Dual Drum Sander advice or recommendation

[Jay Houghton]

My little woodworking club is thinking about buying a dual drum sander. We have a 19/38 single drum now and it's constantly needing attention. I like the 25" width of the proposed new sander but I've never owned or operated a dual drum. I get that you can put 120g on the first drum and 220g on the second one, but for most of the hobbyist in the club they make multiple passes in the sander to get all the mill marks out etc. So how does that work when you have a dual drum?
I personally have a 15" wide belt sander but they are finicky with the air requirements, etc. so I'm not recommending that for a bunch of amateurs!

Any advice, comments, thoughts or experience would be appreciated.

Jay

[Mike Wilkins]

I have had the 25" dual drum sander from Woodworkers Supply for 10+ years. I got it to remove the machining marks from my Asian made jointer/planer machine that had straight knife cutting head. I would plane slightly oversize then run the boards through the dual drum. I have since replaced that machine with a Hammer 16" jointer/planer machine with the Silent Power head (spiral head) that leaves the boards with a smooth surface ready for 120 grit on a random orbit sander.
I currently have 100 grit on the first drum and 120 on the second and get good smooth surfaces. Great for dressing glue-ups and especially cutting boards. Remember that a drum sander is not a planer and will not remove huge amounts of material so you will need to take light passes. And resist running Pine through the sander-the heat generated will pull the sap from the wood and gum up the paper.

[Robert London]

Hey Jay, I have a Supermax 25 x 2, 5hp and really like it. I beat my old 16/32 single drum sander up for almost 20 years. Only had 1 1/2 hp and it was way underpowered at times.

The 5hp Supermax has good power. Only down side of a drum sander is that is can leave larger grooves when you do heavier grits. You don't have the oscillating effect of a wide belt sander. I wouldn't buy a 3hp double drum. Get a 5hp machine or larger and you won't regret the extra power.

It may be odd for most, but I run the same grits on both drums. Better for dimensioning larger slabs and hogging off more material. But if you do 120 on the front, going all the way up to 220 on the back may burn your paper up quicker. 220 won't get all the 120 scratches out.

Go from 120 to 150 or 180 at most on the back roller. I bought mine pre-covid crazy price increases for 2700. Now it's 4000.

I also like the quick change paper on the Supermax with the end clips. Only takes a half a minute to change paper. Not a fan of having to tape the ends of some machines.

[Russell Hayes]

I have an older Performax 22-44 and a 37x2 double drum. The advantage of the double drum sander is less passes. Whether you stagger the grits or use the same grit on both drums set up properly you essentially get two passes out of each pass. Or on my 37x2 the second drum is adjustable, you can lower it so it is the only drum touching the wood or raise it so it is idle. Typically it is set a little lower than the primary drum. The downside of the double drum is less capacity (two pass with the open ended sander) and they take up more floor space. And with the double drum and it sounds like a lot of users there will be a learning curve. To me if you aren't doing production work, just a few pieces for each member's project, stick with a single drum. Maybe a 37" or 25" single drum, closed ended.

[Kevin Jenness]

I personally have a 15" wide belt sander but they are finicky with the air requirements, etc. so I'm not recommending that for a bunch of amateurs!

Jay

Other than supplying air to the unit at the correct pressure, what's the difficulty?

[mreza Salav]

I have a supermax 37x2, have 80gr on the first and 120gr on the back (I find anything above 120 too fine on a drum sander and clogs up too quickly). I'm happy with it in general (except the very large foot print and the finicky raise/lower mechanism).

[Carl Beckett]

I have owned the Performax 16/32, the Grizzly 25" dual drum, a timesaver (10hp 3ph beast with converter), a Reliant 13" belt, a Woodtek 13" belt, and a Jet 16/32 overhung belt (pneumatic as you say, with a platen - air supply required is modest).

By far the biggest bang for the buck was the little Reliant 13" belt. And just behind that the Woodtek 13" belt. The dual drum was too large of a footprint for me, and prone to clogging (very light passes required). I found the dual drum about the same level of 'finickyness' as the overhung. The 16/32 belt sander is a much smaller footprint and works better all around - I do not anticipate changing out any time soon and would not go back to a drum (single or dual) - they just never clicked for me. (although if all I did was small parts and had space constraints I might consider the Grizzly 12" enclosed drum - the overhung drums had a fair bit of flex as I recall).

Of the dual drum sanders, the woodmaster seems to get positive feedback - I bet there are multiple threads here on the topic.

YMMV

[Rob Sack]

Originally I had a Performax 22-44 that I bought new directly from them. No matter how hard we, including a tech from Performax, tried to adjust it, we could never get the crown out of the middle of panels that exceeded 22 inches wide. And even those panels that were less than 22 inches wide were always tapered, ending up slightly thicker towards the open end. Perhaps sanders like the Supermax produce better results, especially when the drum(s) are supported at both ends. Performax eventually bought back my machine and I purchased well used Woodmaster 38 in. machine. While not as fast as a wide belt, the Woodmaster produced excellent, almost unbelieveable results. The panels were flat, the thickness was consistent from one side to the other and never during the 15 years I owned the machine did I ever have to adjust anything. Even though my machine was a single drum unit, I would expect the same performance and reliability from a double drum version. Even with grits down to 80, I never got heavy lines, only 80 grit sanding scratches, which were easily removed with finer grit paper. The main reason I sold the Woodmaster was to buy a wide belt, and only because it was faster both in sanding and changing grits.