How much do you use your drum sander?

[Bryan Hall]

I have a supermax 25-50 that I was really excited to pick up a few years ago. However... as time has gone on I look at it more and more with a feeling of lost $$$ and space. What I thought would be a commonly used machine is rarely touched in my shop and I'm starting to mull over the idea of selling it. Anyone using theirs a ton and would never let it go? If so, what kind of work are you doing with it where it's getting mileage? Anyone else find themselves in the same situation as me?

[Sam Force]

Mine is used a lot. I do a lot of segmented turnings and could be as precise without it

[Edward Weber]

I have a little Jet 16-32 and wouldn't be without it.
I'm conatantly milling odd size pieces, making rings for segmented work or sanding for a dimensionally precise fit.
I find I use it more than my planer since I can sand smaller stock and there is no grain direction limitations.
It all depends on your work and methods

[Michael Burnside]

Hmm, I think I might find the 25-50 a bit big. I have the 19-38 and really like it. For furniture I don't use it very often. I will occasionally use it to thickness end grain trim pieces, etc as the planer would likely destroy it, not to mention if I only need 1/-64-1/32 or so taken off, that's difficult to do on the planer/jointer. In those cases it is priceless. For CNC based products I use it a ton. Charcuterie boards, custom milled furniture pieces like feet/bases/pulls and pretty much anything else milled flat on the CNC with hardwoods. I don't think I could live without mine, but I have room for it and there isn't any other tool I need that requires the space.

[Jim Becker]

The first time around, many years ago, I had a Performax 22-44. It sat and rarely got pulled out to use. I sold it to another 'Creeker who is still using it in a production environment, AFAIK. A few years ago, after I started learning how to make electric guitars, I got lucky and scored a SuperMax 19-38 that was all but unused and for what could have been considered a "financial song". I have used it a lot more than I expected and not just with surfacing thin stock, but also for flattening material that the guy I do some CNC work for drops off. He sands it from rough but it's not "flat" and of even thickness. I need to correct that in order to do the CNC engraving and pocketing his charcuterie boards and other projects need cut. It's also the tool that's used when "just a little more" has to come off since my thicknessing function has serrated steel rollers and they will mark the material visibly if enough isn't taken off.

[Robert Hayward]

My 16-32 sees a lot of use when doing segmented rings for segmented turnings, the main reason I bought it. It sees a multitude of other work also. As others have said, for that final couple thou to get a board just the right thickness and end grain board sanding.

[John Erickson]

I purchased a Performax 2 drum 36" sander some 20+ years ago. I used it almost daily for all that time in my cabinet and furniture shop. Making cabinet doors and frames, passage doors and furniture all from rough lumber the sander is used a lot. The finish may not be up to a double head wide belt sander but it is acceptable, you still have to finish sanding with a random orbit. I don't have the electrical service for that much horsepower.

[John TenEyck]

I have a 24" double drum sander that I use a lot. I make a lot of shop sawn veneer, so the drum sander is a must for sanding it smooth and to the exact thickness desired. I use mine for CNC project flattening, too. And I use it when dealing with nasty grain that tears out on my straight knife planer. But that's me. If you're not using yours much you probably don't need it.

John

[Zachary Hoyt]

I make segmented turnings for banjo rims, and also use mine for flattening and thinning other instrument parts like guitar soundboards, backs and sides, fretboard blanks, headstock overlays, etc. Mine's a SuperMax 19-38 and if it died I would buy another one, or pay whatever it cost to get the parts to fix it. I bought mine new 5 years ago and it has been a huge benefit ever since. I don't use it for hours every day, but it gets used often for short periods of time. I even use it to sand down 1/4" brass dots on banjo fretboards. I drill the holes with a Forstner bit, CA glue the short pieces of brass rod in the holes, and then run the fretboards back through the sander to bring the brass down flush with the wood. For general use I can imagine that it would be too slow, but for instruments I need precision more than speed, since the volume of wood I work with is low compared to the sale value of the product.

[Randy Heinemann]

I bought a 16-32 Supermax about 2 years ago. Admittedly I don't use it a lot but, when I do use it, I'm always glad I have it because it's just the right tool for that occasional job. I have used it to sand a segmented ring flat, sand a cutting board flat, sand the joints on glued up boards flat, and other similar jobs. What I like most about it is that if you have a something that you need to take a small amount off of until flat or need to even out some glued up boards, or remove some tearout from a planer, it's just the right tool. It may take a little longer but I feel the results are absolutely worth having it.

[Christopher Herzog]

Delta 18-36 drum sander, not used for a while. Looking back, probably not the best use of my resources one man/grandson hobby shop.

Chris

[bill godber]

I have a 12" shopfox that gets little use. It's a big 12" sander so it takes up some valuable space in my wee shop.
Where it shines is the final thicknessing of ukulele/guitar wood, nothing else will do the job so well. As long as I'm still plunking away at building instruments I'm keeping it.

[Joe Cowan]

It is kind of like my edge sander. Takes up alot of space, do not use it on every project, but when I need it, I am glad it is in my shop.

