Drum Sander

[Jim Riseborough]

Was thinking about a drum sander. Anyone have pros/cons? I have a 15" planer already too. Was considering the delta drum sander.

https://deltamachinery.com/products/sanders/31-481/

[lowell holmes]

As some one said once:

"The difference between a man and a boy is the price of his toys".

I have a garage shop full of toys.

[Jim Riseborough]

As some one said once:

"The difference between a man and a boy is the price of his toys".

I have a garage shop full of toys.

I'm not sure how this helps, but thanks?

[Dan Chouinard]

I have thoroughly enjoyed my General International double drum sander. It has served me well for many years. Had some frustration initially with paper flying off the thing. The clips on each end that hold paper on drum are not great but a wrap of gorrilla tape fixes that.

[Jim Riseborough]

I have thoroughly enjoyed my General International double drum sander. It has served me well for many years. Had some frustration initially with paper flying off the thing. The clips on each end that hold paper on drum are not great but a wrap of gorrilla tape fixes that.

Did you consider a open ended type sander? They dont seem to be double drum though.

[Mike Walsh]

I have the Supermax 16/32 and like lit a lot. Initially got it to smooth (lot of) thin strips that I was using for a bent lamination chair seat. Worked great for that project and I've found lots of other uses for it since

[roger wiegand]

I worked for many years without one, then bought one when I was trimming out our house with cherry A&C trim and was faced with a couple thousand feet of boards to sand. I goth the Supermax 19-38.

I now use it on pretty much every single project. Was making veneer for my current guitar project yesterday. Anything that wants precise thicknessing with no risk of tearout

[Jim Riseborough]

Thanks for all the feedback.

[John TenEyck]

That Delta looks just like the Steel City my friend has and the General International I have, just different paint. Both his and mine have performed w/o complaint by the machine or us; everything just works as it's supposed to. I don't think I would do business with Delta these days, however.

John

[Jim Riseborough]

my other option would be there powermatic Model# 1792244

[Jim Riseborough]

That Delta looks just like the Steel City my friend has and the General International I have, just different paint. Both his and mine have performed w/o complaint by the machine or us; everything just works as it's supposed to. I don't think I would do business with Delta these days, however.

John


Why no business with Delta?

[Jebediah Eckert]

I have the Jet 22/44 open ended drum sander. It is fantastic for sanding glued up panels flat that won’t fit through my planer, too thin, or prone to tear out. Anything that is going to be painted I also will use it. As everyone with one will agree, you need to take numerous very very light passes so it’s slow. If I get greedy the paper burns and you change it or work around the burnt spot. Then I go back to very very light passes for a few weeks then repeat the cycle again when I’m in a hurry and burn the paper.

I avoid it at all costs for pieces I’m putting any type of clear finish on. Pretty much 120 grit stays on mine all the time. Even with that the scratches are deep and take forever for me to remove. I actually drop back to 80 grit with the RAS and I still find it terribly time consuming to remove them. But it does keep stuff nice and flat, and obviously tear out isn’t an issue.

I bought mine used for a great price, and would do it again. It is super handy for a bunch of things. However, if I bought it to “save time” sanding it would have went on CraigsList after a few times using it. Unless I’m using it wrong, or it is setup incorrectly, I find it adds to sand time for clear finishes. I would rather use a RAS right off the planer when possible, takes half the time for me.

[Bruce King]

Delta failed to have parts available and none to pass on to the next owner. I won’t buy anything from them.

[Zachary Hoyt]

I have a SuperMax 19-38 and keep 80 grit in it 99% of the time. For building musical instruments it's great, and that's most of what I do. I need relatively small things made perfectly flat with no tearout, and I use a lot of figured woods. Precision matters more to me than speed for what I'm doing. If you're making cutting boards probably a drum sander will not be useful, I have a sawmill customer who mass produces cutting boards and was disappointed with the Delta sander he bought years ago, he says it is too slow. He didn't think I'd like mine when I told him I was going to buy one, but once I bought it I found that it is very handy and I wouldn't want to be without one again. He gets his value from volume, and I get mine from exactness, and some folks will be somewhere between those two extremes, I imagine.

[Ron Selzer]

As some one said once:

"The difference between a man and a boy is the price of his toys".


