Woodmaster 3875 drum sander

[Randy Walker]

I do a lot of tables, bar tops, and doors. That means a lot of belt sanding. For the rustic look that is fine but it is very time consuming. My new customer wants a more finished look with smoother more even surfaces. For that I need a wide belt or drum sander. I looked at wide belt sanders and nearly passed out when I saw the prices. I already have some Grizzly tools and my new 690 table saw will be delivered Monday (insert happy dance here). So I checked out their sanders and the prices are ok, but when I get an order for a 24” table they expect all 24 inches and Grizzly only gives 23 ½ inches. Next I thought of the Woodmaster products. A visit to their site and I was hooked on the idea of the 3875 and the price is right too. It sands 38 inches wide in a single pass.
So my question is does anyone know anything about these things? I watched the video’s, sounds great but how do they really perform? Some of the bar tops I build weigh in at over 200 pounds. I cannot move them by myself. Will the machine handle a 36 inch wide 15 foot long 1 ½ inch thick piece of wood, without being crushed? I will have in feed and out feed rollers to stabilize things, but just moving it is quite a chore.
How about other product out there. Does anyone know of another sander that is affordable for a one man shop and can sand at least 36 inches in a single pass.
I already have a Delta 1632, its ok for small stuff but doesn’t have the power to do big wood. I looked at the Performax 2244 pro but I’m afraid it will not be able to handle the load either.
So tell me what you know. Is the Woodmaster worth the money? Is there something better out there. I really need to sand 36 or more inches at a time, so help me out if you can. Oh yea I have a limited budget too. I will pay for performance but my pockets are not very deep these days.
One last thing, I can get a mobile base for the Woodmaster. That is very helpful in my small shop.

Randy Walker

[Glen Butler]

May I recommend taking your stuff to a local mill that has a wide belt sander. Something like the woodmaster will work for finish sanding, but the passes will be very light. Many shops actually use their wide belt as a planer, so they can quickly sand below the little chip outs that occur on the jointer and planer. A woodmaster will take a few passes to do that.

I find it to be very reasonable for the service performed, and I get quality sanding from a high dollar machine. Typically, I can get 100 cabinet doors sanded for about $200. Or if its just a few small items they will run them for about $10. I even had one cabinet shop turn me lose on their own equipment and I just paid them hourly rental - sanded 215 cabinet doors for only $80.

[Mike Johnson]

I have the woodmaster 3875 and I love it. It will do the tops you are describing. But, as others have said, you will need to take light passes. I don't know where in Tennessee you are, but I am just east of Atlanta, and if you want to visit to try out the machine, you are more than welcome.

[Bruce Page]

I have the Woodmaster 3875’s little brother the 2675. I’ve been very happy with it. Woodmaster sells infeed/outfeed rollers that attach directly to the machine that I think would be necessary or at least highly desired when doing 15’ long pieces.

They are large machines – even my 2675 has a large foot print, so make sure you have the room for it. It’s all relative but don’t agree 100% with the light pass comments. I can take a pretty good bite with the coarser grit papers – hog cuts compared to my old Delta 18/36. Dust collection is a must with these; I have a little Delta 1200 CFM that handles the 2675 fine but I think would be underpowered with the 3875.

[David Werkheiser]

I had the 3875 and for the price it was a well built machine, while it is slow it will flatten a full size man door. Paper changes are easy and dust control is good. Two problems I had were, the sander does not like narrow thin strips (1/4"x3/4"), the gang fed strips shattered, and destroyed the velcro; if I tried to take off too much material the drum would stall out. My machine had single sheve pullys but I have seen others that had double sheve.
David

[eugene thomas]

I have the 3875, works good but have to take off little at a time. if ya buy one and want to run 38" stuff through i would upgrade the motor to 7.5 hp. I have 5 hp version and even with shallow cuts sometimes the sanding drum will bog down and stop.I would get reversing switch to. if taking off to much nice to beable to hit the reverse..

[Randy Walker]

I have been looking at more large sanders and I see that Shop Fox, and Powermatic have big dual head drum sanders. Thier price is much higher too. WoodMaster is offering a lot for the money. Is it worth blowing out my budget to get something like this? I have a big job that I will get conformation on Monday, probably 80+ tables. I have credit but that is not my first choice. I am a small one man job shop with a part time helper. I still don't trust the economy. Any comments suggestions or other input would be helpfull.

Randy Walker

[richard poitras]

Randy I am on my second 3875. The first one was about 20 years old and worked great. I sold it only do to the fact that I picked up a two year old 3875 for pennies on the dollar. (Basically sold a 20 year old machine for a two year old machine) They are very good built in the USA machines and are always rated at the top of the reviews list (do a review search) one nice thing also about the 3875 is if you do cabinets you can run the face frames as well. I am very happy with mine and would recommend it to anyone looking for a drum sander. You also mentioned about a mobile base, I am not sure how well a mobile base works on these units do to the fact they weigh somewhere in the range of 600#’s. What I did is pick up a use pallet jack and use it to make the sander mobile (Slides right under) it works very well and it can be used for other things in the shop as well. I know some people have also built wood bases to put there other tools on and use the jack for all their mobile needs.

Good luck either way!
Richard

[Randy Walker]

Thank you Richard
That helps settle some of my anxiousness. I realy don't have the extra money for those other sanders as attractive as they are. If my deal closes up on Monday I will be placing my order soon after that. I don't do cabinets but I do some doors and lots of other fairly large pieces.

Randy Walker