drum sanders

[Barry wines]

There is an auctiion coming up in Jan. that has a Performax 16-32 drum sander.I would appreciate some input as to the effectiveness of drum sanders. At tha sawmill the other day tha owner was showing me his 15" $3200 wide belt sander and in the process of telling me about it he said "stay away from drum sanders". I didnt ask him to elaborate because I hadn't seen this sale bill yet. Any experience out there? Thanks

[Cliff Holmes]

Is the Performax going to match his wide-belt sander? Of course not. Can you afford to get a wide-belt like his? Assuming the answer is no, then your choice is to get along with the "inferior" drum sander or have no sander at all.

I have a 16/32 I picked up used a few months ago and I love it. Not sure how I ever got along without it. It's not the Holy Grail of sanders, but it's a darn fine thing to have around.

One that that was a pain was getting the head aligned to the bed, I could never get it right using the method in the owner's manual. But then I came up with xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx that works perfectly

[doug faist]

Cliff - that's a great tutorial. Thanks for posting.

Now I just have to find a piece of granite...:)

Doug

[Randal Stevenson]

Cliff - that's a great tutorial. Thanks for posting.

Now I just have to find a piece of granite...:)

Doug

Hopefully you have a Woodcraft close. They are inexpensive it you pick them up, no idea if you have them shipped.

[Cliff Holmes]

They are inexpensive it you pick them up, no idea if you have them shipped.

Shipping can be tremendous, because, well, it's a chunk of solid rock :) Grizzly has a 12x18x3" for $30, but the thing weighs 80 lbs and shipping is $44 :eek:

However, right now Woodcraft has a free shipping special going on, use the code 12126 when checking out. Don't know how long this is going to last or if the plate would be exempt. The plate is $32.

[Paul Canaris]

Like mine, had it for years...very usefull.

[Rick Fisher]

Nothing wrong with drum sanders..

They take a bit of patience to learn how to use, and the final finish needs some light sanding with an ROS..

They will save you loads of time .. They are awesome for flattening a wider panel..

Drum sanders require a touch of patience.. To start, I put the feed speed on the slowest setting.. then raise the table as the material is feeding .. you can hear it start to sand..

You need to put the wood through a couple of times at each height setting.. So long as the passes are light, you will have great success..

The trick is lots of light passes, and a final touch up with an ROS..

The intitial learning curve is frustrating.. You burn the paper.. its a part of life.. Just get through that part..

Changing the paper is no big deal.. The burining phase is very helpful in teaching you to change the paper.. lol.

I would buy it .. take some time and learn it .. Dont get frustrated.. After a while, you will love it..


Incidentally, I have a 15" Wide belt as well... they have limitations as well.. The ossilation makes the open ended wide belts require some clean-up.. For a hobby guy, a drum sander is an awesome tools.

[Robert Chapman]

I have a 16-32 and I love it. It takes some effort to get the feed belt to track straight - just take your time and be patient. I use 150 grit and then use a ROS with 150, 180 and 220. The drum sander makes the use of the ROS much easier and quicker.

[Brian Backner]

Cliff,

Nice tutorial, but you are working under a misconception - namely that the two faces of granite surface plates are ground parallel. In general, most surface plates have only their top surface ground and polished flat to whatever tolerance is needed. The opposite, bottom face can even be left with the rough saw marks from the quarry! Likewise, the sides are not usually perpendicular to the good face.

It is possible to buy surface plates with ground/polished/parallel faces, but they are mucho bucks.

Using a larger surface plate (place your to-be-tested plate with the good face down) and a dial indicator mounted on a precision base with a couple of extension arms, it would be possible to measure the bottom face to test for just how un-parallel the plate is.

A better way to do it might be to gang however many 1-2-3 set up blocks are needed to reach from one side of the drum to the other. These things are much smaller and are ground to be parallel and straight in all possible combinations to 0.0002". You can get them from Grizzly, Rockler and most other places:

http://www.grizzly.com/products/1-2-3-Blocks/G5641

Another advantage is that they can be used for many other set up uses in the shop.

