John Ziebron
02-06-2021, 7:30 PM
In the last 20 years I've owned 2 different drum sanders. A Performax and, more recently, a Delta. Both were open end sanders but I never ended up using that feature. In fact, I never really used either one much because it seems like I always had some kind of problem when I did. So I decided a while back to upgrade.
Late last year I took delivery of my new Woodmaster 26 inch drum sander. What a difference. It was like going from a Chevy to a Mercedes. But after getting it setup and trying it out I realized I had to make some mods to it.
I did purchase a heavy duty mobile base for it in advance because it would be residing against a wall, like my planer, and get pulled out into an aisle for use. The starter box was designed to mount on the left end (as you face the input side) of the machine but this would put that end farthest away from the wall and not leave enough length of cord when it was moved to it's working position. So I drilled new holes and mounted it on the right side of the input side.
451437
And since this heavy machine would be pulled out and pushed back for use I added a couple of handles to help with that.
451438
When I first started the 5 HP drum motor it made a terrible metallic rattling sound. After checking to make sure all the bolts holding the motor and it's supports were tight I decided to put thick rubber washers between the motor base and it's mounting cross members. That helped a lot but I may get some real isolation mounts instead in the future. In use with ear protection on you can hardly hear the rattling but it just bothered me.
451442
As part of their promotion Woodmaster supplies a free digital height gauge with the machine. Looked nice in their pictures but I quickly realized that using it would be a real pain in the back, literally. Even with the extra inch the mobile base raises the machine it still puts this readout in the 22-24 inch range from the floor. So now you are bending over trying to read the display while cranking this tall handle on top of the machine. The real kicker for me was when I first tried to calibrate it and couldn't. Turned out that I wasn't able to read a tiny message at the upper part of the display because my head wasn't positioned low enough. So I took this unit off and put the same height gauge on that I have on my 15 inch planer. It has a remote readout and the display can be angled. Here is before and after pics.
451443451444
I ordered the outfeed roller kit with the machine since about half the time I'll be running long boards through it. The roller kit is heavy duty and consists of 2 side brackets and 2 rollers for each side along with 1/4-20 bolts to fasten the brackets to the conveyor belt assembly. I didn't realize how far these rollers extended and so it became a space problem for me when the machine was stowed against the wall. And I didn't want to spend the time it took to fasten each roller assembly on the machine when I needed them. First, I made cross brackets to connect the 2 side brackets together which also keeps the 2 rollers in place. These 2 assemblies can now hang on hooks on the wall. Then to make it easier and quicker to mount them on the machine I made 4 threaded shoulder studs to be put in the rear holes and left there. This way the roller assemblies can be set on these studs and are held in place enough to easily put the modified wing bolts in the front holes. I had to make a chamfered spacer to make sure the wings are above the brackets and the chamfer helps centering the stud in the hole.
451445451446451447
I don't want to give anyone the idea that there is problems with this Woodmaster drum sander. It's a great machine and I wish I had room to buy one of their wider models. All the changes I made were because of personal preference and necessity. The only real comment I would make to Woodmaster is that they should supply a digital height gauge that is more user friendly.
Late last year I took delivery of my new Woodmaster 26 inch drum sander. What a difference. It was like going from a Chevy to a Mercedes. But after getting it setup and trying it out I realized I had to make some mods to it.
I did purchase a heavy duty mobile base for it in advance because it would be residing against a wall, like my planer, and get pulled out into an aisle for use. The starter box was designed to mount on the left end (as you face the input side) of the machine but this would put that end farthest away from the wall and not leave enough length of cord when it was moved to it's working position. So I drilled new holes and mounted it on the right side of the input side.
451437
And since this heavy machine would be pulled out and pushed back for use I added a couple of handles to help with that.
451438
When I first started the 5 HP drum motor it made a terrible metallic rattling sound. After checking to make sure all the bolts holding the motor and it's supports were tight I decided to put thick rubber washers between the motor base and it's mounting cross members. That helped a lot but I may get some real isolation mounts instead in the future. In use with ear protection on you can hardly hear the rattling but it just bothered me.
451442
As part of their promotion Woodmaster supplies a free digital height gauge with the machine. Looked nice in their pictures but I quickly realized that using it would be a real pain in the back, literally. Even with the extra inch the mobile base raises the machine it still puts this readout in the 22-24 inch range from the floor. So now you are bending over trying to read the display while cranking this tall handle on top of the machine. The real kicker for me was when I first tried to calibrate it and couldn't. Turned out that I wasn't able to read a tiny message at the upper part of the display because my head wasn't positioned low enough. So I took this unit off and put the same height gauge on that I have on my 15 inch planer. It has a remote readout and the display can be angled. Here is before and after pics.
451443451444
I ordered the outfeed roller kit with the machine since about half the time I'll be running long boards through it. The roller kit is heavy duty and consists of 2 side brackets and 2 rollers for each side along with 1/4-20 bolts to fasten the brackets to the conveyor belt assembly. I didn't realize how far these rollers extended and so it became a space problem for me when the machine was stowed against the wall. And I didn't want to spend the time it took to fasten each roller assembly on the machine when I needed them. First, I made cross brackets to connect the 2 side brackets together which also keeps the 2 rollers in place. These 2 assemblies can now hang on hooks on the wall. Then to make it easier and quicker to mount them on the machine I made 4 threaded shoulder studs to be put in the rear holes and left there. This way the roller assemblies can be set on these studs and are held in place enough to easily put the modified wing bolts in the front holes. I had to make a chamfered spacer to make sure the wings are above the brackets and the chamfer helps centering the stud in the hole.
451445451446451447
I don't want to give anyone the idea that there is problems with this Woodmaster drum sander. It's a great machine and I wish I had room to buy one of their wider models. All the changes I made were because of personal preference and necessity. The only real comment I would make to Woodmaster is that they should supply a digital height gauge that is more user friendly.