Question About Grizzly Drum Sander

I have the 24” grizzly double drum. Good luck with it now for 4 years. I have switched to the velco style of sandpaper, trying to get the clip to hold the paper was not fun or easy. I only use the front drum because of this though.

Bought the grizzly after having a 16-32 ryobi version of the type of sander you are looking at. slow, 110v power, and had paper issues also.

YOu need to have the 220v and amperage to run the 24” sander since it is 5 hp, but other than a wide belt sander or a wide planer, there is no better choice than a drum sander.

tooldad, Thanks for the input. This grizzly sander doesn’t have the conversion kit available for the hook and loop. I looked at the 24” on line but wasn’t wanting to go that much.

-- Max "Desperado", Salt Lake City, UT

I had an open ended Performax sander. If I bought another drum
sander I would go for the closed-end style.

-- http://amherstcabinets.com - also a marketing consultant with expertise in direct response marketing for woodworking and online businesses - http://COPYMATCH.COM

Loren, Thanks for suggestion. What reasons would you have for not wanting another open ended sander.

-- Max "Desperado", Salt Lake City, UT

I have a Woodmaster 37” single drum. I bought it used and couldn’t live without it. Before that I had a small 12” Woodmaster that I bought for a 100 bucks at an auction and it ran great also. I would definately check out Woodmaster tools and look at their sanders.
Drum sanders are good for the price but still don’t perform as well as an oscillating belt sander. But a good belt sander is 3 times the price.
I still get fine lines that have to be sanded out with a random orbital but my sanding time is cut way down with the drum sander. The woodmaster is well worth the price.
good luck

-- I want to know Gods thoughts....rest are details "A. Einstein"

Drum sanders are terribly slow and my open-ended sander
would flex and jam if the height wasn’t just perfect. You have
to stand there while it sands. It’s real boring and you have
to be fairly attentive because it might jam.

I think the closed-end models can probably remove more
wood in a pass, jam less frequently.

Your objectives will differ from mine of course. I used the sander
for thicknessing ebony and other guitar woods. Small pieces.
It was good for that. For finish-sanding door panels it is far, far
faster to scrape them and then sand with a RAS. The drum sander
must make the panel perfectly uniform before it can sand it smooth -
a tedious process requiring many passes.

-- http://amherstcabinets.com - also a marketing consultant with expertise in direct response marketing for woodworking and online businesses - http://COPYMATCH.COM

I have the G0458. I can’t keep the feed belt tracked. It walks no matter how hard I try (slowly but surely). The feed rate is very very slow at it’s fastest. The dust “collection” bag is basically a waist because it doesn’t seem to work right. You also have to make the adjustments to make the drum parellel to the feed belt so it doesn’t sand at a slope. It also makes some howling noises that make me feel like it’s been wounded in battle. Honestly, it’s a real pain in the butt. (by the way, I took 1/2 of a day to follow the directions to a T. I had it all set up and it was fine. No noise or anything. Then…........................

-- ~ Inspiring those who inspire me ~

Guy’s thank you for all of your comments. I really appreciate it. Please keep them coming both positive and negative. I really want to make the right choice..

-- Max "Desperado", Salt Lake City, UT

I have a Performax 22/44 that I can no longer live without.

The key is the initial height setting for the first pass. I set it up like this:
- Start the belt on a slow setting, but not the drum, with the drum set obviously high
- As the work moves, slowly lower the drum until the work starts to turn the drum
- Start the drum, raise the belt speed, and feed the first pass. During this pass slightly lower the drum a bit more ‘till you’ve got solid contact.
- Run all the parts
- Drop the drum no more than 1/4 turn, usually less
- Run the next pass

In my experience, closed end machines will burn with too deep of a cut, open ended machines will jam and burn. <g> If I’m sanding wider than 22”, I’ll run some MDF & chalk to check / set the parallelism. The adjustment only takes a moment as the MDF is very telling.

Drum sanders are not planers. The amount of material removed on eaach pass is quite small, even with very coarse paper. I keep 24 grit around for heavier stock removal on figured woods. Even with 24 grit, I wouldn’t call it a heavy cut. Sanders are SLOWWWWWW and boring to use.

My normal use for the tool is to complete what would have been the final pass or two of the planer on reversing or figured lumber, for a tear-out free surface. This normally takes 4-6 passes on the sander with 80 grit paper. For cabinetry, I’ll load up 120 grit and do 2-3 passes. For furniture, I’ll finish with hand tools during hand fitting.

-- - Real men read directions

BeechPilotBarry,

Thank you so much for all of the information you have provided. From the sounds of it you have had experience with both styles.. I now understand from all of you that they are SLOOOOWWWW…..

Please keep the comments flowing.

-- Max "Desperado", Salt Lake City, UT

Honestly – if you are sanding large surfaces for MONEY I would
recommend farming out your sanding to a shop with a wide-belt.

If you put table tops through a open-end sander, guess what?
You have to sand it much flatter than is really necessary. It’s
much faster to do it with hand-held planes, planers, and sander.
If I were doing a lot of tables I would buy or make a stroke
sander.

If you are making flat wooden christmas ornaments, jewelry,
plaques, and so forth – in quantity, then a drum sander is
worth having. You can put a bucket at the end and the pieces
just drop off when they reach the end of the conveyor.

A lot of guitar makers thickness in house with a drum sander,
despite the fact that it’s far faster and cheaper in terms of
man-hours to rent time from a shop with a wide belt if you
can find one close. A wide belt will do enough parts for
50 guitars in a couple of hours.

-- http://amherstcabinets.com - also a marketing consultant with expertise in direct response marketing for woodworking and online businesses - http://COPYMATCH.COM

Loren,

That is good information thanks!!!! I would mainly use it for figured wood and maybe some end grain stuff. Keep them comments flowing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-- Max "Desperado", Salt Lake City, UT

Max, I have the Delta 18” drum sander. It’s a good sander for what I use it for. You can’t rush it though. You have to take very shallow passes at the piece, or it will burn the wood, or totally stop the drum. The price for the Delta is about the same as the Grizzly, if you can buy it from somewhere close and don’t have to pay the shipping. I also do like Loren suggested. When I have a large table top to do, or several, I take them to a cabinet shop and have them sanded. Most of the shops around me have a shop rate of $40- 50 an hour, and unless you totally screw up your glue up, it only takes about 5 or 6 passes to get it flat and to the thickness you need. The shop I use only charges the actual time spent on the top, some will charge the full hour.

-- Tim -- http://tmuli.com

Tim,

I really appreciate your input on this. I agree that if I needed something like a table top sanded that I would find a shop with a large sander. I also looked at the Delta on line and am planning on checking one out in person if I can find a supplier that carries them here.

All comments still welcome.

-- Max "Desperado", Salt Lake City, UT