steel city belt vs. jet drum oscillating

[Roy Monzo]

Trying to decide on the right sanding machine for a small shop with a 2hp. dust system with 4" & 6" dust capability. The price of the belt vs. the drum are about in my price range. Any help will be appreciated from those with experience. Happy New Year!:)

[Steven Hsieh]

What are you planning to do?

[Terry Browne]

It depends on what kind of projects you're working on. Both are good tools but are used for entirely different jobs. It's handy to to have both but neither is an essential tool. If you have a 3x21 belt sander and a 5 or 6 inch orbital sander, then you have most of the bases covered. A hand held belt sander can double for most of what you'd use a larger belt sander for, so maybe the Jet oscillating spindle sander would be a good choice.

[Mike Heidrick]

It depends on what kind of projects you're working on. Both are good tools but are used for entirely different jobs. It's handy to to have both but neither is an essential tool. If you have a 3x21 belt sander and a 5 or 6 inch orbital sander, then you have most of the bases covered. A hand held belt sander can double for most of what you'd use a larger belt sander for, so maybe the Jet oscillating spindle sander would be a good choice.

Terry, I could be wrong but I dont think he is talking hand belt sanders or a spindle sander. He is talking a Jet 22/44 drum sander (al la performax rebranded to Jet with osicaltion) vs a wide belt sander smaller of the big upright machines.

Roy, you priced the import Timesaver speedsavers?

[Roy Monzo]

What are you planning to do?
I begin with rough stock, plane with 15" planer, cut,fasten, and finish heirloom type furniture pieces for family members and small church furniture pieces. The shop is 14x24 and the hand held portable sanders are making quite a dusty atmosphere, Also, have begun to do more resawing of my thicker stock and try to make items using much thinner material.

[Roy Monzo]

Yep, I'm trying to decide whether to pursue a cheaper priced belt sander or a more expensive drum sander to sand panels, tops, and thin stock that has been made via resawing. Like to make a few smaller pieces of furniture requiring thinner than 1/2 " stock.
Terry, I could be wrong but I dont think he is talking hand belt sanders or a spindle sander. He is talking a Jet 22/44 drum sander (al la performax rebranded to Jet with osicaltion) vs a wide belt sander smaller of the big upright machines.

Roy, you priced the import Timesaver speedsavers?

[Jim Andrew]

Roy, look at the Grizzly G9983. I have one and find it to be a very nice machine. You have to have an air compressor, as it uses air to make the belt track. I have a 6" cyclone system, 2 hp and it works for the dust collection. The 5 hp sander requires 8 gauge wire, so had to run a dedicated circuit for it. In fact, getting it hooked up and running took me a while, but now it's done, I find it a very nice addition to my shop. I'm not familiar with the steel city sander, and would not want less hp than the Grizzly has. Grizzly closed out the same size sander with smaller hp when I bought mine about 2 years ago, glad I went with the G9983.

[Mark Ashmeade]

I have the Jet 22-44ODS. I'm quite satisfied with it, but it isn't the Nirvana I'd hoped it might be.

Changing the grit is a bit awkward, I haven't quite got the hang of that yet, although it does look like it's something that will come with practice.

It will happily bugger up a roll of paper if the grit is too fine and/or the bite is too much.

It is BIG. I was surprised at the footprint in the shop. Also not too easy to put on wheels, due to the dogbone shape of the base.

All that said, I like it, and it certainly makes short work of flattening glue ups. I just need a bit more practice with it, I think.

[Jim Andrew]

Just did a search of the steel city wide belt sander, and found Home Depot has a model 55225 for 2249.99, if I didn't pick up an old webpage. It has a 15 wide by 30" belt, and HD has a 2 pack of belts for 59$. The 16 x 48 belts are cheaper from Grizzly for my G9983, but the purchase price of the sander is considerably more. Would like to read some reviews before I would want to purchase this sander, but very tempting for hobbyist use. Some of the drum sanders cost considerably more, so if this is a good sander, quite a good buy!