[Bob Falk]

In the past I have owned a Performax 25" double drum and a Performax 16-32. I now have a Woodmaster 18" drum sander. The Woodmaster is great, but I regret selling the 16-32, which is what you need for short pieces of wood.

[James Jayko]

I had the 16/32 Grizzly one for a bit. Two things made me get rid of it: it was underpowered, and changing the paper on the drum was way too much of a chore.

[Jim Tobias]

I have had my Woodmaster 38" drum sander for 15+ years and could not live without it. If you use figured woods often it can often be used instead of planer.
If you want to find out how much you need it, just sell it and within 2 weeks, you will desperately need it for a project. :)

Jim

[Jonathan Jung]

Used it all the time. Then I got a WBS, and find it irreplaceable. The things I find myself doing with a WBS are beyond what I imagined. For example, being able to thickness a part down to a .002" is possible, for example, making fitting parts into dados so easy. Furniture, small batch millwork, and cabinetry.

[Patty Hann]

I don't have one [yet], but looking forward to getting one. I have used the one in the wood shop class I take.
I find it very useful (as long as it is adjusted/calibrated correctly)
Looking at a Supermax 19-38 (I guess Supermax is now owned by Jet?)
Any other brand I should consider? Space is limited so I really don't want to go any larger.

[Michael Burnside]

...
Looking at a Supermax 19-38 (I guess Supermax is now owned by Jet?)
...

Laguna owns Supermax. I like mine.

[Eric Arnsdorff]

I have a Performax 22-44 and it isn't used a lot. However, when I do use it I'm super happy I have it. I have everything in my shop on wheels which keeps it accessible but out of the way when not used.

The cantilever design and sandpaper belt conveyor leave a lot to be desired. Clearly a wide belt or drum sander with roller support on both ends can provide much better results but also is a larger machine and more costly. But the unit I have is both adequate for my use and I'm willing to deal with the issues such as sandpaper change hassle and deflection issues.

[Bryan Hall]

Used it all the time. Then I got a WBS, and find it irreplaceable. The things I find myself doing with a WBS are beyond what I imagined. For example, being able to thickness a part down to a .002" is possible, for example, making fitting parts into dados so easy. Furniture, small batch millwork, and cabinetry.

I assume you ditched the drum sander when you got the WBS? What brand/model did you end up with?

[roger wiegand]

I have the 19-38 and use it constantly. Wish I had a wide belt sander-- the PITA factor of changing grits is so high it really limits the utility I could be getting from the machine. I've been making thin stock (5 or 6 mm) for organ pipes these last several weeks, it needs to be accurate to a couple tenths of a mm and as flat as I can manage. The drum sander performs that task perfectly, taking off the last couple tenths that would be very difficult to deal with otherwise. I work a lot with the wildest curly maple I can find, sanding the last little bit saves me from having to pitch parts where the curl chips out at the very end from a machine or hand plane.

Short of maybe a milling machine, which I don't have, it's the best tool I can afford (in $$ and space) for achieving precise uniform thickness with a flat surface.

[Jay Houghton]

I had a 16/32 for quite a while and finally got fed up with the drum abrasive changes and the constant adjustment to the tracking. It was very under powered and if you weren't careful it would stall and make a divot in your work. For light duty taking off mill marks from you planer or jointer it's probably fine. I searched for a while and bought a 15" wide belt sander for $2,000 from a cabinet shop. Wow! 5hp with a 1/2hp drive motor I've never had to adjust the tracking and you can do precise parts as stated earlier. If you're going a kitchen or set of face frames, rails and stiles it's really fantastic. The foot print is only about 36x36 and I have it on a mobile base so it's not something I use every day but I won't be selling it any time soon. Most of the 15" machines are probably made in the same factory once you get past the color. For anyone thinking of one you want the three roller model. There is one with only two rollers and it's really more of a thicknesser. The three roller has platen you can adjust that makes a wide contact with the work and will give you a fantastic flat finish.

[Mike Henderson]

I had a 16-32 and used it a lot. But I was often needing a wider sander so I bought a 25-50 and that has been better. I use it on just about every project.

Mike

[Charlie Jones]

I have a 16-32. I don’t use it a lot but it is great when I need it. I changed the paper attachment to hook and loop. The finish is better and it is not as prone to burn the wood. I used it last night when I needed a 1/16 shim.

[Ron Selzer]

I first had a Woodmaster 12" drum sander and years later bought a Grizzly drum sander, never liked either one. Always had problems with the end of the sandpaper coming undone, sandpaper loading up, burning, feeding problems getting divots, etc.
Then got a deal on a 15" wide belt with 5hp motor. Now we are getting somewhere, start with 24 grit paper to hog off the wood or to flatten the wood. Then quickly change to 40, 60, 80, 100, 120 to finish the wood.

[Kevin Jenness]

I first had a Woodmaster 12" drum sander and years later bought a Grizzly drum sander, never liked either one. Always had problems with the end of the sandpaper coming undone, sandpaper loading up, burning, feeding problems getting divots, etc.
Then got a deal on a 15" wide belt with 5hp motor. Now we are getting somewhere, start with 24 grit paper to hog off the wood or to flatten the wood. Then quickly change to 40, 60, 80, 100, 120 to finish the wood.

