Double Drum Sander deal

[Jason Pinsonneault]

so i just found a General 24" Double Drum Sander for sale near me. The guy claims it has been used very little and is in as new condition which it would appear to be by the picture i have seen (have yet to see in person), with it he has the ductwork to plum the 2 DC ports together, extra sand paper wraps and a mobile base for it. He is asking $1500 CDN or best offer, i jsut looked and new this sander is worth $2300 CDN.

now this isnt a tool i absolutely need , in fact not even one i was looking for until i found out about this deal, ive just been thinkin that it might be too good of a deal to pass up and that it could come in very handy to sand down panel glue ups as i only have a 13" planer.

wat other uses do you guys use these for and are they worth it

do you think this sounds like a good deal

Jason

[Bruce Page]

I picked up a 26” Woodmaster w/mobile base & a case of assorted paper for $1500 a couple of years ago. Other than being a space hog, I love it. I use it on just about everything.

A decent CFM DC is a must.

[Ron Bontz]

I have the General 3HP 24" double drum. I can't imagine being without it now. It is a space hog. If it is like new 1500.00 may not be a bad price. I have seen them selling for about $1000.00 USD though. Good luck.

[Jason Pinsonneault]

what type of things do you guys use your drum sanders for other then large panel glue ups

[Bruce Page]

Jason, I took some resawn QSWO straight from the bandsaw to my Woodmaster, did some tablesaw and tongue & groove millwork along with a little power hand sanding to make this cabinet back panel. No planer or jointer needed.

[Willard Foster]

Jason,

Segmented turners use drum sanders for sanding each "ring" after glue up.

Bill

[Ron Bontz]

If I can not afford to take a chance on snipe, or I just need to take a hair off the thickness I will use mine to finish cleaning up a board.:)

[Chip Lindley]

so i just found a General 24" Double Drum Sander ...... it could come in very handy to sand down panel glue ups as i only have a 13" planer.

Jason, I never had good luck trying to plane panels to any sort of a finished state, because of snipe and tearout. Most panels have grain running both direction for most pleasing look. Decent planing is impossible unless you have a spiral insert head on your machine.

A drum sander such as the General will allow you to finish panels down to final thickness, with a finish that may only need touching up with a ROS.

$1500 is not a steal, but it is a very decent price if you have the need. I've struggled along with a used Grizzly G1066 ($900) for about 3 years now. It served it's purpose much better than no drum sander at all.

Now I have been blessed with one-heck-of-a-deal on a Woodmaster 3820 38" double-drum machine with variable speed and micro-adjustable rear drum. AND, Velcro-covered drums! Talk about a Space Hawg!! I am really looking forward to putting it through it's paces just as soon as the snow clears and I can get it onto a mobile stand and into the already wayy-too-crowded shop. Something's gotta go!

[Clint Olver]

$1500 is steep for a used 24". You can pick up new off-shore sanders for $1800-$2000. Some experts will argue that the single drum GI is a better machine for $1500 new. I don't think I'd go over $1000 and it would have to be mint.

[Rick Fisher]

Hey Jason, I sold my GI 24" for $1200 about a month ago ..
It was in fantastic condition, about 1.5 years old ?? (cant remember) only used by me..

Its a good machine .. take a bit of a learning curve, patience is important.

See if you can get the price down, but either way, when you add the sales tax to the price of a new one, its a pretty good deal..


Edit ....

Jason, I should have added that when I put mine up for sale at $1200.00 .. it sold in the first day, to the first person I mentioned it too.. never made CL .. They guy who bought it needed an hour to call his wife and it was a done deal.. Since then, I told a couple other guys that I sold it for $1200 and they said they would have jumped on it ..

[Rick Fisher]

Jason.. a 24" Sander will work for glue up's if there is not a bunch of glue on the surface.. You need to make it pretty clean.. lower grits are much more forgiving..

I always ran at least 150 with mine and burned my fair share of it .. having said that .. I did a lot of nice work with it too..

Glue isn't a problem unless its protruding above the surface of the wood... IMO ..

There are all sorts of things you can do , if the panel is 18" wide, cock it sideways a bit.. keeps the same sandpaper from having to deal with all glue..

I upgraded to a 24" Wide Belt, otherwise I would never have sold it ..

[Jason Pinsonneault]

thanks for the great info guys

rick i wish there where more deals like this one and when you sold yours,
turns out i was about 24 hrs late for this deal i found out about the deal on late saturday night thought about it on sunday morning but decided not to call until monday as some people dont liek being called on sunday about things,
as it turns out someone called him sunday adn picked it up in the afternoon , DOH!

guy even sounded as if he would have went down to possibly your price,

now the search continues for a good used one with the price of a new one being $2250 before taxes, even if im able to get away with only the one tax im still looking at close to $2400 versus $1200

[Rick Fisher]

Jason..

A bunch of the advice that I get on here is accurate for the location of the poster.
The economy in the USA is pretty brutal in some places.. I have seen 12" Jointer's go for $800.00 in some parts..
I have not found those deals locally, or seen them in Canada at all.. For the most part, stuff sells pretty fast if its reasonable. .

You need to have your mind made up and act fast..

I sold my Bandsaw, Jointer and my sander in less than 2 days for the price I was asking.. I never price them high, and never dicker, not a penny off..

When I bought my Wide Belt, I showed up as fast as I could, with the money and drove away with it ..

[Chip Lindley]

Ouch! Sorry Jason. Nice guys finish last when it comes to picking up good CL deals! I figure if the seller chooses not to be disturbed on a Sunday (or even worse--late at night) his phone will go to voice mail or the message machine. I have found that many scrupulous sellers will return calls to interested parties in the order in which they called. (I try to do the same) He who hesitates is lost.

Don't Fret! There will be more deals in your future. I kicked myself for not calling until too late about a Woodmaster 50" single drum sander on CL for $1500. But within two weeks I found my 38" double drum Woodmaster on CL for only $1200! But, I had to drive 8 hours (round trip) rather than 3. Small price to pay!

[Dave Lehnert]

Thinking about a CL deal is a huge mistake. I have called on things posted for less than an hour and it was gone.

You have to do a little research ahead of time. I would like to pick up a good used larger lathe. I have research what models I would like and what is a good price. That way when one pops up I can jump right now.