing boards over 14". I have had problems with burn marks on the board and the belts overlapping after installation. I ended up spending more time hand sanding burn marks out than it was worth to use it.

I ended up buying a 20" planer to do a lot of what I thought the drum sander would do for me. It does it faster and more reliably than a drum sander.

I have since found a good use for it. I got into segmented bowl turning a while back and it does work well for sanding the layered segments before gluing the sections together. Not sure I would go out and buy one again just for sanding segmented bowl layers, but I have been able to put it to some use.

[Chris Padilla]

The Laguna Tools open end drum sander 16/32 is the least expensive at 595. It a tweeked version of the Steel City or the discontinued Ryobi drum sander. Laguna must have negotiated with the OEM to make some improvements as with the 4" dustport, table extensions and roll around wheels. http://www.lagunatools.com/platinumsander2.htm. One of the woodworking mags gave the Ryobi an excellent review.

Hmmm, so for an extra c-note and shipping/tax, I could get a new sander of slightly smaller stature...hmmm....

[Robin Cruz]

You must be comparing to a used drum sander as the Laguna Tools drum sander is the least expensive of all new sanders in that size range. If you include the cost of table extensions and wheels (which the Laguna includes at that price) it $300-400 less then the Jet DS on Amazon which is $850 last I checked with free shipping.

Id rather have a used one too for less then the Laguna DS, but Im not so patient to wait for one to appear as I have a project I need one for now. I dont know what Laguna wants to ship, but its not a consideration for me as I can pick it up from their store front. But until it arrives, I am keeping my eyes open for used one. I did see the delta 18/36 used for $700 but the Laguna Tools is still a better deal.

[Cary Falk]

I bought a lightly used Grizzly 18/36 last month on CL. I probably couldn't have justified paying full price because I am not sure how much use I will actually get from it. I have flattened some glue-ups that would not fit in my 13" planar. I am suppose to be trying to build a guitar for my good friend this summer and it is why I had it in the back of my mind in the first place. Since I have it I might be more apt to venturing to to resawing. The sander seems to be a solid tool and I haven't had an issue with it, but if I had to buy new I would probably have gone with the Jet because that seems to be the most common one. There was very little info on the Grizzly and the prices were roughly the same.

[Chris Padilla]

You must be comparing to a used drum sander as the Laguna Tools drum sander is the least expensive of all new sanders in that size range. If you include the cost of table extensions and wheels (which the Laguna includes at that price) it $300-400 less then the Jet DS on Amazon which is $850 last I checked with free shipping.

Id rather have a used one too for less then the Laguna DS, but Im not so patient to wait for one to appear as I have a project I need one for now. I dont know what Laguna wants to ship, but its not a consideration for me as I can pick it up from their store front. But until it arrives, I am keeping my eyes open for used one. I did see the delta 18/36 used for $700 but the Laguna Tools is still a better deal.

Yep, found one on CL for $500 that sounds like it is lightly used: a Delta 18-36 drum sander. Still sorting through some questions but it sounds like it could be a decent deal.