Hogging off material with only 5 hp and coarse abrasives seems unusual. You must have some good reason for not using a jointer and planer for flattening and dimensioning- would you mind explaining? I rarely use anything below 100# on a widebelt unless dealing with material extremely prone to tearout or man-made materials like mdf or foamboard. I've never even seen anything coarser than 36#.

[mreza Salav]

Have a 37x2 supermax (Made in US) that rarely use but when needed it does the job and nothing can replace it.
It's biggest drawback for me is its massive footprint. It does take a LOT of space.

[Dave Zellers]

I have a 19-38 SuperMax and I'm in the camp that while it doesn't get a lot of use, I wouldn't be without it. It works flawlessly.

Today I put on a new roll of 80 grit and fired it up to clean up some old weathered 2x4's for some shelving supports in my new shed. I did not want to use my jointer and planer because of the years of grit accumulated sitting outside. They cleaned up beautifully. The next time I use it might be to put a final sanding with 220 on some paneling I'll be making soon. It's more versatile than some think.

[Ron Selzer]

Hogging off material with only 5 hp and coarse abrasives seems unusual. You must have some good reason for not using a jointer and planer for flattening and dimensioning- would you mind explaining? I rarely use anything below 100# on a widebelt unless dealing with material extremely prone to tearout or man-made materials like mdf or foamboard. I've never even seen anything coarser than 36#.

Ok explanation will be long
My wife is who I build furniture for. She insists that it be built out of lumber with "defects" that I was taught to cut out and not use. Also wants me to use boards as wide as possible. Have used a 6" jointer from the late 80's until not long ago when I updated to a 8" jointer with segmented head which helps with tearout around knots and other defects along with change of direction of grain. Still use boards too wide to joint one side down to flatten, currently working with lowest grade 4-5' cherry boards that I can buy. Have acquired a MinMax 12" jointer/planer with a bad motor, have a new motor to replace the bad one with, need my physical health to improve to be able to get down in the shop to do this. This jointer/planer hopefully will allow me to joint full width boards to flatten them.
Currently I glue up panels 20-24" wide to make the furniture and always at least one board will be humped up somewhere around a defect that she insists be included, most of the time I only need one show side the inside can be uneven. This results in up do 3/16" worse case so far, commonly 1/16" to 1/8" removal of material at the humped up area, which gets done with the 24 grit. The planer draws minimal amps planning with 24 grit compared to 100 grit. once I get it cut down smooth then I progress thru the grits quickly. Doors both sides have to be surfaced down so they take more sanding, however the sanding goes fairly quickly with the 15" wide belt sander as long as I don't push past 24", have tried approximately 30" and it cups the panel.

[Jonathan Jung]

I assume you ditched the drum sander when you got the WBS? What brand/model did you end up with?

Yeah, the drum sander I had was an unreliable toy compared to the WBS. The WBS opens up so many more possibilities for accurate thicknessing, flattening, etc. I had a SuperMax 37x2, and my WBS is a 1990s SCMI Uno. Solid, simple machine that works really well and still has parts available.

[Warren Lake]

how does a wide belt flatten unless its got a second platten and a more expensive machine, aware they exist, kitchen friend had one. For custom work ill take a stroke over a wide belt. Ideal to have both but if only one for me it would be a stroke.

[Kevin Jenness]

I know plenty of people get good use from a drum sander but for commercial cabinet or furniture work a wide belt is almost essential. Speed of changing paper, lessened loading due to the oscillating head, platen for finishing passes, (typically) more accuracy, power and throughput are the great advantages. I am fortunate to have access to a widebelt nearby so I can forgo stuffing another machine into my already crowded shop. If I did need my own sander I would much prefer a small widebelt over a drum unit - it's like the difference between a sliding table saw and a cabinet saw.

I used to have a stroke sander but ultimately could not justify the space required. They are very effective machines in the right hands, simple and very affordable used. Not many people appreciate what they can do. Not for long sticks or precise thicknessing but capable of getting to a finish ready surface far faster than hand-held sanders.

[Warren Lake]

I have a wide belt drum, belt change takes seconds and it oscillates. When I have to calibrate something i will use it. Havent used it in 20 years or more.

[Ron Citerone]

There is one available to me as a membership of the shop where I belong. I have used it several times at first but not much now. Also, I don’t see it being used very much by other members. This is a non production shop.

[Warren Lake]

decent strokes have C ends and can do long material. The limit is more about placement of the machine and if there are restrictions to either side next how you secure the wood when you work. Ive done long base boards past. Simple and easy do half then spin around do the other half. Mine could be set up in a better place than it is now and could also use a vacuum hold down. Will get to it.

[Alan Kalker]

I also have the Supermax 25-50. My experience has been the opposite of yours . It is used a lot. It’s a good sander. I do a lot of bent lamination and it’s invaluable for that. It’s one of those machines that I didn’t think I would use nearly as much as I do.