Drum Sander Advice

[Josh Baldwin]

Hey everyone so I've decided I need a drum sander, ha, or at least I want one. I know that a wide belt would be better, but I don't have the budget for it and I really don't want an old used one that I have to fix. I'm also running single phase in my shop.

I'm torn between the Supermax 37x2 and the Woodmaster 38". I like that the Woodmaster is made in the US. It seems like a beefier unit. However, the Supermax is a little cheaper and comes with 2 drums.

Any thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated. I am also keeping an eye out for a used sander, but haven't found the right one yet.

[Bruce Page]

I have had the 26” Woodmaster for a number of years. I haven’t used a double drum sander, so I don’t know how big of an advantage that is. The Woodmaster is built like a tank but it does have a large footprint.

[George Waldner]

I don't know why anyone would want two drums, but maybe I don't know better.

[Michael Burnside]

I don't know why anyone would want two drums, but maybe I don't know better.

From what I understand when I was looking, you can have two different grits setup. I think you only sand with one drum at a time. I could be wrong though. I love my 19/38, but the Woodmaster looks pretty nice too.

[andy bessette]

I don't know why anyone would want two drums, but maybe I don't know better.

So you don't have to keep changing sanding belts.

[Warren Lake]

what kind of work do you do
hobby or make a living

[John TenEyck]

I don't know why anyone would want two drums, but maybe I don't know better.

I have a two drum sander. I normally run 80 grit on the first drum and 100 grit on the second. Both drums contact the wood as the board passes through, so it sands both fast and gives a better finish than a single drum sander. If you care more about speed, then run the same grit on both drums. Two drums adds options over a single drum.

John

[Josh Baldwin]

I have had the 26” Woodmaster for a number of years. I haven’t used a double drum sander, so I don’t know how big of an advantage that is. The Woodmaster is built like a tank but it does have a large footprint.

Thanks for the feedback Bruce. They definitely seem like a good company. How simple do you find it to change the sandpaper?

[Josh Baldwin]

From what I understand when I was looking, you can have two different grits setup. I think you only sand with one drum at a time. I could be wrong though. I love my 19/38, but the Woodmaster looks pretty nice too.

Hey Michael, how long have you had the 19-38? No problems at all? Have you used it near it's full width? Just wondering how well the sand then rotate then sand again works. Thanks

[Erik Loza]

No opinion except to say that the Supermax was probably the most common drum sander I saw in small pro shops.

Erik

[Josh Baldwin]

what kind of work do you do
hobby or make a living

I make a living building custom furniture. Usually 1 piece per month.

[Josh Baldwin]

I have a two drum sander. I normally run 80 grit on the first drum and 100 grit on the second. Both drums contact the wood as the board passes through, so it sands both fast and gives a better finish than a single drum sander. If you care more about speed, then run the same grit on both drums. Two drums adds options over a single drum.

John

Hey John, which sander do you have? Would you recommend it? Thanks

[Warren Lake]

done that many years stroke sander a better choice.

[Bruce Page]

Thanks for the feedback Bruce. They definitely seem like a good company. How simple do you find it to change the sandpaper?

Changing the paper is not hard at all. You might struggle the first couple of times getting the layout right (I did) but the Velcro system makes it easy to readjust.

[John TenEyck]

Hey John, which sander do you have? Would you recommend it? Thanks

I have a General Int'l 24" that I bought lightly used around 10 years ago. It has a 3 HP motor and I often wish for more, but it does a very good job and has never given me a lick of trouble. The perforated rubber like conveyor belt is top notch and has never needed tracking adjustment. Sanding strip changes are easy and the clips hold securely. Thickness is limited to something around 6". That hasn't been a limitation for me but could be for some. It also would not be a good choice if you need a full 24" of sanding width. My friend has a Steel City with a 25" drum and thickness limit of about 12". Otherwise, the two machines look identical. His would be a better choice if the limitations I mentioned were critical. If not, either machine would work well. I sand hundreds of feet of shop sawn veneer with mine, sometimes as thin as 0.025". I'm very happy with it.