Brian
Taxachusetts

[Al Willits]

I looked at both the 16/32 and 22/44 Peformax and went with the 22/44, I'm glad I did, but even with the smaller sander, I think you'd find you use it quite a bit.

No its not a professional wide belt, but I doubt the average woodworker needs a sander that takes up that much room and costs as much as they do.
Plus, in a smaller shop you can move a drum sander out of the way.

As far as adjusting them, joewoodworker has a method, along with probably a half dozen other ways on different forums.

I used a 2x4" square alumimun tubing and fine tuned as I used it.

I found that having the outside edge of the drum just a hair higher let me do pannels that were wider than the sander, with out leaving the edge of the sandpaper marks.

Al

[Jim Foster]

I used 1-2-3 blocks to align the drum with the table on my 22-44 Performax drum sander and it worked very well. (also, you do not have to worry about the pressure rollers being in the way) I just put one block at each end and used a feeler guage of some small thickness and worked the tuning until the gap was consistant on both sides. Since I can't adjust the table flatness or straightness of the drum, I felt this was enough effort. I guess next time I check it, I'll move the blocks along the drum length a little after dialing in the ends and see how things line up along the drum and not just the ends.

As an aside on 1-2-3 blocks, they are probably the most used item in my shop. One sits almost permanantly next to my table saw to assist in repeatable and accurate cross cuts, and I use them for any tool setup or material removal setup that I can. For those of you that do not have a pair, 1-2-3 blocks come in sets of two and one set is pretty much all you need. Since they are made for machinists, even the cheapest pair is good enough for most (if not all) woodworking machine setups and material removal setups. I think I paid about $40 for a set made in the USA, ones made elswhere can be as low as $20 I think

This year, my drum sander is probably the second most used item in my shop.


Cliff,

Nice tutorial, but you are working under a misconception - namely that the two faces of granite surface plates are ground parallel. In general, most surface plates have only their top surface ground and polished flat to whatever tolerance is needed. The opposite, bottom face can even be left with the rough saw marks from the quarry! Likewise, the sides are not usually perpendicular to the good face.

It is possible to buy surface plates with ground/polished/parallel faces, but they are mucho bucks.

Using a larger surface plate (place your to-be-tested plate with the good face down) and a dial indicator mounted on a precision base with a couple of extension arms, it would be possible to measure the bottom face to test for just how un-parallel the plate is.

A better way to do it might be to gang however many 1-2-3 set up blocks are needed to reach from one side of the drum to the other. These things are much smaller and are ground to be parallel and straight in all possible combinations to 0.0002". You can get them from Grizzly, Rockler and most other places:

http://www.grizzly.com/products/1-2-3-Blocks/G5641

Another advantage is that they can be used for many other set up uses in the shop.

Brian
Taxachusetts

[Gene Howe]

Nothing wrong with drum sanders..

They take a bit of patience to learn how to use, and the final finish needs some light sanding with an ROS..

They will save you loads of time .. They are awesome for flattening a wider panel..

Drum sanders require a touch of patience.. To start, I put the feed speed on the slowest setting.. then raise the table as the material is feeding .. you can hear it start to sand..

You need to put the wood through a couple of times at each height setting.. So long as the passes are light, you will have great success..

The trick is lots of light passes, and a final touch up with an ROS..

The intitial learning curve is frustrating.. You burn the paper.. its a part of life.. Just get through that part..

Changing the paper is no big deal.. The burining phase is very helpful in teaching you to change the paper.. lol.

I would buy it .. take some time and learn it .. Dont get frustrated.. After a while, you will love it..


Incidentally, I have a 15" Wide belt as well... they have limitations as well.. The ossilation makes the open ended wide belts require some clean-up.. For a hobby guy, a drum sander is an awesome tools.

I never got over the frustration part. Sold mine and built a 30" "V" sander.
Never looked back.
Gene

[george wilson]

I have a 18" X 36" Delta drum sander. It is a much better design than ANY sander with an adjustable head,because its head cannot flex. You simply adjust the outboard pair of elevating screws on the conveyor belt. I used a dial caliper,and adjusted mine to not even .001" out across a wide board in about half an hour. I love the Delta design. I could not have gotten that accuracy with an adjustable head model,as their hears always flex way too much. I can always put my thumb on the conveyor belt,and the adjacent finger on the head,and raise the head without too much effort(at the end of the head). They HAVE to be loose enough for the head to elevate,and that's the problem.

