Drum sanders

[Dave Zellers]

The bottom line is people need to stop thinking of these machines as planers. They are not designed to remove significant amounts of material. I've had people tell me you can't use the finer grits (220) on a drum sander. You certainly can, and get great results. You just have to think thin. Thin, thin, thin.

There is a reason why the rollers contact the wood way before the drum does. Easy does it.

[Joe Jensen]

The bottom line is people need to stop thinking of these machines as planers. They are not designed to remove significant amounts of material. I've had people tell me you can't use the finer grits (220) on a drum sander. You certainly can, and get great results. You just have to think thin. Thin, thin, thin.

There is a reason why the rollers contact the wood way before the drum does. Easy does it.

Amen to that. I installed an Ammeter on mine. I wondered how much I was loading the machine and I have never gone past 50% max current. I however use a jointer and planer to make each board flat and straight before glue ups so I don't level with the sander.