After trying two different drum sanders and getting totally pissed off at both of them to where they went away. I finally found a great deal on a used 15" wide belt saner with open end. I probably would get rid of my SawStop ICS 5hp before doing without a wide belt sander and the ICS is going nowhere while I am alive. The lack of burning the wood while sanding, dips and gouges, feeding issues, etc are GONE now. Especially like starting sanding at 36 grit until flat, then 40, 60, 80, 100, 120, and sometimes 150, 180, 220 one pass each side, turn sander off change belt as soon as it stops and back sanding in less than a min. Drum sander you are stuck with one grit or hassling with changing paper each time. NO WAY NO HOW for me anymore.
In the end it only is money and like any thing forgot how much money when life is so much easier. Wish I would have bought a wide belt sander a lot sooner, I would have a 36" or wider if there was anyway to fit it in my basement shop. Also would like to have an A3-41 instead of a 8" jointer just no room.
Look around hard there are used 15" wide belt sanders out there occasionally for 1500-2000
good luck
Ron

[Justin Rapp]

Why no business with Delta?

Delta is not the Delta of old. From the rumblings, there is not much post-sales support and their quality has gone down from the delta tools we all used to know.

[Richard Coers]

The only way I'd buy a double roll sander is if the back roller can easily be lifted out of position. Very seldom, especially on a wide panel. will the roughing roller make the panel dead flat in one pass. It might take 4-5 passes to get it flat. If you have the finer second roller left in position, you are just wasting that abrasive. I'm no fan of a small drum sander for running lots of stock. The abrasive gets back to the wood so quickly it really eats up the sandpaper. A narrow small wide belt is far superior. Shocked to see Delta selling that kind of equipment. I thought they were heading to bench top only. Must have swung a deal with another Chinese factory.

[Steve Demuth]

I have to agree with this. If you're contemplating $5K for a dual drum sander, why not spend that or a little more on a wide belt. So much better for most jobs.

[Jim Riseborough]

The only way I'd buy a double roll sander is if the back roller can easily be lifted out of position. Very seldom, especially on a wide panel. will the roughing roller make the panel dead flat in one pass. It might take 4-5 passes to get it flat. If you have the finer second roller left in position, you are just wasting that abrasive. I'm no fan of a small drum sander for running lots of stock. The abrasive gets back to the wood so quickly it really eats up the sandpaper. A narrow small wide belt is far superior. Shocked to see Delta selling that kind of equipment. I thought they were heading to bench top only. Must have swung a deal with another Chinese factory.

It is not easily adjusted out of the way. I guess I never intended this to be a material remover, more for when I glue up panels, etc. Also for end grain glue ups like cutting boards, etc. I would hope Im good enough to be one pass and done.


I have to agree with this. If you're contemplating $5K for a dual drum sander, why not spend that or a little more on a wide belt. So much better for most jobs.

I have one I can get for around $2200.

[John TenEyck]

Dual drum sanders work fine if you understand that they are not abrasive planers. 0.005" is a big bite with this type of machine. I use 80 grit on both drums 95% of the time. That distributes the work to both drums so you don't have to raise up the rear drum. That grit works well for removing planer marks and tear out as well as leveling glued up panels without burning, and abrasive life is good. The finish off mine with 80 grit is very good and it's easy to go up to a finish ready surface using my ROS.

John

[Richard Coers]

It is not easily adjusted out of the way. I guess I never intended this to be a material remover, more for when I glue up panels, etc. Also for end grain glue ups like cutting boards, etc. I would hope Im good enough to be one pass and done.


If you can get a 24" wide panel within .010" in the glue up you are way better than me. And I've been doing it for 48 years.

[Jim Riseborough]

If you can get a 24" wide panel within .010" in the glue up you are way better than me. And I've been doing it for 48 years.

I have been doing all my glue ups with the JessEm dowel jig. It gets them really close, I have yet to measure the offset. I would say that usually its within 1/64" (0.015ish?)

[Alex Zeller]

You seam to be getting in the Woodmaster territory price wise. I have a 25" Woodmaster with the reversing switch. At first I didn't think it was useful but now I use it all the time. Just run the wood through the sander and once it's cleared the sanding drum reverse direction and make a second pass without having to walk to the rear of the sander. I would like a wide belt sander but the options are limited unless you have 3 phase power.

[John TenEyck]

Richard, 0.010" offset is huge. No offense, but you should try a different way of gluing up panels. I just did a 42 x 95" table top with 4 wide boards. I glued up 2 at a time then the two halves together, using biscuits for alignment. I could barely catch a fingernail on the seams. With no wide belt sander available, the top had to be flat straight from glue up, and it is.

John

[Richard Coers]

Richard, 0.010" offset is huge. No offense, but you should try a different way of gluing up panels. I just did a 42 x 95" table top with 4 wide boards. I glued up 2 at a time then the two halves together, using biscuits for alignment. I could barely catch a fingernail on the seams. With no wide belt sander available, the top had to be flat straight from glue up, and it is.

