Drum Sanders

[fletchlu]

Any recommendations for drum sanders? I probably need about 24" width. Any disadvantages to open end sanders?

[Sonny Edmonds]

Yeah.
Don't buy one.
Get yourself a good ROS (mine's air driven), plane your wood precisely, do good dry fitting and glue-ups, and step through the grits with velcro disks on your ROS.
MUCH better and happier results!
And NEVER belive the magazine reviews! ;)

:D

[link:home.earthlink.net/~pie/data/index.html|Sonny Edmonds ]
Saugus, CA
"Precision Firewood Specialist"
God Bless America !
In God We Trust !
"Lurkimus turdius orifus"


[h1]Welcome to the Forum![/h1]
http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/15/15_4_132.gif

[Postman]

I agree with Sonny. When I went to woodworking school they told us that a drum sander is just like a planer with sandpaper. I have a 25" Woodmaster planer that I think was a great investment. Besides planing you can drum sand with it, gang saw, and make molding. A friend has a Woodmaster drum sander but IMHO I think the planer is a better investment.

[rrich]

Alan,
The main use for a wide sander, be it belt or drum, is sanding glued up parts. (e.g. Panel doors or table tops) And yes, they can be used to fix minor alignment problems of rails and stiles or table tops.

The reality is that a drum or wide belt is going to be a coarse sander. You will still have to use a ROS and/or hand sanding to achieve a smooth finish. Typically drum and wide belt sanders are operated with 80 grit and sometimes 100 grit sandpaper.

The best advice is above from Sonny. You can say that Sonny has BTDT (Been There & Done That) with drum sanders.

If you are really desperate on a project, there are cabinet shops that have wide belt sanders that will do the job for you at a minimal cost. (I had 4 doors sanded for me at a local shop for $35, his minimum setup fee.) That was a lot cheaper than buying the machine. I would not want to take up precious floor space with a machine that MIGHT get used once a month.

The vast majority of shops that have wide sanding facilities have wide belt sanders. (At $10K to over $50K a pop.) There may be some shops with wide drum sanders (At $2K to $4K + a pop.) but these will have both ends of the drum secured to the machine. There is a reason for these prices.

Finally, the physics involved in the operation of an open end drum (or belt) preclude success. The leverage forces are just incredible. (Who was it that said, "Give me a place to stand and to rest my lever and I will move the earth."?)

[Jim1142]

>Get yourself a good ROS (mine's air driven), >>>>>>>Why do you guys not say what you mean? What the He** is a ROS? dern! are you to lazy to type out the words so we peasants can understand you? We are here to learn after all.

[eggcrate]

ROS - random orbital sander

[garyeng]

Panel glue-up is exactly what I use mine for along with sanding glued up cabinet doors built with rails/ stiles and raised panels. It makes thinks a whole lot easier than just a ROS.

That is a true statement about the grit of paper run except with a dual drum sander. On mine for example I run 80 grit on the front drum and 120 on the rear. You can run quite a few different combinations of grits but the course grit must always be on the front drum.

Once I run parts through the drum sander then it is on to the ROS for final sanding. The drum sander does a good job but it is not a finish sander.

Gary

[dbriski]

Maybe we should ask, what do you want it for? what are you going to use it for?

[Cherry]

I have had a 16/32 open end Performax for about 3 years. I couldn't get along without it.

I also have a Dewalt 734 planer. I couldn't get along without it either.

I work a lot with cherry (hence the nickname) and it is susceptible to tearout. Even with great care using the planer I still get nicks that would take forever to remove with a random orbit sander. I know. I've tried.

I have been making some end grain cutting boards the past few days out of some odds and ends of maple and cherry that require glue up of a whole lot of pieces that then have to be flattened out. I start with the planer but unless you are careful to glue up each of the multitude of pieces with the grain all running in the right direction you are going to get some rough spots. The belt sander does a beautiful job. I use 120 grit with very shallow cuts and it gives me a perfect glue up surface without additional sanding.

Yes for a finished surface you need to use the ROS but after the belt sander that is a quick operation.

If you have the money there is no question a 24" fully inclosed belt sander is going to produce great results with a lot less fuss than an open end machine but I rarely run stuff wider than 16" with the kind of work I do.

Like all woodworking machines it takes some time and practice to learn exactly how to use the Performax but once you get that behind you its a pleasure to use.

Jerry

[deepsplinter]

I gotta go with garyeng and Cherry on this one.

I love my Performax 16/32

Sure a ROS can sand anything that a drum sander can, but for that matter, so will a 2x4 block and a piece of sandpaper.

I've worked with some wood (hickory and qtr-saw white oak) that had some terrible tear/chip out. Some of it just wouldn't plane satisfactorily, even with sharp knives, slow feed, and shallow passes. That's when I bring out the DS. Sanding to thickness is slow goin', but it lets me use wood that would otherwise be burned.

I use it to sand most everything that's over 5-6" wide. It simply cuts way back on sanding time.

"Like all woodworking machines it takes some time and practice to learn exactly how to use the Performax but once you get that behind you its a pleasure to use."....I couldn't agree more.


Drum sanders aren't for everyone, but for what I do, I wouldn't live without one.

--------------------

[font color=blue]

If you look confident you can pull off anything,

even if you have no clue what you're doing.

[/font]