Drum sander recommendations? Thinking of supermax 25x2

[Brad Cambell]

I've been looking into a drum sander for my shop. I have all of the major tools and I have been thinking of adding a drum sander to help reduce my manual sanding time and to sand panels and resawn pieces.
I have been looking at Supermax 19-38, but I am concerned about the flex of the shaft and not sanding large panels flat. Is this as big of a problem as I've read?
Because of this I'm looking at the Supermax 25x2 closed end double drum sander. I'd be giving up the width capacity but with the dual drums I would sand faster and not have the flex, due to the closed ends.

What are your thoughts on the open end sanders?

And double drum, closed end sanders?

Thanks for helping me with this difficult decision.

[Don Jarvie]

I just picked up the 19/38 and it’s a nice machine. The machine is very solid so don’t be concerned with any flexing from the head. It was very easy to set up and didn’t require any adjustments. I mostly do segmented turnings so it saves a lot of time sanding.

You do need to take lite passes and it works like a planer so one side needs to be flat. I’ve been happy so far.

[Earl Rumans]

I have had the Jet 22-44 OSC drum sander for a while now and I love it. I haven't found any flex problems and, with the oscillation feature, the finished produced is great. I put off getting a drum sander for a long time and now wish I hadn't waited.

[James Cheever]

I have the Supermax 25x2. I love it. Does everything I need. I have never needed to sand a panel wider than 25" and I love having the rigid support at both ends of the drums.

[Mike Henderson]

I recently purchased the SuperMax 25/50 and have been satisfied with it so far. No problem with flex. If you scroll through this thread you can see some of my set-up process on the 25/50.

Mike

[Carlos Alvarez]

I've had a Jet 22-44 for about 7-8 years and like it a lot. I lust for dual drums however. After years of using this, I can see where it would save me a lot of time. I very rarely use the ability to sand over 22", but you might, so weigh that. When I first did, it was not perfectly flat and left a ridge. I spent some time getting it all adjusted and now it does a good job. As far as panels being flat, I turn them randomly on every pass so they will end up flat no matter what. But adjustment is key to that. And I don't see any flex in mine.

[Cary Falk]

Another 25/50 owner here. It's a tank.

[John Nordyke]

You do need to take lite passes and it works like a planer so one side needs to be flat. I’ve been happy so far.

Just a trick I picked up several years ago - you can stabilize a segmented ring uneven on both sides on a flat carrier board using hot melt glue and pass through the sander to get the first face flat...

[Don Jarvie]

I took a look at my 19/38 and the pieces are 5/8 cast iron so deflection won’t be an issue.

[David Kumm]

A closed end machine is always more rigid than an open. Drum sanders are VERY slow and you need light passes so rigidity is less important than on other machines. The real benefit to the closed design is the second head. 80-120 adjusted correctly does save time. Still slow but tolerable. Dave

[Zachary Hoyt]

I just bought a 19-38 last month and I am very pleased with it. I use it a lot for segmented turning type work, sanding rings of 18 blocks of wood. I then take 3 or 4 of these rings and stack them to make a banjo rim. I have had very good results running my rings through the sander without flattening or removing glue on either side. I just take very light passes and keep turning them over between each cut, and they come out dead flat. I've been using 80 grit so far for that, and the glue has not been a problem. It's much faster than flattening the rings on the 4x36 belt sander, hand over hand like I used to, and the rings are more uniformly flat. I made several hundred of the rings over the years, but now I actually look forward to the flattening part of the job, which always used to be my least favorite.
Zach