Drum sander: Supermax or Woodmaster

[John Sayen]

Hi all,

I recognize that many similar topics are out there but I have not yet come across this specific comparison.

I’m looking at drum sanders and I believe have narrowed the field to the following

Supermax 25x2 (double drum, 25” fixed width) - $2,429
Woodmaster 2675 (single drum, 26” fixed width) - $3,089
Woodmaster 3875 (single drum, 38” fixed width) - $3,749
Supermax 37x2 (double drum, 37” fixed width) - $4,679

From what I have read about these there seems to be a lot of personal preference.

I believe at this point I’m leaning toward the Supermax 25x2 as it appears that the Supermax has a more efficient paper changing system, and that having two drums is likely preferable to a single.

I keep going back and forth on this as the Woodmaster seems like a quality unit, but I can’t find much information on changing out the Woodmaster paper and I have a seen a few comments about people being dissatisfied with it.

Posting this as I’m interesting in where you would land with the above choices, and would be interested in reading your reasoning too.

Intended use is general hobbyist woodworking, starting with some end-grain cutting boards and utilizing it for sanding glued-up panels.

I have a A3-31 but that’s only 12” wide and also it sounds like the drum would work better for figured woods.

For handling a panel or benchtop wider than 24” I suspect the protocol would be to build it in two pieces, sand them, and then join together the two products.

I have a 5HP dust gorilla pro for DC.

Thank you for your time and responses, I sincerely appreciate it.

[Mike Henderson]

I did a lot of research and chose the SuperMax 25/50 single drum. I really only use it for rough sanding to get everything flat and finish sand with hand sanders.

I looked at the Woodmaster 26" single drum (used) but didn't like that the conveyor moved up and down, rather than the drum moving up and down. On the good side, it had a big motor but required two voltages - 240V, 30A for the motor and 120 for the conveyor. That's not terrible since you only install the power once.

A guy offered to sell me a 37" drum sander but it was just too big. I didn't have room in my shop. That's actually why he was selling it - he didn't have room for it.

Mike

[Roger Bull]

I went back and forth on drum sanders. I already had a Performax 22-44 Plus but I hated the abrasive style conveyor belt and getting the drum to stay perfectly parallel to the platen was a pain.
I saw the sale at Woodmaster and called them. That call combined with their reputation here on SMC convinced me. I could tell that they offered outstanding customer service. I originally ordered the 38" single drum but switched to a 50" single drum model. With a 50" drum I can run multiple grits at the same time or super wide material. It was only a foot wider than the 38" sander so wouldn't take up much more room...

So far I'm loving this beast. I ordered it fully loaded with the extension table set, reversing switch, and casters. Yes it is big but IMO it is worth making room for.

Some things that were really important to me:
1. Customer service. Mark McCandless was my sales rep and he has taken very good care of me.
2. A real conveyor belt (not an abrasive coated belt). My 22-44 has an abrasive belt and I can't tell you how many times it slipped on the 'last pass' on a piece. When the conveyor does not feed the material at a consistent rate the piece will have waves in it from the drum. That means more passes and frustration (and time). Either the drive roller would slip against the conveyor or the conveyor would occasionally slip against the material. No more abrasive conveyors for me.
3. Pressure rollers on the Woodmaster to reduce/prevent snipe. My 22-44 had snipe issues if I took off more than the thickness of a hair. Multiple passes were then needed without changing drum height to remove most of it.
4. Powerful motors. The Supermax has a 5hp motor which is great but the conveyor motor appears to be average. The 50" Woodmaster comes with a high quality 7-1/2 hp motor and the conveyor motor is 1/2 hp DC. I'll soon be running 200 pound walnut slabs through it. I would be worried about a smaller conveyor motor. The downside for me is having to install a 50 amp outlet for this machine. Everything else I have runs on 30 amp outlets.
5. Slower drum speed and a steel drum to run cooler and cut down burning wood. Multiple passes on my other sander caused me grief when it heated up one of the chaotic cutting boards I was making as gifts and I ended up with a twist.
6. Reversing switch. Far fewer laps from front to rear of the sander.
7. The ability to run 2 or even 3 different grits at once for some projects.

