Ryobi drum sander?

[John Miliunas]

A buddy of mine saw an ad (private party) for a 16"-32" drum sander for sale. Turns out to be a brand new unit, still in the box, for five bills, including the stand and extra sanding strips. He asked me for an opinion, but I'm not familiar with it, nor have I been able to find a whole lot on it. Anybody have experience with this unit? And, if it's an OK unit, is the guy's asking price OK? :cool:

[Ron McNeil]

John I found this about the Ryobi sander on the internet


Ryobi 16-32 Wide Drum Sander

By Gary R. Dusina



Recently I purchased a Ryobi 16-32 Wide Drum Sander for my shop. It was a major investment, but one that will pay for itself over time. Having a drum sander in the shop affords me the convenience of be able to thickness tops, backs and sides any time I need them. In addition I can sand bridge blanks, headstock overlays, bindings, bracing material and just about anything made of wood.

The Ryobi sander is a well built machine that has some very nice features on it. For example, as the name implies, you can sand a full 16 inches wide in one pass, or up to 32 inches in two passes. It will also sand wood as thick as 3 inches and down to below 1/8". I took down a mahogany back to .110" without any problems. There is a 2 1/2" dust port on top of the unit that will hook up with either a Shop-Vac type machine or larger dust evacuation system. The base of the unit has a power driven conveyor belt and speed control that allows you to have a feed rate from 2 fpm to 10 fpm. You can use per-cut sanding belts made by Ryobi or save some money and cut your own from from large stock roles. The machine came with an 80 grit belt on it and I found it to be too aggressive. I installed a 120 grit belt and found it to be almost perfect. Changing the belts isn’t difficult but does require a strong thumb to lift the clip tensioner.

You can order the sander with or without the metal stand. Do yourself a favor and get the stand. It makes the entire sander unit very stable and less likely to go out of adjustment. The only thing I would do differently to the stand, would be to install locking casters and make this unit moveable. You will need to do some minor adjusting of the table and drum after you get it set up. The instructions are very clear and easy to follow.

The sander and stand together weigh approx.160 lbs., is 115V, 10 amp, as a one hp motor that runs at a no load speed of 1725 rpms. The conveyor belt is driven by a 1/3 hp motor and adjusts from a feed rate of 2 fpm to 10 fpm. The unit is cast aluminum and the drum is polished steel and self cooling. It comes with a two year warranty and is very easy to operate.

Just a warning... This is not a tool for a large production shop, but was intended more for builders like you and me who do only a limited number of instruments every year. That’s not to say it isn’t a strong machine, because it is. You just don’t want to be running it all day long.

I have found it to be the perfect addition to my shop and I think you will to.

[Scott Coffelt]

I have that same unit, but paid $399 new in a box with Stand from Cummins a few years back. Here is my take. 1) A nice unit but not as nice as the Performix 2) No longer made so it will get harder to find parts from Ryobi 3) The minimum speed at times is not slow enough 4) Changing paper is a PITA, Performix I understand is easier design 5) Same paper size as Performix so should be able to find easily enough 6) Stand is a not the way to go unles you plan on keeping in one spot 7) No other accessories available (i.e., extentions, etc.) 8) It seems to sand evenly across the width and stays adusted (see point 6 and reverse if stand used and moved around) 9) Dust collection isn't real good (2 1/2"), I had to modify to a 4" and it is much better.

So, what's it all mean. If I was to find for sub $400 NIB I might lean that way as it would be 1/2 of the Performix (if money was a reason), but when you look at all of the negative points I would go the Performix route (again assuming I had the bucks). I built a mobile stand for mine which is much better then trying to lug around when in use. I may try and figure out a way to add extentions some day. I have learned to work around the sand paper thing, but it is still a real pain. Like many Ryobi items, it is hit and miss on getting a good tool.

So for the money I really feel it is wash compared to spending twice that for Performix, but I would not have bought it at $500. I might want to see how firm the guy is at $500. I saw some refurbs in the $299 range a while back.

[John Miliunas]

Gentlemen, thanks much for the input! Scott, your mini-review was invaluable! I kinda' told my pal close to the same thing, as far as comparing to the Performax. Plus, if the guy was firm on the five bills, it wouldn't take much more to get a refurb from GIS. Turns out my buddy called the guy back and the seller was waiting on someone with "cash in hand" for it, but would let him know if it was a "no show". He couldn't get a fix on the guy as to whether he'd take less or not. I basically did a "copy/paste" on a note to my friend and he greatly appreciates the info. He's primarily an occassional WW, but sees the uses for such a machine and figured, if the price was right, it would serve him OK. I keep trying to tell him that if his "occassional use" gets expanded upon, he may feel sorry for getting a "stop-gap" piece of equipment, but he's good with that, so....??? I'll let you know if he gets it and how it turns out. Thanks again! :cool:

[Joe Tonich]

Gentlemen, thanks much for the input! Scott, your mini-review was invaluable! I kinda' told my pal close to the same thing, as far as comparing to the Performax. Plus, if the guy was firm on the five bills, it wouldn't take much more to get a refurb from GIS. Turns out my buddy called the guy back and the seller was waiting on someone with "cash in hand" for it, but would let him know if it was a "no show". He couldn't get a fix on the guy as to whether he'd take less or not. I basically did a "copy/paste" on a note to my friend and he greatly appreciates the info. He's primarily an occassional WW, but sees the uses for such a machine and figured, if the price was right, it would serve him OK. I keep trying to tell him that if his "occassional use" gets expanded upon, he may feel sorry for getting a "stop-gap" piece of equipment, but he's good with that, so....??? I'll let you know if he gets it and how it turns out. Thanks again! :cool:

John,

I looked around for opinions on drum sanders before getting the Performax and there was a lot of concern about it flexing with the Ryobi. If he does get it, there is an article on how to help stiffen it up that I found while searching for info. As soon as I can find it again I'll get it to you.

Joe

[Ron Meadows]

Joe,

It can't possibly flex as much as the Performax does. Only tool purchase that I've truly regretted. I've hated the 16/32 since the day I brought it home. Drum flexes something awful and after at least 20 attempts to align the head I've given up. If I hadn't spent so much money on the thing I'd chuck it in the landfill!!!!!!

Sorry, but when someone mentions drum flex and Performax....I get a little red eyed.

Ron

[Joe Tonich]

Joe,

It can't possibly flex as much as the Performax does. Only tool purchase that I've truly regretted. I've hated the 16/32 since the day I brought it home. Drum flexes something awful and after at least 20 attempts to align the head I've given up. If I hadn't spent so much money on the thing I'd chuck it in the landfill!!!!!!

Sorry, but when someone mentions drum flex and Performax....I get a little red eyed.

Ron

Ron,

I haven't had any trouble with mine. The only time I have to re-adjust it is when doing wide boards that need flipped around. I only lower it 1/16 - 1/8 turn at a time and keep pressure on the infeed and outfeed sides close to the sander to keep the weight off the drum (no extention tables :( ). According to my mic's they come out flat.

Joe