Drum Sanders...

[Phil Winn]

Retirement is GREAT, highly recommended!

Was planning on picking up a drum sander this weekend-and I checked out the following.

I looked at them; did not use them…did read reviews---all got good reviews.

I will be using it for sanding and for THICKNESS PLANNING of highly figured woods.



1. General International 15-250 --24” fixed ends. Double drums.

Approx $2000.00 including shipping. Medium weight and middle-sized.

www.general.ca/pagemach/machines/15250a.html

<O:p

2. Woodmaster drum sander 2675 or 3875—fixed ends; 26” or 38” single drum.

Approx $2700.00 or $3300.00 including shipping. Heavy and Large.

www.woodmastertools.com/s/specs1.cfm

<O:p

3. Woodmaster planner/sander combo machine 718 or 725 ; 18” or 25” single drum.

Approx $2800.00 or $3500.00 including shipping. Heavy and Large.

www.woodmastertools.com/s/specs.cfm

<O:p

4. Performax 22-44 PLUS – open end. up to 44” when done twice; single drum.

Approx $1300 including shipping. Light-weight and relatively small.

www.wmhtoolgroup.com/index.cfm?area=shop&action=detail&iid=139876

<O:p
The GI, and WM are both fixed ends; the WM DM is a dedicated machine, the

WM 718/725 are combo machines; the P is open ended.

<O:p

Questions:

1. Thoughts?

2. The results are primary-thickness planning then surface sanding; the weight and price secondary.

<O:p

Thanks,

Phil

[Brad Olson]

I will be using it for sanding and for THICKNESS PLANNING of highly figured woods.
<o =""><o =""><o =""><o =""><o =""><o ="">

Drum sanders aren't for thickness planing, the sandpaper simply cannot withstand a heavy bite and you will either stall your sander or kill you (expensive) sandpaper. Taking off 1/32" to 1/16" takes a lot of passes

If you are interested in thicknessing figured woods, either

A) Use a DS to finish off the tear out

B) Buy a planer and get a shelix cutter head. Everyone that uses these with figured woods raves about how little tear out you get.

I'm not familiar with every DS model you listed, but the ones I have used, you generally take of 1/128" or 1/64" at the absolute most.

The only sanders I know of that can take more than that, do it with mutiple wide belts and cost a lot more

Now if you are still interested in a sander, the performax 22/44 is a great unit and well priced, but you won't be thicknessing with it
</o></o></o></o></o></o>

[Jim Becker]

I agree with Brad...unless you go "Industrial", aka TimeSaver or similar (for the cost of a good used older car), you're ablity to thickness is very limited and even then it's not great. You'll need to resaw to "almost there" and finish up by running through the grits. It will take you a very long time to do so.

I have the Performax 22-44 Plus and am very pleased with it.

[Rick Lizek]

Get a planer with a helical or Shelical head and your sanding will be minimal verus the long, long time it will take to plane stock. I have access to a North Tech with a helical head and it does an excellent job on figured wood. My Rockwell 18" does a pretty nice job on figured wood on the low speed as well and it has straight knives. I wouldn't bother with a helical head on a jointer. You can do what is called skip jointing which is just light facing to establish a flat true surface and the planer will do the rest. You won't miss the sander at all.

[CPeter James]

I have the Performax 25-2 and use it extensively, but only take off the last .030 to .040 with it and then in multiple passes. It is a twin drum unit and replacement cost is $3,600+. Too much money. Powermatic has a twin drum unit for around $2,500 that I would look into. All that said, you do get nice dead flat surfaces and it is nice to be able to sneak up on the thickness. When doing wide panels, I plane then to about 1/16" over thick and then do the glue up and and then do a pass through the planer if less than 15" and finish on the sander or do it all in the sander. A real nice product.

CPeter

[Phil Winn]

The rough boards I start with are usually within ¼” (start with for example 5/4 and end with 4/4), Usually the boards do not have too much cupping/twisting etc (I pick nice boards) so I was thinking that since I was getting much tear-out with the planner, that using a drum sander with 35 grit paper and taking off 1/32” or so wouldn’t be that bad…

wouldn’t take too long…I called WMH, Woodmaster, and General International tech support and the all said that the models I was looking at would do this…

<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p> </o:p>

BUT, I am open to better suggestions….which specific makes & models are suggested?

(Which helical/shelical head…planner…etc?) Pricing? Size & weights?

<o:p> </o:p>

<o:p> </o:p>

Thanks,

Phil

[Larry Ogborn]

Phil

If money is not a consideration I would go for the Woodmaster 25" planer with a sanding kit and optional spiral cutterhead. Everything I've heard about the Woodmaster equipment has been good.

Larry

[Rob Russell]

For the sort of dollars you're looking at investing, consider the open end wide belt sanders. There are a few folks on the Felder Owners Group who have bought the Northstate version - it's basically the same machine as the Powermatic 16" and they've been happy with it. You could also look at the Bridgewood 15" version.

[Per Swenson]

Phil,

I cannot say enough about our woodmaster

18 inch with the spherical head, drumsanding attachment,

and ability to make any moulding your heart desires.

We literally put thousands of board feet through ours monthly.

Not a hiccup.

If you have any questions please feel free to PM me.

Disclaimer....Woodmaster gives us not a nickle.

Per

[Jim Tobias]

Phil,
I've had a Woodmaster 3875 for about 4 years. Single drum model. I have done on numerous occasions exactly what you are describing - Take a piece of highly figured wood and get it to thickness on the Woodmaster. It takes one main ingredient - Patience. It works fine, it just takes a while to take out the "rough" in rough cut lumber. It isn't a problem with the Woodmaster, it just takes awhile to take off that much wood in the form of fine sawdust. I say get the woodmaster and enjoy some of the extra time you have in retirement and treat that highly figured wood with care.

Jim

[Mark Singer]

I have the General and really like it!

[lou sansone]

Although I do have a timesavers wide belt sander, when I was looking at the drum types of sanders woodmaster was on the top of the list. If you want to talk about wide belt sanders then I would be glad to share what I know about buying used ones.

here is some info on my machine FYI
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=19201

best wishes

lou

[Bobby Hatfield]

Phil, just how much thickness sanding you plan on doing, I have the 50" Woodmaster, and 100 grit thicknesses quite well. Of course the price is a little high. Bobby