John

[Richard Coers]

With the horsepower available on that Woodmaster, there is no way a single pass on a 3' wide panel will remove all the nasties. It will take a couple passes with the course grit before a single pass can be made with the second drum with finer grit. No idea how easily it will be to raise the second drum out of the way for the couple rough grit passes. I've never been impressed with Woodmaster machines. The engineering I saw on a planer/molder looked like it was made in a farm shop.

[Zachary Hoyt]

I had a Woodmaster 718(?) planer/molder/sander that was really lousy at everything it did, and severely underbuilt, but I have heard that a lot of people like the dedicated drum sanders they make. I've never seen one in person.

[Warren Lake]

have a pro drum wide belt sander and use the stroke instead. Thankful we had a stroke and no drum sanders in school.

Have a woodmaster moulder lightest machine in the shop changed the head. It can run birdseye in one pass and cut clean. Yes its light and cheap. It has a gear motor feed so you can slow down and get a clean cut.

[Mike Wilkins]

I have had a 25" dual drum unit for many years, running 100 grit on the first drum and 120 on the 2nd. Great machine for getting flat boards after gluing up panels. Don't use one as a substitute for a planer, as it can only take off a minute amount of material at a time. My machine is the Woodmaster (I think) but the same machine was sold under many names and sold by a number of companies.

[Ernie Hobbs]

I am also keeping an eye out for a used sander, but haven't found the right one yet.

If you don't mind a drive to northeastern NC, I can tell you about a smoking deal on a SuperMax 19-38. I almost bought it, but I had already spent too much (CNC machine, lift table, drill press, etc.) and don't really need a new drum sander. PM me if you want me to send you the contact info of the owner.

[John Ziebron]

Like Bruce, I've owned a Woodmaster 26 inch for a few years and love it. Previously, I've had 2 different open ended drum sanders and always had problems with them, mostly the tracking adjustment of the feed belt. This is not an issue with the Woodmaster. I never had the need to use the open end feature so I went with the Woodmaster. Like Bruce said, it's built like a tank and very precise. They have a low cost option that allows you to have your work feed back in reverse so you don't have to keep transfering the board back to the input side. This works especially well for longer stock. Choose the size you need; you won't be disappointed.

[Michael Burnside]

Hey Michael, how long have you had the 19-38? No problems at all? Have you used it near it's full width? Just wondering how well the sand then rotate then sand again works. Thanks

I like it a lot, use it on almost every project. I’ve never had any problems. Just a little adjustment between drum and feed belt and tracking when I first got it, but otherwise awesome.

I’ve used about 36” before. I was nervous about it but it went fine, I just didn’t get too aggressive on passes.

[Russell Hayes]

I bought a nice but dusty 37x2 Supermax to flip. I had it in the shop for about six months before I found a buyer. First of all it had twin 4" dust ports so you need a DC that can support that (6" mains). The second drum can be raised out of the way to just use the first drum or lowered in relation to the first primary drum. You can run the same grit on both, or stagger grits. Lower the second drum a little lower than the first to basically take two passes at once to remove material faster and double production. Sold it for 4.5x what I had in it to a shop that had a big 36" door order. Perfect for that.

[Jack Lilley]

I have a 37 or 38" Woodmaster and it's a workhorse. I have previously owned two different open end drum sanders and wouldn't want one again for my usage.

[John TenEyck]

With the horsepower available on that Woodmaster, there is no way a single pass on a 3' wide panel will remove all the nasties. It will take a couple passes with the course grit before a single pass can be made with the second drum with finer grit. No idea how easily it will be to raise the second drum out of the way for the couple rough grit passes. I've never been impressed with Woodmaster machines. The engineering I saw on a planer/molder looked like it was made in a farm shop.

Both drums sand at the same time. Multiple passes get you where you need to be.

I had a Foley Belsaw planer molder. Pretty sure it's the same thing or a cousin of the Woodmaster. Yes, it looks like it was designed by a home mechanic, but it's rugged, reliable, and very durable. People run thousands of feet of molding through them, all day, every day. The one I bought used had been used so much that the cast iron bed had a dished groove worn into it. I did a home mechanic repair on it, Bondo to fill the groove and Formica for a new work surface and ran it pretty hard for 5 years before I sold it for more than I paid for it. I would have no concerns about durability.