John
John, I was making a point. I have no idea what kind of an offset I have, but I'm pretty certain that Delta drum sander won't make a 24" wide glued up panel flat in one pass. That said, I've been woodworking for 48 years, 24 professionally. I'm very comfortable with my techniques. Thanks for the suggestion though.

[Doug Dawson]

Richard, 0.010" offset is huge. No offense, but you should try a different way of gluing up panels. I just did a 42 x 95" table top with 4 wide boards. I glued up 2 at a time then the two halves together, using biscuits for alignment. I could barely catch a fingernail on the seams. With no wide belt sander available, the top had to be flat straight from glue up, and it is.


What biscuit joiner do you have, that is so precise? Lost in wonderment... :^) I use cauls.

[Thomas Colson]

Avoid Supermax at all costs. Great machine, if it works. Their customer service is worse than the the Taliban. If you got a broken machine/part, you're pretty much on your own. I had one that was defective out of the box and they wouldn't even return calls.

[Bill Bukovec]

Why no business with Delta?
I no longer buy Delta because when I needed parts for my Delta tools, Delta no longer stocked them.
I have a Supermax and wonder how I got along without it.

[Robert London]

Hi Jim,

I considered that machine as well. Read a few reviews that is was not heavy duty enough with 3hp being a bit timid for dual drums.

I bought the 5hp Supermax 25x2. I use same grits on both drums. The back drum can be lifted up if necessary for lighter grits, but I prefer having both the same. Very easy paper changes with the end spring clips.

5hp is really nice and glad I got the extra muscle. A machine like this has a big footprint, but like the open stand for being able to maneuver around it when rotating workpieces.

[Mike Wilkins]

I considered selling my Woodtek 25" dual-drum sander after I got a Hammer A3-41 jointer/planer machine with a spiral cutter head. It leaves a nice smooth surface so I can go directly to the random orbit sander.
The reason I got the sander is because my previous jointer/planer machine had a straight knife cutter head, and no matter how hard I tried to get the blades in line, I still got the tell-tale washboard lines, and needed the sander to get a reasonably smooth surface. But now it would be difficult to let it go since I have been making tons of cutting boards and can quickly get to a smoother surface for sanding.
One word of caution: don't run pine or other soft wood through a drum sander. The drum speed and soft wood full of pitch will gum up the sandpaper real quick.

[Joe Jensen]

I have a Powermatic 24" dual drum. I run nearly all parts through it with 120 on the first drum and 150 on the second. Works great if you don't run soft wood through it. Paper fouls really quickly with fir. Changing paper is like an hour, I hate it. So, I never take more than .005" a pass. I added a DRO to it and the planer. It's not a substitute for a planer. If you don't have a DRO on the planer, you will use a caliper on each board before sending it through the drum sander.

I now have space for a wide belt and I am shopping for my ideal machine.

[Robert Engel]

I have been using a Supermax for the last 2 months and it is an excellent machine.

I had exactly the opposite experience with customer service than the one poster. My email was responded to promptly (with a couple hours) and forwarded to tech support, who also responded quickly. He even apologized for missing one of my follow ups.

My only caution is pay attention to the setup. I was too quick to use mine and didn’t pay attention to the tracking on the platen & had to replace it.

Changing belts is very easy and duct collection is superb.

I previously had a dual drum, which was useless to me.

[Jim Riseborough]

Thanks for all the insight. Perhaps I dont need it. The wide belt sanders seem the way to go, but are 2-3 times the cost.

Upgrading my planer to a 24" is 2x the cost too.

I do spend money on more stupid ideas....so perhaps look into some other tool. I have always wanted a mill.

[Mike Henderson]

I have a Supermax 25/50 and use it on almost every project - probably every project. If you want to avoid the cost of a wide belt sander, I'd recommend a wide, single drum sander. I had a 16/32 and often found that I was doing work wider than 16 - and the idea that you can do two passes and get 32 is a outright lie. It's just about impossible to get your drum sander adjusted so that you don't get a ridge between two passes like that.

But 25 inches has handled just about everything that I do.

Mike

[Dave Cav]

I had a Woodmaster for about a year and hated it. Slow and difficult to change paper, slow to operate, very limited depth of cut, and the worst was the finish quality. The finish had tiny ripples across the finish from the drum, and despite how I loaded the paper I was never able to eliminate the defects. I eventually gave up and sold it. It's replacement is a Safety Speed cut 37" widebelt. It's not a huge industrial 30 HP machine, but it works very well for me in my shop and is about ten times faster than a drum sander.