[John Sayen]

Roger

Would you mind sharing your experience changing the paper?

Also I have read it’s harder for the Woodmaster to create flat and parallel surfaces due to the extra drum equipment such as Velcro and tape.

It’s not metal to metal like the supermax I am told.

I have zero experience so I am genuinely asking.

Also they said I’d have to tape one side when changing the paper?

Thank you.

[Roger Bull]

This unit is brand new to me and just arrived last week so I have not had to change the paper yet. I did watch videos before deciding because initially I was against velcro thinking it would be harder to change and might not yield a flat surface. Their videos make it look easy.

If you take really shallow passes (which you should do with any drum sander) there should be no problem with flat surfaces. From what I understand the velcro could be a problem if you tried to take off a lot of material in one pass. It could heat the velcro and melt or otherwise damage it. That could result in an uneven surface running lengthwise on the workpiece. It has not happened to me. i have learned from the school of hard knocks to try to keep the passes at around 1/64" or less on all drum sanders.

There are no clamps on the drum so you tape one side with filament strapping tape. I have not changed the paper yet but the taping looks simple.

[David Kumm]

I had the older models, Performax, which might have changed slightly. They are very slow but I liked the conveyor which is just a sanding belt and the metal drum. The paper was decent to change but you do need to be careful that the slack is taken up and recheck it after running the first board through it. Most of my paper burns came from just enough slack to overlap an edge and burn it. If the cut the taper on the end a bit too long, the end can get caught inside the drum so the belt isn't quite tight. The belt to belt contact ( rather than padded on either the drum or the waffle type conveyor ) delivered a very uniform thickness when I sanded my shap sawn veneer- usually 1/16 or 3/32". I seldom ran anything other than 80-120. finer grits tended to burn easily and a ROS is faster as a touch up than the drum. Dave

[Bruce Page]

I have the 26” Woodmaster. My first drum sander was a Delta 18/36 open end. The difference is night & day between the two. The Delta did well on boards less than ~10” but wider than that it would start to taper from edge to edge.
I have not found adjusting the conveyor table up or down to be a problem at all. Typically you are making very small adjustments.
Maybe Woodmaster has changed their design but on mine the 5hp motor and the conveyor motor are the same voltage, using a single plug. A call to Woodmaster would confirm.

[Bradley Gray]

I have the supermax 25" dual drum preceded by a performax 22/44. I like the sanding belt-on-metal drive and paper changes aren't bad.

The drive motor has plenty of power. The sander is very precise and will sand down to veneer thickness when needed.

Like David said, you need to pay attention to the sanding paper stretching or get burns. I can hear a flapping sound when it loosens.

These things are awesome for S4S so just about everything I make goes through.

I bought used for $800. I've had the machine in daily use for about 7 years with no issues.

[John Sayen]

Thanks everybody. This is turning out to be a tough decision.

Do any of you Woodmaster owners feel the drum / paper is “mushy” due to the hook and loop backing, and has that created any issues?

[richard poitras]

John were are you located? I have a woodmaster that you could come out and look at / run a few boards if you are interested. Or maybe someone in your area could do the same?

Richard

[Ed Labadie]

Thanks everybody. This is turning out to be a tough decision.

Do any of you Woodmaster owners feel the drum / paper is “mushy” due to the hook and loop backing, and has that created any issues?

Yes it is mushy, but causes no issues. It'll compress the same every pass.

As asked earlier, no problem holding thickness to within a few thousandths across the width.

Ed

[John Sayen]

John were are you located? I have a woodmaster that you could come out and look at / run a few boards if you are interested. Or maybe someone in your area could do the same?

Richard

Upper Michigan. The upper peninsula. Quite remote unfortunately, which means there is basically zero used market.