John

[Robert London]

I have a 25x2 Supermax 5hp. Nice machine and I enjoy it. I’d personally pass on the 36” Supermax though.

Don’t think it has enough muscle with the same 5 hp motor as the 25x2. You’ll be going very slow on wider pieces. You really need a 7.5 - 10 hp motor on a 36” machine if you really want to use it daily.

Not a fan of the cheaper belts on the SM and wish it had a better rubber conveyor belt.

Otherwise is a solid machine.

I bought my SM pre covid before they raised the price $1500 +. Probably wouldn’t have bought my 25x2 for $4000. Paid 2600 new back in 2020.

[Alex Zeller]

Does the Supermax have the ability to reverse direction of the conveyor belt? It's a nice option on the Woodmaster. I would think 5hp is not a lot of power for two drums. I've never used anything but 120 grit on my Woodmaster. I've never needed anything courser so two drums wouldn't help me.

[Carl Beckett]

I have owned various sanders. The small Jet 16/32 overhang. Ok for smaller stuff. My favorite small sander was a Reliant 13" belt - then a Woodtek 13" belt sander. Those small belt sanders were surprisingly good.

Have owned the grizzly dual drum for several years. As I recall I ran 80 grit on the first then 150 grit on the second drum. As mentioned you can raise and lower the drums independently of each other but I rarely did. You do need to get the hang of loading belts so they dont overlap or loosen. All of the drum sanders I have used the paper builds up more than the belts (just its nature I think, less total surface area)

The dual drum sander takes a lot of floor space. And I agree with the concerns over too large being under powered, although I never stalled the motor on the grizzly (25" ?)

[Dan Chouinard]

My General International double drum served me very well for several years. Sold it when the new shop I relocated to acquired a wide belt.

[Josh Baldwin]

Hey thanks for all the info everyone. I think I'm leaning towards the Supermax 19-38. Probably a lightly used one, but if that doesn't work out then I'll hope for a good black friday deal. The size is great and I can't seem to find anyone that doesn't like their 19-38. I'd prefer the 25-50, but we'll see what happens.

[Zachary Hoyt]

I like my 19-38 but have not used it for things over 18" or so wide, as I'm mostly building instruments not furniture or cabinets and they are not all that big.

[Keegan Shields]

I bought a used 25-50 a few years ago and love it. SuperMax has great customer service based at their HQ (MN I think). Overall great machine. You think your workpiece has a flat surface coming off the planer until you run it through a DS.

[Jim Becker]

Hey thanks for all the info everyone. I think I'm leaning towards the Supermax 19-38. Probably a lightly used one, but if that doesn't work out then I'll hope for a good black friday deal. The size is great and I can't seem to find anyone that doesn't like their 19-38. I'd prefer the 25-50, but we'll see what happens.
That's what I have, Josh, bought "lightly used" a few years ago from an estate sale. It's a reasonable size in that most of the time, there is enough width to do the things I do with it. I did pick up the optional DRO for it because while I primarily work in metric, being able to switch the scale is useful and the native, "static" scale can only be one or the other without making something. The DRO is also handy for getting close to a specific thickness without guessing. I bought it online via Amazon, but it shipped from Acme Tool. (This was a few years ago)

[John TenEyck]

Does the Supermax have the ability to reverse direction of the conveyor belt? It's a nice option on the Woodmaster. I would think 5hp is not a lot of power for two drums. I've never used anything but 120 grit on my Woodmaster. I've never needed anything courser so two drums wouldn't help me.

Actually, it would. Two drums with the same grit sands faster than 1 drum, especially if you have a 5 hp motor on it.

Power is always good, but the 3hp motor on my dual drum 24" sander is more than enough. Even the most powerful of this type of machine is still a sander, not a planer. Removal is measured in 0.000's or 0.00's, not 0.0's.

John

[Zachary Hoyt]

I just use the ruler on mine to get to the general area where I need to be. To start a job I slide the wood under with the motor off and spin the drum by hand till it touches the wood, and I check the thickness with a caliper between passes. I can leave the head in the same place and run the wood through three times and it will make the board a little thinner each time, so I have to measure actual results for some things I'm doing.

[ray grundhoefer]

I have a 3875 woodmaster sander that I picked up at an auction. It works great.