Woodmaster 26 Drum Sander: Thoughts?

[Izzy Charo]

Hello, I have a Jet 16-32 drum sander, and I've learned to hate it.... very difficult to work the clip on the motor side of the roll... very difficult (almost impossible) to get the arm to stay parallel to the bed... I could go on. I'm considering biting the bullet and getting the small Woodmaster (26 inch model), rather than devoting my life to re-adjusting the 16-32,...but I was hoping folks who have used it could tell me if it is easier to load the paper, and if they are happy with it. My impression is that this is a much heavier and better machine, but I have no first hand knowledge..
Many Thanks,
Izzy

[Todd Bender]

I've used the Woodmaster 26 and have been frustrated by the sandpaper wrinkling on the Velcro and also leaving ridges. Can't guarantee I'm doing everything right, but quit using it and bought a used widebelt instead. It was too finicky and inaccurate. I'm not a hobbyist and don't have time to tinker with tools.

[Bruce Page]

I’ve had the WM 26” for several years. I had the Delta 18/36 prior and there is no comparison between the two. The Woodmaster has a fairly large footprint so keep that in mind. I have the Velcro drum but have not experienced any paper wrinkling with it. Todd, are you using packing tape on the ends of the wrap?

[Zachary Hoyt]

I had a woodmaster 18" combo machine that was pretty awful, partly due to age/neglect and partly due to a poor design. I wouldn't want anything else of theirs, but that's just me.

[Ron Selzer]

I have a Woodmaster 12" combo machine and like everything about it BUT the sanding drum. Bought new in 1986.
15" wide belt sander made sanding enjoyable for me.

[Richard Coers]

The Woodmaster with replaceable heads for planing and sanding is a horrible sanding machine. There is no feed belt and when some sawdust builds up on the rollers, it basically will not feed because of the drag on the table. No idea if that is the model you are looking for.

[John Ziebron]

I had a Performax for a number of years and then a Delta for only a couple. My biggest frustration with them, like many others, is belt tracking and the flatness of the belt. As far as needing an open ended machine I only had to use that feature once and the result was not as good as I had hoped. I finally bit the bullet about 4 years ago and bought the 26 inch Woodmaster. This was a night and day difference. I have no experience with the models mentioned above but mine gives me excellent performance and I've not had any issues with it. I'm not sure what the conveyor belt material is but it is heavy duty and tracks perfectly. It has a larger drum which keeps it cooler and velcro to hold the sandpaper. The sandpaper strips are 6 inches wide and I think it's easier putting it than the other machines where you have to keep holding the drum so paper stays tight until it's all wound on. The extra "hassle" is having to put thin strapping tape on the one end, but that's easier than messing with spring loaded clips.

[Tim Elett]

The 26 inch Wood master I purchased used was basically rode hard and put away wet,but after a new velcro pad and new paper, repaired bearings on convayor and new pulley on motor,drum is perfect with convayor. Total investment 1200.
I would like to add it shur was nice to call them for questions have the phone ring twice and talk to a person, they didn't ask,did you purchase it from us?
My brother has a planer and the newer sander. Both Wood master.

[Wade Holloway]

I would recommend the 26 inch Woodmaster. I have one and love it. The only problem I have had is replacing the Velcro Pad and the only reason it had to be replaced was me not paying attention to what I was doing. I would highly recommend it, I really love mine.

[Rob Sack]

I had the 38 inch single head Woodmaster that I bought "quite" used. I never had any issues with it and I always said it performed much better than it should have. The parts and panels always came out extremely flat. I never had to touch any adjustments. Cutting and changing the belts was a minor nuisance, but for the price, I thought it was a tremendous value and over the years saved me thousands in time an money hauling panels and frames to a shop with a wide belt. Plus it was there for the times when it would come in handy for sanding parts I would not have taken to another shop. The only reason I ultimately sold it was that it was a fairly slow, however accurate machine, and I ultimately replaced it with a wide belt sander.

The biggest issue I had was picking it up from the previous owner. He had it in his garage that was down a steep driveway from the street and I couldn't get my truck down the driveway. Fortunately it was on a mobile base. I ended up calling the AAA. They came with a flat bed tow truck, hooked up the machine to its winch, hauled it up into the bed, tied it down, and hauled it to my shop. All for $125.00. Evidently, the AAA isn't just for cars anymore.

[ray grundhoefer]

I have the 3875 drum sander. Works great I would imagine the 26 " one would work well also.

[Rick Potter]

I also have the 37", which replaced that Delta from way back. No comparison, for my personal use it has been great, and no problem with sandpaper, unless you count the time I sanded a bunch of pine. Never again.

[Bruce Page]

I also have the 37", which replaced that Delta from way back. No comparison, for my personal use it has been great, and no problem with sandpaper, unless you count the time I sanded a bunch of pine. Never again.

I sanded some pine 4x4's once, a total disaster!