[Ken Krawford]

I don't know if this would make a difference but ThisIsWoodworking.com has Supermax sanders on sale for 10% off - https://thisiswoodworking.com/supermax-drum-sanders-913002.html

[Bob Falk]

I'm a hobbyist, but I've owned both a Performax 16x32 and 25x2 (older models) and both were good machines. I also have a Woodmaster 718 and the sanding drum works well. All three are good machines, though I would say that I prefer changing the velco sanding strip of the WM to the Performax clip system as I have big hands and you need some nimble digits to clip the paper. I haven't noticed that the "mushiness" of the WM paper caused any issues. I think you have to get feel for any of these machines and not put too much pressure on the paper.

If I were sanding a lot of cabinet doors or interior doors a wider double drum would be worthwhile. But if I really needed something that big, I would probably buy a widebelt. My $0.02

[glenn bradley]

I think the challenge will be finding folks who have used both. We all tend to be a bit unconsciously biased in the praise or derision of the gear we have depending on how its doing for us. These very useful machines have a big footprint so you really need to think about what you will use it for mostly. I went with the home-shop-ish Supermax 19-38 after a lot of soul searching and it has worked out great. I was leaning heavily toward wider and double-drummed but, realized I would be sizing the machine for the exception as opposed to the rule.

[John Sayen]

I think the challenge will be finding folks who have used both. We all tend to be a bit unconsciously biased in the praise or derision of the gear we have depending on how its doing for us. These very useful machines have a big footprint so you really need to think about what you will use it for mostly. I went with the home-shop-ish Supermax 19-38 after a lot of soul searching and it has worked out great. I was leaning heavily toward wider and double-drummed but, realized I would be sizing the machine for the exception as opposed to the rule.

I agree with what you've written here. I thought I was on the double drum train too until I started looking more closely at the woodmaster 38" - even though it is a big machine and a single drum, one thing they advertise is the ability to mount two different grits at the same time on it, essentially replicating quite a bit of the double drum functionality.

With the current pricing due to the deals, the 38" is only $660 more than the 26". If I have the space (I believe I do) it seems like it'd be a shame to miss that extra occasional width, as well as the ability to mount two grits at once.

In the end, I guess there is probably no bad choice here.

I always end up overstressing about the decision as money is not unlimited, and I love research.

[Bart Black]

I used to have a drum sander, a performax 16-32. I replaced it with a grizzly widebelt and could not be happier with the purchase, SO much better than a drum sander! This is the best built machine in my shop as well. I would never go to a drum sander after using this.

[Phil Watson]

I have the Woodmaster 2675 now for about a year, have changed the sand paper many times going from grit to grit and I have not had any problems in doing so. I have measured side to side measurements on 20" wide panels with a micrometer and it has been within a few thousands. Have not noticed mushiness with the velcro but I have never even thought about it until reading this thread. The table adjustments have worked flawlessly, large 5 horse motor to drive the sanding head and a smaller one for powering the conveyor belt. This is the only sander I have used and it has performed perfectly. The main
reason I purchased it is because I had 2000 feet of 1 X 4 red oak flooring to sand starting with 80 grit taking it thru 150 grit, turned out excellent.

[Bob Falk]

well said. I made the decision to sell the 25x2 for two reasons....I didn't use it enough (expectation rather than rule) and it had a big footprint (probably as big as a smaller widebelt)

[Roger Bull]

I used to think that having a hard surface for the sandpaper and the sanding table was the best way to go. I now realize that I was wrong. It creates a problem where if the cut thickness is too thick the piece will experience very high pressure which increases heat and burning. With the Woodmaster if I accidentally set it to take a little too much there is a very slight give in the belt and the velcro which compensates for my mistake. Since the pressure is still uniform there are no problems with the sanded surface. With my Performax this would have resulted in more passes through the sander. Of course if you are really off there will be problems with both.

Glenn is correct that it will be difficult to find people who have used both the Supermax and the Woodmaster. I consider the Supermax to be a Performax on steroids. Bigger motors and stronger construction but IMHO still has some of the same problems such as an abrasive conveyor that I desperately wanted to get away from.

If possible I would strongly suggest trying them. I believe Woodmaster has some customers that are willing to demo their machines. Supermax may have the same service.

Please let us know which you went with.

