I need help on picking out a Drum sander

howdy monty, good to see your still kicking..lol….glad you got your band saw, i dont have one yet, ive made it so far without one, but i sure do want one some day, as far as a sander goes , i think you will do well with a grizzly..but i dont have one to give you any thoughts on, i have a delta oscillating sander, and i have one for mu drill press…but i hope you get some help here with what your looking for…hope your well and having fun makin saw dust…grizz

-- GRIZZMAN ...[''''']

A review that goes back 5 years is not a good guide when looking at the current offerings. As a rule-of-thumb, if you found a 5 year old review that was positive, add about 30% to the price of a current offering, just to make up for the rate of inflation. Because most tools are now made in China, the quality is quesrionable, especially if the company is trying to hold down the price. Customer reviews are not always a good guide. Every review will have good and bad responses. If you get a tool that is good, it’s really the luck of the draw. You can get a good sander from Jet or a bad one the same goes for Harbor Freight. You pays your money and take your chances.
I don’t like Grizzly tools. The reason is that I want to touch the item I’m buying, not buying over the internet and “hoping” it is good. When you buy from Grizzly, you are usually stuck with it. Returning it will cost you as much as when you bought it. That can be around $200 that you will be out. I recommend buying locally if possible. (within 100 miles)

Monty, I have 2 drum sanders: a 10/20 Jet that I bought new and have had lots of problems with and an 18/36 older Craftsman I found on Craig’s List that I love. Check out the CL postings unless you are in a hurry as you may find a great deal like I did.

-- " I'll try to be nicer, if you'll try to be smarter" gfadvm

Monty, I have a 16/32 that was perfect right out of the box…all the way up to changing the paper(see my other post) I found it to be a pain in the butt. Others have not had this problem. I looked at the Grizz when I bought the Jet and the reason I didn’t buy the Grizz was the wait time. I needed it quickly. I have other Grizz tools and am very well satisfied with them.

-- Don't rollerskate in a buffalo herd

I bought that baby drum sander and it sits here unused now. Every 15 months or so I had to replace the motor that feeds the wood through the sander. The drum motor pops breakers every so often on start up but that is not so bad. It cost me $140 each time to replace that feed motor. Twice in three years. Folks at Grizzly are good to deal with but will not cover this motor after the warranty has run out. This is the only Grizzly equipment that I am not happy with.

-- In God We Trust