Drum Sanders?

[Tim Allaire]

What is the practicality of a drum sander as oppose to a thickness planer? Is there a real need for a drum sander if I am just looking at thickness planers? Time? Cost benefit (after purchase) i.e. sand paper vs. knives? Suggestions on models?

Tim

[Cary Falk]

Tim,
I have had a 13" Delta lunchbox planar for a couple of years now. I just reciently purchased a 18-36 open ended drum sander on CL. The drum sander is nice because it has 5" extra and I can sand down to about 1/8" but it in no way takes the place of my planar. It goes very slow because you can only take very small amounts at a time. I would start with a planar first if I were you. I consider a planar a needed item and a sander a luxury item. Depending on what you make, that may be different in your case.

[Richard M. Wolfe]

If you are asking which should I get first it depends on the work you will be doing. If you are not going to be taking a lot of material off on something like a glued-up panel a sander is nice. If you want to take a board from 3/4" to 1/4" a sander is also nice.....if you want to take all day to do it and make buckets and buckets of sanding dust. :rolleyes:

For general woodworking a planer is generally the first buy as most people are interested in thicknessing a piece. Drum sanders, as was said, take tiny bites and are not good for that. But for working with figured woods a drum sander is preferable to a planer (speaking of the "lunchbox" variety) as its knives that can cause a lot of tearout in woods.

[Anthony Whitesell]

I love both my planer and my drum sander. The advantage I have found to the drum sander of the planer is that the drum sander will thickness shorter pieces (14" min for my Delta planer and 2 1/2" for my Jet 16-32 Sander). So now I can make thin scraps out of thick ones. :D

Last weekend I had to take a 12"x12" piece of mahagony from just short of 2" to 1 3/4" inch thick. I made two passes with 36 grit, then passes 80, 120, 180, and finished with 220 grit. The most material I could remove was 0.005" with the 36 grit. Boy, am I glad I was only going a 1/4". I spent as much time changing the paper as I did running the piece. (I think I have to come up with a faster way roll the paper for storage.) But on the bright side, it is ready for finishing, I don't have to touch it at all.

I wouldn't give up my planer though. Rough lumber around here is about 20% cheaper than s3s, and at one yard shorts are discounted 25%. I know I have saved far more than what a set of blades cost.

[Glen Blanchard]

A drum sander is a wonderful addition to many shops, but should not come before a thickness planer. I rely on my drum sander for its ability to incrementally reduce the thickness of a piece of stock and for ridding a highly figured piece of lumber of tear-out.

[Joe Jensen]

Last weekend I had to take a 12"x12" piece of mahagony from just short of 2" to 1 3/4" inch thick. I made two passes with 36 grit, then passes 80, 120, 180, and finished with 220 grit. The most material I could remove was 0.005" with the 36 grit. Boy, am I glad I was only going a 1/4". I spent as much time changing the paper as I did running the piece. (I think I have to come up with a faster way roll the paper for storage.) But on the bright side, it is ready for finishing, I don't have to touch it at all.


WOW, that must have taken forever. Did you really change paper 4 times? I am considering a drum sander but I assume paper changes were a HUGE hassle and I assumed I would either have a double drum and leave two different grits on them all the time, or I'd have a singe drum and never change the grit.

How long does a paper change take? How long did it take you to do what you described above?

[Jim Becker]

In a nutshell, drum sanders are great for leveling and some very minor thicknessing activity, but are not a replacement for a thickness planer. The "can" thickness, but the going is very slow and not at all efficient. Thickness planers (and jointers) are core tools for dimensioning material for use in your projects. A drum sander is an auxiliary tool that is what I consider a more specialized resource.

[Glen Blanchard]

I use only 100 grit paper on my Performax 16-32. Once done there, I use my Festool Rotex in rotary mode to get rid of the sanding marks.....then onto random oribit mode. This saves me the hassle of changing paper and the Rotex gets the stock ready for final sanding in short order.

[Bob Knodel]

If you watch a few episodes of David Marks Wood Works he will most likely use his drum sander. Most of what I have seen him use one for is sending his cut pieces of inlay material through to make them a uniform thickness.

[Stephen Edwards]

How long does a paper change take? How long did it take you to do what you described above?

From what I understand the time required to change sanding paper varies from one brand of sander to another. On my Performax 16-32 it takes about two minutes. Once you get the hang if it, it's no big deal.

I agree with the other folks who state that a planer should be first on your list of those two tools. But when you're working with lumber that's subject to tear out when planing, the drum sander, slow though it is, will certainly save you a lot of frustration.

Should you decide to buy the sander first for dimensioning lumber down to the thickness that you want, I suggest that you get a stool or chair to sit next to your sander and get out your favorite book, magazine or crossword puzzle to spend time with as the sander does its thing to your boards!

[Bob Aquino]

I run 100 or 120 grit and us it for leveling in my delta sander. Changing out paper on this machine is a bit more than a 2 minute deal. I can finish sand it with a ros quick enough.

As to the practicality that the OP was asking about, get the planer first along with a jointer. A drum sander comes down the line when you start having a need for it, and for sure you can get by without it, I did for years.

[Dennis Peacock]

In short....you want both...a planer and a drum sander. I couldn't get by without my planer and there's a LOT of things I could not have done without a drum sander.