Woodmaster 718 as Drum Sander - Venner?

[Rob Diz]

I'm thinking about a woodmaster 718 or 725, but leaning toward a 718. I was wondering if anyone has used the Drum sander attachment to make veneers. I periodically make bent wood laminations, and need to go down to 3/32 or even 1/16th. Is that possible with the 718 or 725?

[Neal Clayton]

not possible to go that shallow unless you add a thick bed on top of the planer bed, and the drum sander attachment on those planers is less than stellar, to put it politely. with the 1/2" plastic bed on the machine i can go down somewhere between 3/8 and 1/4, that's about it before the table tops out.

their dedicated drum sanders might be a different story.

[Faust M. Ruggiero]

Rob,
I own a 718 and use it exclusively as a molder. I bought it expecting to switch back and forth between sander and molder but I had very poor luck with the drum sander. My problem had to do with inconsistent feed. A drum sander or even a wide belt sander will sand deeper the longer it remains on a spot. When the work piece stalls or slows down the result is peaks and valleys. The 718 feeds like a planer with top mounted infeed and outfeed tables. As you know, most planers have metal feed rollers, the infeel roller being serrated for positive feed. The 718 feeds with rubber rollers. The sanding dust, even with a strong dust collector, gets on the rollers and causes them to slip.
Woodmaster also makes a dedicated drum sander. I don't own one but it feeds from the bottom with a feed belt, a much better system. I have read good reviews.
fmr

[Rob Diz]

I have a 15 inch planer and am looking for a drum sander. I was thinking about going with a used woodmaster - 18 or 25 inch if the sanding side worked well. From what I'm hearing here, I think I may keep on looking for a used drum sander and keep my Grizz 1021 in service.

[Neal Clayton]

the feed problem faust mentioned is the primary problem, it just isn't a good deisgn for sanding. the machine first and foremost is marketed as a planer that can also be a molder/gang rip saw and the rubber rollers are there for lateral grip for those functions. i tend to think adding the sanding head was an afterthought.

it can be an ok dedicated planer if you opt for the spiral head from WM, but that's another 1000 for a 718, not sure how much on the 25 but more than that i'm sure.