[John Sayen]

I used to think that having a hard surface for the sandpaper and the sanding table was the best way to go. I now realize that I was wrong. It creates a problem where if the cut thickness is too thick the piece will experience very high pressure which increases heat and burning. With the Woodmaster if I accidentally set it to take a little too much there is a very slight give in the belt and the velcro which compensates for my mistake. Since the pressure is still uniform there are no problems with the sanded surface. With my Performax this would have resulted in more passes through the sander. Of course if you are really off there will be problems with both.

Glenn is correct that it will be difficult to find people who have used both the Supermax and the Woodmaster. I consider the Supermax to be a Performax on steroids. Bigger motors and stronger construction but IMHO still has some of the same problems such as an abrasive conveyor that I desperately wanted to get away from.

If possible I would strongly suggest trying them. I believe Woodmaster has some customers that are willing to demo their machines. Supermax may have the same service.

Please let us know which you went with.

I think I'm going with the 38" Woodmaster single drum. It sounds like that's wide enough to run two grits side by side, yet be able to handle wider panels with a single grit if needed. We will see.

Thank you all for the help.

[Rick Potter]

A bit late to the party, but I formerly had a Delta 18" open end. Sold it to the SIL because it was a bit lightweight.

Decided to get a Woodmaster 38" single drum, as I thought I would use the width to run the faces for my big new kitchen project after assembly.

I did not like the cross grain sanding scratches on the stiles doing it that way, so I went back to sanding the individual pieces prior to assembly. This led me to a couple years of wishing I had gotten the 26" unit.

It finally was suggested that I install two different grits on the drum, so I did. My sander currently has half 80 grit, and half 150, which effectively gives me 17 usable inches of each. You need to allow for an additional winding of packing tape between the grits. I simply put a line of 2" blue tape above the input area to delineate the 'no go' zone. It's like having two sanders.

This has worked out well, and by running all work pieces through the same sanding regimen, face frames are assembled needing only finish sanding with a ROS. I have done this for a couple years now, and almost everything I do is oak.

I have had the machine for over ten years with no problems, built simple and sturdy.

It came with a Shop Fox mobile base, which is WAAY too light, as in...won't even roll. Can't recommend that.

PS: You really need a good DC for this.

[Bruce Page]

Rick, I also have the Shop Fox MB under my 2675. The OEM wheels would flat spot making it next to impossible to move. I replaced the original wheels with quality red polyurethane wheels. I can now move the sander around pretty easily. (it’s still heavy..)

[John Sayen]

A bit late to the party, but I formerly had a Delta 18" open end. Sold it to the SIL because it was a bit lightweight.

Decided to get a Woodmaster 38" single drum, as I thought I would use the width to run the faces for my big new kitchen project after assembly.

I did not like the cross grain sanding scratches on the stiles doing it that way, so I went back to sanding the individual pieces prior to assembly. This led me to a couple years of wishing I had gotten the 26" unit.

It finally was suggested that I install two different grits on the drum, so I did. My sander currently has half 80 grit, and half 150, which effectively gives me 17 usable inches of each. You need to allow for an additional winding of packing tape between the grits. I simply put a line of 2" blue tape above the input area to delineate the 'no go' zone. It's like having two sanders.

This has worked out well, and by running all work pieces through the same sanding regimen, face frames are assembled needing only finish sanding with a ROS. I have done this for a couple years now, and almost everything I do is oak.

I have had the machine for over ten years with no problems, built simple and sturdy.

It came with a Shop Fox mobile base, which is WAAY too light, as in...won't even roll. Can't recommend that.

PS: You really need a good DC for this.

Thanks Rick, that is my plan (two grits) for the majority of time, and a single grit when faced with something wider than 17". They sell a caster set now instead of a mobile base, so we will see how that performs. Is there a trick to cutting the strips so that you can run two grits effectively?

I have a 5HP Oneida Dust Gorilla Pro - I hope that is good enough?

Anything else I should know about the 38 woodmaster? Really appreciate your first hand experience.

[Phil Watson]

I have the caster set from Woodmaster on my 2675, rolls beautifully.