Drum Sanders - may need a new one

[Steve Demuth]

My Delta 31-260 may have finally bitten the dust. It was an awful machine, but with continuous adjustment, I made it work for what I wanted - mostly final precision thicknessing of shopsawn veneer or laminations for bent lam glue ups. Assuming I can't fix it, I will shortly be in the market for a replacement.

So, curious as to experience with relatively recently models of two types of sanders:

1. Open-end models, and in particular the Supermax 19-38, Shopfox 18", or Jet models.

2. Smaller closed-end models, like the Grizzly G1079R.

For what I do, I don't need a dual drum sander, and I'm not sure they'd add value over the single drum, open-end models. But the open end ones seem prone to all sorts of technical difficulties.

Who has an experience-backed point of view on this for me?

[John C Bush]

I had a performax open end--18-36 IIRC and it worked great with a little fussing to manage the overlap when sanding wider panels
I lucked into a closed end Supermax 25" SandPro and I like it better. Rarely need more width. It works well for my hobby needs and only negative is the 1.75hp motor. Not an issue if not in a hurry so patience is a virtue. I recommend it for lite use but would step up to more power and rigidity for more heavy duty use. Good luck.

[glenn bradley]

After hearing the many tales of woe about adjustment problems, feed belt tracking, constant adjustments and failures for many makes of drum sanders I was excited to hear so much positive buzz about the Supermax 19-38 when it first came out. I bought mine a couple of years later. Following the initial setup and alignment I have NEVER had to re-align the machine. Great for sanding veneer to thickness and with an approximate 4" sanding height it is very versatile. I use it on nearly every project and it may be near time for a new feed belt. Even though late in its service life I have never had to tweak the feed belt tracking. The things just works . . . and works every time.

I change the paper often to accommodate the proper grit for a job since it is so easy to do so. This means I get more effective use from the machine and it gets used more often. The dust collection is quite good with a 2HP cyclone. The foot print is quite large and would put people off who did not use the machine enough to qualify for that footprint. I optimized the real estate the machine takes up by building a set of drawers underneath. This fixture holds all my abrasives for the machine, belts for my edge sander and nearly all my other abrasives, pads and sanding doo-dads.

Belt Storage (3).jpg . 19-38-stand(26).jpg . 19-38-stand(25).jpg

I know I sound a bit like a pitch man but, I would buy one again in a heartbeat. The 16-32 uses a different drive train setup and has other goodies that I cannot speak to. The 19-38 has been one of those tools that you don't really think about, you just use it.

[Jim Tobias]

Have you considered a Woodmaster drum sander? Just asking.

Jim

[Zachary Hoyt]

I am very fond of my 19-38, like Glenn I have had to do no work to mine other than changing sanding rolls. I have a 1 HP Reliant dust collector that is nothing special, and it does fine keeping up with the sander. I use mine just about every day I am in the shop. I had a Woodmaster planer-sander-molder combo machine that was pretty lousy, the rolls were so far from the cutterhead that it had terrible snipe and didn't feed well. I don't know if all their equipment is that poorly designed, but I was not impressed.

[Steve Demuth]

Have you considered a Woodmaster drum sander? Just asking.

Jim

Not too seriously, as their low-end model, at 26", 5HP and $4000 is at or a bit beyond the very top end of what I could justify in my shop, given what I do. Anything I buy is going to get closer to 40 or 50 hrs/yr on it than 400 or 500, and almost entirely on material that is less than a foot wide.

[Ron Selzer]

I am very fond of my 19-38, like Glenn I have had to do no work to mine other than changing sanding rolls. I have a 1 HP Reliant dust collector that is nothing special, and it does fine keeping up with the sander. I use mine just about every day I am in the shop. I had a Woodmaster planer-sander-molder combo machine that was pretty lousy, the rolls were so far from the cutterhead that it had terrible snipe and didn't feed well. I don't know if all their equipment is that poorly designed, but I was not impressed.