[Warren Lake]

I have a pro wide belt drum sander, unlike those little units you can change a belt in 30 seconds. Its a belt not paper wrapped on a drum so it cools better. It has a large drum so larger point of contact which equals less pattern marks, Its open one side and works better as a heavy frame so less deflection but spinning around will always be a compromise, it has a two speed bottom feed track, the belt oscillates as well and that is a whole other level to your drum sanders. I got the drum machine to thickness one specific Hardboard. It did the job pretty well.

All the old european cabinetmakers I knew had stroke sanders, its one of the basic machines like a jointer, planer or shaper.

Lost very little time using the stroke sander plus it can do stuff a wide belt cant.

[Rod Wolfy]

I worked for many years without one, then bought one when I was trimming out our house with cherry A&C trim and was faced with a couple thousand feet of boards to sand. I goth the Supermax 19-38.

I now use it on pretty much every single project. Was making veneer for my current guitar project yesterday. Anything that wants precise thicknessing with no risk of tearout

I bought the SuperMax 19-38 on CL. I use it way more than I anticipated that I would. It was a little hard at first, as it was easy to burn wood when I went to the higher grits (80 grit all day, but 220 burns EASY). Very nice to get a uniform finish quickly on a cutting board, even if they're 18" wide. On the higher grits, it comes down to very small turns on the height adjuster - like 1/8" turn.

I'd buy one again. It's not a planer or meant to be used as one, but great for thin strips or end grain boards, which you can't generally put through a planer.

[Jim Riseborough]

Well I got it. With some gift cards, its about 2K, and 24 months interest free payments, so overall feel good about it.

[Doug Dawson]

Well I got it. With some gift cards, its about 2K, and 24 months interest free payments, so overall feel good about it.

What did you get?

[Jim Riseborough]

What did you get?


Dual drum sander, Delta. https://deltamachinery.com/products/sanders/31-481/

[Dan Hahr]

Hmmm...which recommendation swayed you? Just kidding...

I couldn't help but look at Delta's site. Was really just wondering if the new Unisaw was still Made in USA. Never could get it to load. Clicked on the Contact Us link. It went to the About Us page. No phone number, no email. Maybe you can tweet them?

I have a lot of older Delta stuff. USA Unisaw, some China made stuff. All at least 15 years old. They work fine but I hope they don't break. Pretty sure the Unisaw will last forever...

Dan

[Jim Riseborough]

Hmmm...which recommendation swayed you? Just kidding...

I couldn't help but look at Delta's site. Was really just wondering if the new Unisaw was still Made in USA. Never could get it to load. Clicked on the Contact Us link. It went to the About Us page. No phone number, no email. Maybe you can tweet them?

I have a lot of older Delta stuff. USA Unisaw, some China made stuff. All at least 15 years old. They work fine but I hope they don't break. Pretty sure the Unisaw will last forever...

Dan

I think price swayed me. 26" is pretty wide too.

Looks like the Contact Link is not working right, here is their contact page. https://deltamachinery.com/support/

I have Grizzly, PM, and now Delta. None have been any trouble so far.

Thanks

[Robert London]

Baileigh looks to make the same machine

https://www.baileigh.com/heavy-duty-drum-sander-sd-255

[roger wiegand]

Well it's taken me approximately forever, but I just figured out that the machine I was thinking about as you guys talk about as a "wide belt sander" is actually called a "stroke sander", which, while quite wide and a belt sander, isn't the same thing at all. The conversation makes much more sense now. :rolleyes:

[Ron Selzer]

would like to try a stroke sander sometime, always thought I would have plenty of use for one. Of course it is just one more tool that there is no room in the existing shop for
Ron

[glenn bradley]

I'm going to give a Hmmmmm response too. Delta? Brave man. Hope it works out well but, I will watch for future updates ;-)

[Zachary Hoyt]

I went to a retirement yard sale a few years ago where the shop owner had a stroke sander for sale, but it was huge, it took up one whole room in his shop pretty much. It looked interesting for sure, but I didn't have the space or the power for a tool that size.

[Warren Lake]

probably 3 Hp single or three phase. They do take room, never bothered me, basic machine like a jointer or planer. .

[Jim Riseborough]

Baileigh looks to make the same machine

https://www.baileigh.com/heavy-duty-drum-sander-sd-255


costs a bit more though.

[Robert London]

costs a bit more though.

Sometimes you can catch Baileigh with a 10-15% off sale. They are very expensive on shipping though. Every time I put something in my cart to check on shipping, it was between 350-450.

