Opinions on shop fox dual drum sander 26"

[Ron Bontz]

Just looking for some quick thoughts on a double drum sander I was looking at for $1100.00 low hours. Shop Fox W1678. Thanks.:)

[Richard Wolf]

I have that sander. It works very well. Light passes are best for longer paper life. You will need a good dust collector to keep up with the dust. The hook and loop paper needs the ends taped down to help it from unwrapping during use.

Richard

[george wilson]

I've had a 16" Bridgewood,and a 24" Grizzly double drum sander.Now I have an open sided Delta 16"/32". I like the Delta MUCH better. First,the old style drum sanders are a pain to try to get the drums truly parallel with the table. Easy to do with the Delta. By adjusting the nuts at the top ends of the table elevating screws,I soon got 10" wide boards not even .001" out of parallel thickness all the way across. No more extra sanding of taper sanded glued up boards,that look like tapered siding on a house,if you see the picture. Next,the soft rubber feed belt is less accurate than the hard abrasive belt feed of the Delta. Next,one of the WORST things is having to TAPE your belts on. It means you end up leaving the belts on due to the trouble and mess of changing them. The Delta has decent belt clamps,no taping,greatly easier to change. The sanding belts do not get screwed up with sticky residue from strapping tape. Next,should a change of the feed belt be needed,the Delta takes just 2 adjustment screws removed(the height adjustment jack screws),actually,taken loose at the top,and lowered a bit,to slide the belt off. You don't have to take the whole machine apart. The hood of the Delta is computer designed to get all the dust,and this is a design that really works. I always had a good deal of dust floating about with the old style drum sanders. Getting those dual drums at exactly the right height to work together was a pain. I ended up using only 1 drum. I'll never go back to the old style drum sanders. The jack screws on the Delta are quick to adjust to a slight down tilt on the outboard side,to run 32" wide wood,letting the drum gradually peter out in the center of the board-you don't notice it,or leave ridges down the center of your board.

[Ron Bontz]

Thanks for the quick replies. I was actually looking to get something a little quicker than my Jet 22-44. The double drum was what I wanted and the price seemed pretty good. I haven't really heard that much on the velcro drums though. :)