Have a Woodmaster 12" combo machine bought new in 88. WILL NOT SAND WITH IT, otherwise as said above. has always worked, made lot of molding and planed 1000's of bdft with it and no intention of getting rid of it.
Lucked into a great deal on a 15" wide belt open one side, no going back to drum sanders for me. Change paper in less than a minute, no burning, no divots, no erratic feeding, etc.
Highly recommend looking for a wide belt sander.
Ron

[Lisa Starr]

My SuperMax is a 16-32, that I've had for a couple of years now. I've never had to make any adjustments to it since the initial setup. Mine is on the rolling stand and is moved constantly and even that has never caused any alignment issues.

[Jim Tobias]

Totally understand.....Just checking as I know they have Labor Day sales. I have had mine(not a combo machine) for 15 years and other than changing sandpaper, it works like a charm.

Jim

[Steve Demuth]

Lucked into a great deal on a 15" wide belt open one side, no going back to drum sanders for me. Change paper in less than a minute, no burning, no divots, no erratic feeding, etc.
Highly recommend looking for a wide belt sander.
Ron

Thanks. I thought about going to a wide belt, and the 15" Grizzly is tempting, but it's way more machine than I'd use effectively.

[Jim Becker]

I had a Performax 22-44 years ago, but it was at a time when I realized I had no real use for it. So I sold it to a guy up in NE PA where it's still in use. It was a decent machine. Last year, I realized that my needs had changes and a drum sander was very much going to be a useful tool to have. I was lucky to score a Supermax 19-38 "barely used" and it's been a great addition to my shop, especially now that I added the DRO to it to make my need to support both metric and Imperial easy on that machine. It's heavy and well made.

[Tom Wrzos]

I have had a 19/38 SuperMax for about 3 years. I have used it extensively to sand everything from narrow boards to 23" wide panels. It has performed flawlessly. Even when sanding wide panels there is no witness line. The former owner and inventor gave me a great deal with a free digital indicator which is very useful and accurate. Later I purchased the folding tables which I find very useful. I would definitely buy again.

[Steve Demuth]

Thanks to all for the Supermax endorsements ;-)

Two follow ups:

1. The Supermax 19-38 is on sale for 10% off (albeit with delayed shipping due to back order) right now. $1350 at your favorite tool house (Acme and Toolnut in particular have been flogging me with ads). I think the sale is through Tuesday, September 8th.

2. For anyone with a Delta 31-25x or 31-26x model drum sander, in getting mine repaired, I acquired a bag of the miter gears that drive the table elevation. These are not available through normal parts suppliers, but you can get replacements that are close enough to the originals from general drive train distributors. I needed one, but ended up with more. So over in "classified" I'm selling Delta drum sander gears for anyone who wants spares in their kit.

[Brian Tymchak]

Thanks to all for the Supermax endorsements ;-)

Two follow ups:

1. The Supermax 19-38 is on sale for 10% off (albeit with delayed shipping due to back order) right now. $1350 at your favorite tool house (Acme and Toolnut in particular have been flogging me with ads). I think the sale is through Tuesday, September 8th.

I was walking around Woodwerks yesterday and they have the 19-38, at least on display. They're typically closed on Sundays but maybe they have different holiday weekend hours.

https://www.thisiswoodworking.com/pr...-w-open-stand/

I have a 10 yr old Jet 18-36 that I tried once to get the tracking right but never could get the belt to stay in one place. I noticed at Woodweks that the new Jet 18-36 has a much more heavy duty belt tensioner on either side than mine does. Also I noticed the SM 19-38 has the same style tensioner as my old Jet, although with a little heavier duty steel. But I do like the steel drum cover on the SM vs the plastic cover on the Jet. For $1100+ you would think Jet would upgrade that flimsy cover.

[Roger Bull]

Not too seriously, as their low-end model, at 26", 5HP and $4000 is at or a bit beyond the very top end of what I could justify in my shop, given what I do. Anything I buy is going to get closer to 40 or 50 hrs/yr on it than 400 or 500, and almost entirely on material that is less than a foot wide.

I went from a 22-44 to the 50" Woodmaster and it is a night and day difference. I'll never go back after using this machine. One thing I love is the feed belt. No more slipping on sandpaper belts. Too many times I made "one more pass" to make things perfect and had the belt slip and leave a divot in the piece.

Their online pricing is higher than their pricing when you call them. Plus they always have sales. It might be worth a call in case the price you would end up with is close to your alternatives. They also occasionally have returns that they discount significantly (damaged in shipping etc.).