Being a machinist also,I demand close tolerances. All you need is a dial caliper,not even an expensive one will do to check your wood.

[Mike Gager]

you can build one just about as wide as want for as little as $50 depending on what you have laying around the shop

do a google search for "home made drum sander" for some ideas

[Brian Tymchak]

Cliff - that's a great tutorial. Thanks for posting.

Now I just have to find a piece of granite...:)

Doug

+1 on that! Just bought a 16-32 with the recent Jet 15% sale and will use this technique.

Thanks for the tip!
Brian

[keith ouellette]

I'm sure that many people who can afford to spend $3k on a 15" wide belt sander (15"? seems kinda small for $3k but what do I know) would tell you to stay away from every tool in my shop.

I have a 16/32 performax drum sander and I think its great. I used it to help refinish a number of different things that needed the finish sanded off and have sanded a few larger panels that wouldn't fit in my 20" planer.

Its a little fussy to set up so you can use the full 32" but other than that it works great and the dust collection is awesome.

Make sure the one you are looking at has the bolt that adjusts the tilt on the drum. from what I understand at one time that adjustment bolt wasn't in the system.

[Kyle Iwamoto]

I have the Performax too, and the critical point for me, between the Delta and the Performax/Jet, is that the table IS stationary and the head moves. You can build infeed/outfeed tables or rollers. If you need to sand long items with the Delta, you'd have to adjust the infeed/outfeed tables every pass. If you plan to sand long heavy stock, that may be a factor.

Yeah, I rather have a wide belt.... No can afford. Drum sanders are fine, just have to know what the limitations of your particular machine is. For the weekend woodworker, they are plenty capable. Production cabinet shop? No.

[Sandy Jackson]

Hello all. Really nice site here. Can't believe I've never seen it before.

As to the topic, a wide belt sander would be a dream come true for me but reality is some of those things cost more than my first two houses combined. I've heard stories lately about shops getting their sander "repossesed". Yikes!
My 24" Grizzley drum sander is one of my labor savingest tools. Bought it used from a fellow who said he could not get it to operate well. I downloaded the manual and found that it was way out of adjustment. I used their setup methods and it works great now.
A few things that have worked for me.
A piece of mdf with scribble marks across it's face will show you right quick whats happening inside.
You can flip a pc. side for side to evenly sand until you get the time to set it up.
The velcro sandpaper has made life easier.
The new ones have a lighter colored belt that is "stickier" and will probably allow side by side feeding.
My old black belt is slicker, bad things happen if side by side feeding is attempted.

[Stephen Edwards]

I've really enjoyed my Performax 16-32, bought used. I've never had to adjust the head or the feed belt. If you get one, you'll enjoy using it and find it to be a useful machine in your shop.

[Leo Vogel]

The Jet 16x32 is great for making cutting boards. It makes sanding the end grain almost fun. You just stand there and watch the sander do all the work, and the board is perfectly square. Love it.

[Rick Fisher]

I sold my 24" General double drum today.. Made me think of this post. .
Its only about 2 years old.. Sold it to a buddy for $1200.00 ..

Its a good machine..

[Chip Lindley]

Never used a Performax OR a Delta, but my ol' Grizzly G1066 DD is wayy better than nothing at all! Sure beats any other means of smoothly sanding many panels for a complete kitchen-full of raised panel doors. I run same grit on both drums for double bang-for-the-buck on each pass!

I may have to take exception with the $50 shop-built DS! But, it depends on how rustic one wants to go, and if it will armstrong-powered, or have a power conveyor.

Of course, the Griz (or any drum sander) will never approach a big wide belt! But for less than $1000, I can't gripe. IF a real bargain on a Big 50" Woodmaster ever falls into my lap, I won't blink. Til then, I'm gettin' by Ok!