Drum Sander

[Don Dean]

Would like to pick your brains about drum sanders as I will be in Springfield, MO next week and going to stop by Grizzly's showroom.


What do you use your sander for?
What grits of sandpaper do you use most often?
What grit of sandpaper is in your sander most of the time?
Grizzly Mini Drum Sander owners, how do you like and dislike about your sander?As a beginner I do small projects and don't do any cabinet work at this time. Would really like your input.

Thanks.

[Matt Meiser]

I've used mine for flattening panels and sanding resawn material. I've tried it for other things, but it isn't a timesaver for many of them. As many others have stated in threads about drum sanders it is NOT a surface planer. I have a variety of grits, but mostly use 80 and 120. I think I've had 120 in it most of the time lately.

Edit: Mine's a Delta 18/36

[Mike Cutler]

I have a Performax 16-32 Drum Sander. I use it for final sanding just prior to finishing.
It usually has either 100 or 120 grit on it most of the time.
I usually start with 100 grit, then switch to 120. Depending on the wood I'll either go to 150 or 180 next.
I've used the 180 to remove a messed up varnish job once:(
I've messed around with the 60 and 80, but haven't yet needed to actually use them.
The Performax excels at small jobs, but for bigger stuff, I'd be looking at a dual drum sander

[George Kretschmann]

I would be intrested in some of the responses about sanders also. I plan to get one eventually, probably the 16-32 PERFORMAX. As much as some of the machine cost now the first choice needs to be the correct choice unless money is not a problem.;)

[William Bachtel]

I use all grits from 36 up to l80, I use the 36 grit to sand and plane figured lumber. I have a kuster, they are out of business. I could not do without it. Use it all the time. It flattens lumber the best of all, will make it perfectly flat, love that for glueing up and table tops. I keep l20 and l50 on the machine most of the time.

[tod evans]

don, one bit of advice on any type of sanding machine, don`t shop by price! sanding requires more horsepower than most folks realize and horsepower cost money. 3 hours up the road in kc is woodmaster, take the time to compare their offerings to the green import stuff.....02 tod

[Jim Hager]

I gotta agree with Tod on this one. I have purchased 4 drum sanders and finally have one that will do the job. I have the General International and it is a fine machine. The other green sander I had a LOT of trouble keeping the paper on but the worst thing that it did was throw the materials out of the sander into the wall. Those machines are made to climb cut, look out. :eek: I have also tried the ryobi 16-32, grizzly 1066 and the delta 18-36. The little delta machine is ok but I have outgrown it. It is just too slow. If I added up all the money I have spent on drum sanders it would make me sick plus I probably could have had a wide belt by now:mad:

[Mike Evertsen]

I have the delta 18/36 it works great for my small shop.

[Ed Labadie]

Don,
I have the 38" Woodmaster, it's main uses are flattening glue ups & final thickness sizing for panels that are going in dadoes. Most of the time I use 120 grit paper on it.
I don't use the machine to try to eliminate any hand fininshing. The Festool Rotex 150 does that.
Tod & Jim both bring up excellent points on your purchase.
If you don't plan to use the machine for finish sanding, I wouldn't spend the money on a double drum type unit. I would personally stay away from an open throat type sander that moves the drum for height adjustment, to much flexing due to the design of the machine.
Dust collection is also a very important consideration, a 650cfm dc will do an excellent job with my Woodmaster. A local shop that makes molding, flooring & paneling recently bought a 38" double drum machine, this is an imported machine not a Woodmaster. It is setup with 4, 4" dust ports. They then had to spend big bucks for a new 5hp Grizzly DC for dust control on this machine only! Their current system will handle a 4 head molder & 20" planer, but not the sander.
Take you time & think it through before you buy.

Ed