Drum Sander Choice

[Mike Wilkins]

I have had a Woodtek 25" dual drum sander for about 8 years. Using 100 grit on the 1st drum and 120 on the 2nd. I originally got to get rid of planer marks after running boards through a less than ideal straight knife planer. Now that I have the Hammer A3-41 with Silent Power cutter head which leaves butter smooth surfaces. I mostly use the dual drum for running dirty or gnarly grained woods. And it does take up some space.

[Alan Lightstone]

OK, I've narrowed it down to two options, unless someone comes up with something better>

1.) Grizzly G0445 24” 10HP Wide Belt Sander.
https://www.grizzly.com/products/Gri...t-Sander/G0445
It can sand relatively short boards, plus has a footprint I think I can fit. I really would prefer a 3-phase machine, as I'm already wired for it. Plus it has a platten. Is that very useful? It appears that it could be.


2.) SandX 25” Wide Belt Sander
http://www.cwimachinery.com/product/...ander-1-phase/
Seems to have lots of bells and whistles. 60 amp single phase. Not sure if they have a 3 phase motor option. Their web site doesn’t have that option. Even though it looks like a solid machine, the single phase may be the deal breaker.

Anyone have any thoughts on these two, or any other suggestions?

[Jason Ramey]

We have a 19/38 and a 25/50 and I have found both to be excellent machines. I love that the tables fold down on the 25/50 when not in use. I got by with these sanders when we were without a planer for a bit.

[Jon Heithold]

Carl--ever had to replace the screw bushings on the main threaded rods on the Woodtek? Mine needs them but don't want to tear into it without some guidance... thanks, Jon, Lincoln, NE

[richard poitras]

One question that has not been asked is do you have proper dust extraction?

[John Jardin]

Allen,
I'm your neighbor in Valrico!
All of your options are good as you have 3 phase.
I found a Grizzly 24" 2 drum sander that I had to rebuild. This machine has been one of the best investments I have made.
call me if you want to come over and run something thru it. 813-446-5740 jsjardin@verizon,net

[Tom Bain]

I have Woodmaster 3875 (single drum) with a 3-phase motor. It's been a great machine, but I also don't use it heavily. I like that I can put very wide glue ups (e.g., table tops) through it, and use it for final "thicknessing" for bent-laminations and such.

[Alan Lightstone]

Allen,
I'm your neighbor in Valrico!
All of your options are good as you have 3 phase.
I found a Grizzly 24" 2 drum sander that I had to rebuild. This machine has been one of the best investments I have made.
call me if you want to come over and run something thru it. 813-446-5740 jsjardin@verizon,net

John:

Hey - nice to have a woodworker neighbor.

I bought the Grizzly G0445 24” 10HP Wide Belt Sander. Works great. I modified the top of the unit to make dust collection more manageable with my Nordfab ducting.

My regret, is that I didn't buy a wider unit, or an open-ended wide belt sander. Of course, right after I bought the unit I've had several wider pieces to sand than 24". Unfortunately, my previously purchased and installed Phase Perfect unit tops out at that capacity, so I really couldn't buy bigger. My mistake was not getting a larger Phase Perfect and then the next larger sized wide belt sander.

Of course the Grizzly weighs almost a ton, so no simple feat getting a larger unit, but oh well.

[Alan Lightstone]

One question that has not been asked is do you have proper dust extraction?

Yes, 5HP Oneida.

[richard poitras]

That's the same dust collector I had when I had my Woodmaster 3875 drum sander, it worked well with that sander. I had a 16/32 performax sander,it was oky but a toy compared to the woodmaster. I loved my woodmaster it could handle anything thrown at it.

[ray grundhoefer]

I also have a 3875 woodmaster. For what I do it works great. Heavy use in a full time cabinet shop probably a wide belt would be better. Depends on much how use it is going to get every day

[Jim Tobias]

Woodmaster 3875 here for 10+ years.....never an issue. I'm sure thee are other good sanders out there for a variety of uses and costs. This one has done everything I have thrown at it from thick, heavy slabs to thin (1/8") , light pieces of resawn veneers to using it on highly figured wood instead of my planer because of potential tearout. It is beefy......which is a good thing. Hooked up to my Oneida with 5" ductwork and it keeps the air clean.
Jim

[Randy Heinemann]

I'm looking to upgrade my 16-32 Jet Drum Sander.

Space is a little limited, but these are the options I've been considering

1.) Jet 22-44 Pro 3-HP with DRO

2.) SuperMax 25-50 Drum Sander 1-3/4HP with DRO

3.) Woodmaster 38" 5HP Single Drum Sander

I like the fact that the Jet has a beefier motor, but of course the SuperMax has larger capacity, and looks to be more solidly built. The Woodmaster looks the most solid, but being a closed unit would limit me to 38" (not sure I'd exceed that).

Anyone own either of those units (the Jet seems much rarer), and have any thoughts that could sway me in either direction. The Woodmaster is quite large, and may not fit.

Other units to consider in this size range? No room for a true wide belt, sob...

I haven't seen anyone ask why you are upgrading (maybe I just missed the question). I certainly wouldn't ever stop anyone from just buying a cool tool, especially something like a drum sander, but do you have a need for something that wide? Like very wide table tops? Or extra wide slabs? I am thinking of buying a drum sander for a number of different uses but, for me, one of the decisions is capacity. I am tempted to buy something wider (maybe in my case a 19-38 would meet all of my needs and maybe some I won't have), but then I've thought it through and am not really sure I'd every have any use for something wider than a 16-32. On the rare occasion I would need wider capacity I could take it to one of two hardwood lumber places near me and they could run it though theirs; for a price, sure, but certainly not as much as it would cost to buy the larger sander instead of the smaller.

Look, I know this is way too logical and, as I said, I wouldn't every try to stop someone from buying a cool tool. However, if I had all the money I have spent on tools with the off-chance I might need larger capacity or have a use other than once in a great while, I'd have enough to buy a couple of other tools that I actually could have used more often.

[Alan Lightstone]

I actually use my Grizzly wide belt now on most projects. I have had a few tables I've made since I got it, and having the width limited to 24" has been a pain. But for all the other projects, it's been great.

Yes, I guess I could drive 10 miles to a local lumber shop and ask to use the wide belt, but I'm happier I bought one.

And it is night and day better than my old Jet 16/32.