[Alex Zeller]

would like to try a stroke sander sometime, always thought I would have plenty of use for one. Of course it is just one more tool that there is no room in the existing shop for
Ron

I've always felt that a stoke sander is the one thing that could be designed to fold up in a way to take up minimal room in a shop. Say have the belt rotate to the vertical position to reduce the width and have the feet adjustable so they can slide in to reduce the footprint when being stored.

[Jim Riseborough]

Sometimes you can catch Baileigh with a 10-15% off sale. They are very expensive on shipping though. Every time I put something in my cart to check on shipping, it was between 350-450.

I bought the Delta Model. Still even cheaper without the 15%. Plus available now.

[Ryan Stollewerk]

I recently bought the Delta from HD and am happy with it. I've only run shaker doors made of poplar through it and it levels them out nicely when taking a little off each pass. I wanted the Grizzly because of the 5hp motor compared to Deltas 3hp but the lead time was ridiculous (4 months). Make sure you have a dust collector connected to it. Hope this helps.

[Warren Lake]

dont see a stroke sander folding up or the time to play around to make it full size even if it could be done. You walk up to a machine and use it. Cabinetmakerers bought combo machines for the affordability of all the functions in them, they were also space saving but space saving not the focus of the ones I knew. They bought stroke sanders to do the work.

They have smaller ones, Progress makes one, company called Doucette now, saw one for sale cheap recently. Dont see it as it has closed ends and Id be stuck in no time but depends on what you make.

Id only want a full size and open both ends. Likely 11-12 feet long on average.

[Erik Loza]

Performax seems to be the brand I see most commonly in shops if they don’t happen to have a widebelt. Hope this helps the OP in his search.

Erik

[Jim Riseborough]

I recently bought the Delta from HD and am happy with it. I've only run shaker doors made of poplar through it and it levels them out nicely when taking a little off each pass. I wanted the Grizzly because of the 5hp motor compared to Deltas 3hp but the lead time was ridiculous (4 months). Make sure you have a dust collector connected to it. Hope this helps.


Thanks, do have a dust collector. I did end up buying the sander.

[Jim Riseborough]

Performax seems to be the brand I see most commonly in shops if they don’t happen to have a widebelt. Hope this helps the OP in his search.

Erik

Thanks, I ended up purchasing the delta.

[Jim Riseborough]

Picked up the sander tonight, get it home and unpack, and of course its damaged. Looks like someone pushed too hard with a forklift, and pushed the drive belt out of alignment by a inch or 2. bent all the connections, and all the tins around it.

HD will pick it up, and order me a new one. This time I guess I unpack at the store!

Look for a damaged sander on the surplus/return websites in about a month

[Dave Zellers]

When I picked up my Grizzly jointer the box looked perfect but upon opening it at home I could see that it had been punctured by a fork lift and they had placed the shipping label over the puncture. :cool:

Very minor damage to the base, so that was good.

[Jim Riseborough]

When I picked up my Grizzly jointer the box looked perfect but upon opening it at home I could see that it had been punctured by a fork lift and they had placed the shipping label over the puncture. :cool:

Very minor damage to the base, so that was good.

I could live with cosmetic damage, but this was major damage to the drive belt assembly. 2500$ mistake for HD.

[glenn bradley]

I could live with cosmetic damage, but this was major damage to the drive belt assembly. 2500$ mistake for HD.

Ouch! Sorry that happened. The Home Depot around here are very good with processing returns and other problems. The additional delay sure hurts sometimes though.

[Jim Riseborough]

Ouch! Sorry that happened. The Home Depot around here are very good with processing returns and other problems. The additional delay sure hurts sometimes though.


Yea, they are going to pick it up. Next one, I will unpack at the store.

[Rod Wolfy]

I had the same problem with them when I ordered insulated garage doors. I made sure to have them shipped to the store, instead of my house (which was free). I looked at them at the store and they were bent up. They offered me a significant discount; however, my buddy said there was no way to fix them (he used to install them). I got my money back. Costco installed & now the shop stays toasty when the 220v heater is on.

[Jaromir Svoboda]

would like to try a stroke sander sometime, always thought I would have plenty of use for one. Of course it is just one more tool that there is no room in the existing shop for
Ron


I have Mini Max L55 it come with folding table to save space when not in use. Way better and faster then drum sander.

[Erik Loza]

I have Mini Max L55 it come with folding table to save space when not in use. Way better and faster then drum sander.

I sold (or should say “took orders for”) a couple of stroke sanders a year during my Italian days. Never for woodworking. Always to metal fabrication shops. More specifically, for sanding welded steel boxes and kitchen sinks.

Erik