woodmaster 38" double drum or single drum

[casey herring]

I have sought guidance here before on what others thought of drum sanders and though I don't think its the ultimate answer to my specific sanding needs I do see the merit of having a drum sander. I don't however understand the usefulness of a double drum, in theory I guess I do, but I struggle to convince myself it actually speeds up any of the sanding process since you would theoretically be wasting one paper or the other depending on which grit you actually need.

If someone smarter than me wouldn't mine either confirming my thoughts or completely dismantling my theory I would greatly appreciate it.

Cheers!
Casey

[Steve Jenkins]

I agree that if you have different grits on the each drum and you're making more than one pass your wasting time, I have a double drum and run the same grit on both (80). This allows me to remove twice as much on each pass, then I normally go to a handheld beltsander prior to an orbital.

[Rick Potter]

I have the 38" Woodmaster single drum. I like to surface stuff before putting it together, so I split mine with two grits on the same drum, I think it is 100 and 150 right now. As a hobbyist, time is not that importand, and it works well for me. The double drum adds extra adjustments that would not be that important to me.

Whatever you decide on....do not run pitchy pine through it. Don't ask.

[ed vitanovec]

I would run 80 and 120 in my dual Drum Sander. It is best to take small passes, using it like a Sander and not a Planer. These machines are real time savers and create lots of fine dust, dust collection is highly recommended.