Drum Sander

[Joe Jensen]

I have a Powermatic 24" dual drum. I run nearly all parts through it with 120 on the first drum and 150 on the second. Works great if you don't run soft wood through it. Paper fouls really quickly with fir. Changing paper is like an hour, I hate it. So, I never take more than .005" a pass. I added a DRO to it and the planer. It's not a substitute for a planer. If you don't have a DRO on the planer, you will use a caliper on each board before sending it through the drum sander.

I now have space for a wide belt and I am shopping for my ideal machine.

[Robert Engel]

I have been using a Supermax for the last 2 months and it is an excellent machine.

I had exactly the opposite experience with customer service than the one poster. My email was responded to promptly (with a couple hours) and forwarded to tech support, who also responded quickly. He even apologized for missing one of my follow ups.

My only caution is pay attention to the setup. I was too quick to use mine and didn’t pay attention to the tracking on the platen & had to replace it.

Changing belts is very easy and duct collection is superb.

I previously had a dual drum, which was useless to me.

[Jim Riseborough]

Thanks for all the insight. Perhaps I dont need it. The wide belt sanders seem the way to go, but are 2-3 times the cost.

Upgrading my planer to a 24" is 2x the cost too.

I do spend money on more stupid ideas....so perhaps look into some other tool. I have always wanted a mill.

[Mike Henderson]

I have a Supermax 25/50 and use it on almost every project - probably every project. If you want to avoid the cost of a wide belt sander, I'd recommend a wide, single drum sander. I had a 16/32 and often found that I was doing work wider than 16 - and the idea that you can do two passes and get 32 is a outright lie. It's just about impossible to get your drum sander adjusted so that you don't get a ridge between two passes like that.

But 25 inches has handled just about everything that I do.

Mike

[Dave Cav]

I had a Woodmaster for about a year and hated it. Slow and difficult to change paper, slow to operate, very limited depth of cut, and the worst was the finish quality. The finish had tiny ripples across the finish from the drum, and despite how I loaded the paper I was never able to eliminate the defects. I eventually gave up and sold it. It's replacement is a Safety Speed cut 37" widebelt. It's not a huge industrial 30 HP machine, but it works very well for me in my shop and is about ten times faster than a drum sander.

[Warren Lake]

I have a pro wide belt drum sander, unlike those little units you can change a belt in 30 seconds. Its a belt not paper wrapped on a drum so it cools better. It has a large drum so larger point of contact which equals less pattern marks, Its open one side and works better as a heavy frame so less deflection but spinning around will always be a compromise, it has a two speed bottom feed track, the belt oscillates as well and that is a whole other level to your drum sanders. I got the drum machine to thickness one specific Hardboard. It did the job pretty well.

All the old european cabinetmakers I knew had stroke sanders, its one of the basic machines like a jointer, planer or shaper.

Lost very little time using the stroke sander plus it can do stuff a wide belt cant.

[Rod Wolfy]

I worked for many years without one, then bought one when I was trimming out our house with cherry A&C trim and was faced with a couple thousand feet of boards to sand. I goth the Supermax 19-38.

I now use it on pretty much every single project. Was making veneer for my current guitar project yesterday. Anything that wants precise thicknessing with no risk of tearout

I bought the SuperMax 19-38 on CL. I use it way more than I anticipated that I would. It was a little hard at first, as it was easy to burn wood when I went to the higher grits (80 grit all day, but 220 burns EASY). Very nice to get a uniform finish quickly on a cutting board, even if they're 18" wide. On the higher grits, it comes down to very small turns on the height adjuster - like 1/8" turn.

I'd buy one again. It's not a planer or meant to be used as one, but great for thin strips or end grain boards, which you can't generally put through a planer.

[Jim Riseborough]

Well I got it. With some gift cards, its about 2K, and 24 months interest free payments, so overall feel good about it.

[Doug Dawson]

Well I got it. With some gift cards, its about 2K, and 24 months interest free payments, so overall feel good about it.

What did you get?

[Jim Riseborough]

What did you get?

Dual drum sander, Delta. https://deltamachinery.com/products/sanders/31-481/

[Dan Hahr]

Hmmm...which recommendation swayed you? Just kidding...

I couldn't help but look at Delta's site. Was really just wondering if the new Unisaw was still Made in USA. Never could get it to load. Clicked on the Contact Us link. It went to the About Us page. No phone number, no email. Maybe you can tweet them?

I have a lot of older Delta stuff. USA Unisaw, some China made stuff. All at least 15 years old. They work fine but I hope they don't break. Pretty sure the Unisaw will last forever...

Dan

[Jim Riseborough]

Hmmm...which recommendation swayed you? Just kidding...

I couldn't help but look at Delta's site. Was really just wondering if the new Unisaw was still Made in USA. Never could get it to load. Clicked on the Contact Us link. It went to the About Us page. No phone number, no email. Maybe you can tweet them?

I have a lot of older Delta stuff. USA Unisaw, some China made stuff. All at least 15 years old. They work fine but I hope they don't break. Pretty sure the Unisaw will last forever...

Dan

I think price swayed me. 26" is pretty wide too.

Looks like the Contact Link is not working right, here is their contact page. https://deltamachinery.com/support/

I have Grizzly, PM, and now Delta. None have been any trouble so far.

Thanks

[Robert London]

Baileigh looks to make the same machine

https://www.baileigh.com/heavy-duty-drum-sander-sd-255

[roger wiegand]

Well it's taken me approximately forever, but I just figured out that the machine I was thinking about as you guys talk about as a "wide belt sander" is actually called a "stroke sander", which, while quite wide and a belt sander, isn't the same thing at all. The conversation makes much more sense now.

[Ron Selzer]

would like to try a stroke sander sometime, always thought I would have plenty of use for one. Of course it is just one more tool that there is no room in the existing shop for
Ron