Supermax 25-50 and wide boards

[Richard Daugird]

Has anyone used this model sander on boards wider than 25", requiring a double pass? I am considering one for sanding glued-up table tops.

[Michael Burnside]

I've used my 19-38 for something similar. Worked great. The trick is light passes, otherwise it works good. I would say 98% of the time I use the 19" or less but I use it on almost every project.

[Lisa Starr]

Mine is a 16-32, but I regularly sand things in the 24-30" range. It is important to read the instructions and flip the little lever when you're sanding wider than a single width.

[roger wiegand]

I've also used my 19-38 for wider boards. I thought it worked surprisingly well. I don't use it for final finish sanding, so probably didn't inspect it all that closely, but for evening up a big glued up panel it seemed ot be fine.

[Andrew Seemann]

I've got a 19-38. I kind of wished I had got the 25-50, but 19-38 was all that was available at the time. I have used it for glue ups 24 or so wide. The little lever raises up the open side about 5 or so thousands, so you the two passes join at a slight raising of the wood. After you hit it with the random orbit sander, you don't notice it at all.

I also use mine on everything that I can run through it, which is nearly everything I make.

Unsolicited advice: if you are doing tabletops or long boards on a drum sander, it is important to not let the board rock as it is going through the sander or it will put little scallops into the work. Having good support on both sides is important. Run some practice pieces of wood to get the hang of it first. Mine outfields onto my assembly table. I hang onto the feed and and the outfeed table supports it as it exits. One of the big advantages of the design of the open Supermaxes (and Jets too) is that the head moves up and down so the outfeed is at a constant height.

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[Keegan Shields]

I’ve had a 25-50 for a few years. It takes some practice to ensure you don’t gouge large table tops, but once you get the hang of it, the drum sander works well. I also push and pull the large workpiece gently through to ensure it never pauses (which causes a gouge).

The best advice is to take light passes. I typically go 1/8 turn per pass, maybe 1/4 turn for narrow work pieces.

It’s a great machine. Very useful if you have the space.

[Richard Coers]

These are not like wide belt sanders, so you have to do a really good job during the glue. Taking off 1/16" across 25" may not be possible, depending on wood species.

[Andrew Seemann]

Having adequate dust collection is also important to keep the drum from loading up with sanding dust and causing burns.

[George Bokros]

I have what must be an older Performax 16-32. It has no lever but it does have a knob you turn after you loosen two bolts to raise the outer end of the drum. Then you have turn the knob back to its previous position to put the drum back back to flat with to the table. My thought is that aligning it back to flat could be challenging.

I do have some wide (22 ") panels I would like to sand but......

[Richard Daugird]

Thanks for all the info guys. I recently bought a one ton pickup truck load of live edge slabs really cheap, from a guy I know who has a small sawmill at his home. they are stacked and stickered indoors at the moment. I have the parts for a router sled that I plan to assemble this coming winter, that I would likely use on pieces before passing through the sander.

[Jim Becker]

Richard, just because you "can" put big things through an open end drum sander doesn't mean you should. Material handling really comes into play and that includes personal safety, not just supporting the material through each pass. And if those slabs are not fully dry, they are going to be even heavier to work with. If I have something big that absolutely has to go through a drum or wide belt sander, I take them to a local shop to have them run. (Bucks County Hardwoods in my case where they have an old iron 62" wide drum sander) I pay a few bucks and THEY handle the heavy thangs. So consider carefully if you can physically handle this stuff without killing yourself... ;)

[George Yetka]

Im with Jim. As a matter of necessity its fine. I got the 19-38 but really wanted the 25x2 just couldnt justify cost at the time

[Richard Daugird]

I hear ya on the heavy stuff. I have a 21 year old helper, and infeed-outfeed support. I have run heavy stuff through my thickness planer, sometime I need to "help" it go through. I realize a sander is NOT a planer, and will not treat it as such.