Drum Sander Info Needed

[Tony Bilello]

Does anyone here own or use any of the following double drum sanders and can they give me info as to what they use them for and what are the pros and cons of their machine and how would you rate yours overall.
Now that's a run-on sentence.

Grizzly 1066R and 1066Z
Shop Fox 26"
Accura 25"

Thanks in advance

[Joe Chritz]

I have the 1066R. My only real complaint is keeping paper on since it likes to toss the roll on the second drum. I currently am running one because I yanked all the felt off the second drum and have not reset it yet.

As long as I remember it isn't a widebelt and try not to hog a piece through it gives good service.

Joe

[Chip Lindley]

I use the 1066R. It is the bare minimum for a drum sander (imo) but much better than nothing. I found it very *iffy* to use two grits at the same time with any positive results. I use the same grit on both drums to double my effective sanding power. Then switch to finer grit on both drums for final sanding of door panels, or rail/stile stock for a project. The 1066Z has adjustable rear drum height, which I have no experience with, BUT is a step in the right direction to utilize both drums.

1066R does an admirable job at smoothing out planer marks, minor tear out, and getting all stock to like thickness after several passes. Drum sanding is a slow process! It cannot be hurried along, or burning of the wood OR loading up of resin on sanding roll will develop. Removing the felt and using the velcro wrap with felt-backed paper works well for me.

The dust collection is totally useless on this machine. 1066R needs some serious nozzles to concentrate DC suction right at the base of the drum as the dust is made.

Adjustments for keeping the conveyor belt running true are rediculous. With four corners independently adjustable, it was almost impossible for me to achieve true tracking.

At present I am adding dust collection to the 1066R with sheet metal nozzles inside the hood, aft of each drum. I am also rebuilding the conveyor bearings using commercial flange bearings on the rear and commercial takeup bearings on the front, which adjust with more accuracy.

There are more well engineered drum sanders out there BUT they are much more expensive. My 1066R is paid for and with the modifications I mention above, it will be quite serviceable to me for my particular uses.

If I had my *druthers* I would have the Woodmaster 26 or 38 inch drum sander. I have heard nothing but GOOD of these machines. Variable speed (and reversable) conveyor and plenty of Horsepower. They appear to be much finer than my ol' Grizz.

[Joe Chritz]

Just to add to Chip on the dust collection.

I get a lot "stuck" to the surface of the wood but nothing airborne. I am running a 6" line to a pair of 4" flex hose (about18" each) from a 2 HP cyclone so their is some serious air inside. I have thought about rigging some kind of stiff brush on the outfeed to wipe away the surface stuff. I assume most non-oscillating units leave something similar.

Glad to here you like the velcro Chip, I have been thinking about going that route and I may do so now. Currently I buy the longest sanding belt I could find from WW supply (280" I think) and cut it into 3 belts.

Joe

[Tony Bilello]

This is geting more complicated. I went from wanting a 20" planer to deciding that a 20" or more drum sander would suit my purposes better. Then I went from a single drum idea to a dual drum idea and now back to a single drum again.
I went from approx. a $1300 machine to a possible $2000 + machine.
The latest one I'm thinking about is the Jet Oscillating 22-44.
Anyone here know anything about them?
Also, does anyone here know anything about Woodtek sanders?

[Richard Wolf]

I have the Shop Fox 26" dual drum sander. It has serviced me well. Light passes should be taken to ensure long life of the belts. A large capacity dust collector is a must. It is a big jump up from open ended 16/32 type. Much faster and better results. I really find the machine very useful in my stair shop.

Richard

[Chris Padilla]

Well I recently picked up a used 18-36 Delta open end drum sander. It is a few years old but after fiddling with it and killing a whole Saturday, I finally have it set up and admirably servicing my needs to sanding resawn veneer down to 1/16".

The table height mechanism works okay but that is after taking it up to minimum height (on the Delta, the table moves up and down, on the Jet/Performax, the drum moves up and down) to the drum (or is that max height??) and getting stuck several times before I figured out how to adjust the stupid thing.

Next was getting the conveyor belt to track smoothly and not slowly unfurl itself off the table.

Finally, I adjusted the table to get a uniform table to drum height.

Now it sands very well. The drum is very well balanced and has no discernable wobble (lucky me).

I have a pretty good DC that pretty much sucks about 95% off all the dust out so that is nice.

As most here have said, light, light, LIGHT passes and much patience are the key to getting good service from a drum sander. It is not a thickness planer.

I usually send my veneers through at least twice without changing the table height and then I just barely bump the wheel to adjust the height.

Spend time adjusting it perfectly, take light cuts, be patient, and you'll have a nice product in the end.

[Gary Muto]

I have a Jet 22-44" and really like it. I haven't had trouble with burning or paper clogging so I don't think I'd recommend spending the extra money. The drum sander is slow and if the oscillating help increase feeed rate that may be an advantage. I had a hard enough time justifying $1000 (at the time).

I looked at the new oscillating model and talked to a Jet rep. at a local WW event. He told me that there are no plans to add oscillating to the 16-32" or the open stand 22-44" that I bought. For what it's worth, he didn't seem really excited about the feature..

[Karl Brogger]

I had a 37" Woodmaster. I think I sold it for $1500. I "think". It may have been as low as $1100.

Just to throw another wrench in the mix, I bought a 37" widebelt sander for $5k used. I don't know how I ever functioned using the drum sander. It's more than you probably want to spend, but worth every penny.

[James Walters]

You guys with the Grizzly 1066 drum sanders. Have you ajusted your dust scoops??? Some Grizzly 1066 sanders only have one dust scoop installed.
I no mine only had one. I made one for the out feed roller and ajusted them both, WOW what a difference!!!!

[Alan Schaffter]

I picked up an older 1066 a few years ago. Its a basic machine and I have started slowly upgrading it. I replaced the feed motor with a Baldor DC gear motor (cheap on Ebay) and added a DC controller for variable speed. I also switched the drums to H&L.

I plan to replace the conveyor belt but YIKES!!!!! Has anyone checked the price of one from Grizzly- just under $300 for the new style conveyor belt!!!!!

I want to add a micro height adjustment wheel, too (the current one has too coarse of threads.)

I also plan to do some serious tinkering. I designed and will make a new tilting drum bearing bracket assembly to hold both drums. It will tilt so only one or the other drum can contact the stock- selectable drums. The brackets will be operated by four small pneumatic cylinders powered by shop air. Precise drum height setups/adjustments for each drum will be possible by turning threaded stop bolts, one under each end of each bracket arm that control how much the bracket can move. No change in belt distance or tension is necessary.

There is no reason to use two drums and grits on each pass. Most people make two passes at the same setting anyway. That means with a typical coarse-fine setup, the stock passes under a coarse grit drum then under a finer grit drum, then on the second run, passes under the coarse drum again before the finer grit. The fine grit drum is wasted on the first pass.

I will still use different grits on each drum, except only one drum will contact the stock during each pass. After one pass I will reverse conveyor direction and can make a second pass with same drum/grit or the other grit/drum. Switching drums will only need fractional change in height. I hope to be able to make both manual and automatic conveyor direction and drum selection changes. Except for the automatic mode none of this should be too complicated or expensive.