Michael Arruda
06-18-2014, 10:48 PM
Hello all!
I have a Grizzly G1079R Double 16" drum sander. It has served me well on cabinet doors, butcherblock countertop glue ups, edging laminations to dimension, accurate thicknessing and has even been pressed into service surfacing wood and corian after spray painting for infills. It is indispensable for final surfacing when I need to remove a couple .001" after primary thicknessing in my Yates American J-180 planer.
We are planning to move to Tennessee next year, and to that end, I am downsizing my shop. To that end, I am deciding what tools to keep and what to sell. I'll be going from a 3000 sqft shop to a 2 car garage again. A drum sander, though, is of too much utility to me to be without. To that end, I just purchased a Ryobi WD1600 open ended single drum sander to replace the Grizzly. It is smaller and much lighter duty. I bought it for the ability to remove the drive motor, disassemble to stand and fit it into a small box/ crate for the move, less than half the size on the Grizzly. It will also take up less space in the new shop.
I have not used the Ryobi yet. I am starting to have buyer's remorse. For anyone who has used both Performax style open end drum sanders and closed ended drum sanders, is there that big of a difference? I've heard of people having problems with open end sanders bending under the pressure of sanding, causing the thickness over the surface to be off. Is this true? I'm accustomed to be able to take less than .010" off in one pass and have a good planar surface over the board. Second, with the single head and no pressure rollers, has anyone had problems with snipe?
So... what would you do? make the Grizz work or sell it on and use the Ryobi?
Thanks,
Michael
I have a Grizzly G1079R Double 16" drum sander. It has served me well on cabinet doors, butcherblock countertop glue ups, edging laminations to dimension, accurate thicknessing and has even been pressed into service surfacing wood and corian after spray painting for infills. It is indispensable for final surfacing when I need to remove a couple .001" after primary thicknessing in my Yates American J-180 planer.
We are planning to move to Tennessee next year, and to that end, I am downsizing my shop. To that end, I am deciding what tools to keep and what to sell. I'll be going from a 3000 sqft shop to a 2 car garage again. A drum sander, though, is of too much utility to me to be without. To that end, I just purchased a Ryobi WD1600 open ended single drum sander to replace the Grizzly. It is smaller and much lighter duty. I bought it for the ability to remove the drive motor, disassemble to stand and fit it into a small box/ crate for the move, less than half the size on the Grizzly. It will also take up less space in the new shop.
I have not used the Ryobi yet. I am starting to have buyer's remorse. For anyone who has used both Performax style open end drum sanders and closed ended drum sanders, is there that big of a difference? I've heard of people having problems with open end sanders bending under the pressure of sanding, causing the thickness over the surface to be off. Is this true? I'm accustomed to be able to take less than .010" off in one pass and have a good planar surface over the board. Second, with the single head and no pressure rollers, has anyone had problems with snipe?
So... what would you do? make the Grizz work or sell it on and use the Ryobi?
Thanks,
Michael