# Drum Sanders are magic...



## schloemoe (May 10, 2010)

I've always wanted one of those too Lucky Guy….............Schloemoe


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## wseand (Jan 27, 2010)

Great story and great sander, congrats on the buy.


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## lanwater (May 14, 2010)

Congratulation on your new tool.
You will definitely enjoy it. It is now jet 16/32 plus drum sander.
I have one and I used it often.

I only use 80 grit on it. Orbital sander and hand sanding for the rest.


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## richgreer (Dec 25, 2009)

Thank you for the review.

I'm very curious about this product. I do not own one and I have never used one. From the review, it sounds like everything you do with the sander, I can do with my planer.

Can you or anyone else comment on the advantages a drum sander has over a planer?


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## sbryan55 (Dec 8, 2007)

Thanks for the review, Wiley. I have one of these on my wish list as well and would enjoy putting one in my shop if only my wife would give me an advance on my allowance.


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## antieuclid (Feb 6, 2010)

Rich - from what I've heard, they're much better at correcting cupped or twisted boards. Planers tend to press down so much on boards that they can squish the cup right out of them as they're going through the knives, but the cup springs right back once it comes out of the planer. Drum sanders exert far less downward pressure, so it actually takes wood off until the board is even.


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## SPalm (Oct 9, 2007)

Thanks for the review. I just love mine.

I have a nice planer, jointer, V-drum sander, and this drum sander. They all have their place, but this device is by far the most favorite. I use it for every project. I don't know anyone with a drum sander who doesn't love it.

They are expensive, but oh so cool. Repeatable, reliable, and accurate. Pretty quiet too. The do need good dust collection.

Steve


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## Brad_Nailor (Jul 26, 2007)

Wow..you lucky devil…500 bucks for that sander is an absolute steal! Nice!


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## antieuclid (Feb 6, 2010)

Brad- Yeah, I won some money in a sweepstakes, and after looking around at the interest rates on savings accounts, I decided it made just as much sense to buy used power tools on craigslist. If you're patient you can find some great deals, and if I ever need the money or the space in my garage, I can probably sell them for a better return than I would have gotten from the bank.


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## Carpintonto (Jan 27, 2010)

Thanks for this review. I've held myself to jump on one of these toys for quite awile.


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## 747DRVR (Mar 18, 2009)

Rich,two more reasons for a drum sander 1)no tearout in figured wood 2)you can use it on much thinner pieces of wood than you would a planer.Perfect for resawing veneer


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## jusfine (May 22, 2010)

Congratulations! Excellent deal!

I have the Performax 22-44 and it has been a real solid workhorse for years for me.

When planing real thin pieces, you may want to make a sled for it to ride on, for if the sandpaper on the drum is loose at all on one end, it can make contact and wear into your drive belt long before you can reach to shut it down… not that I would know from experience…

If someone has a source for the wide sanpaper drive belts (not from the motor to the pulley) for the 22-44, I would be interested to know. Thanks.


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## lanwater (May 14, 2010)

Rich:
Like other people mentioned above it does a good job at:
-cupped and twisted board
-Quiet
-Open end bed for larger piece. I have fed through an entire cabinet door to correct stile and rail alignment.
-Sand inlays flush with no tear out that you will most likely get on the planer
-Does not really care about change of direction of the grain
-Sanded very tiny pieces that I taped on a piece of ply serving as a sled
-Can builld a jig to encase the drum and it becomes an open drum sander on which you can ride very big pieces. I have seen that design in many magazines and posts.

It will never replace your planer in my opinion. They both have a place in your shop. Belts are in $30-40 range.


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## closetguy (Sep 29, 2007)

You'll find a lot of uses for that tool. I couldn't function without mine. I sand my 1/16" bookmarks with it also. But like jusfine mentioned, make yourself a sled for the thin stuff.

Jusfine, Woodcraft carries the conveyor belt that you are asking about.


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## Ken90712 (Sep 2, 2009)

Congrats it the simple things we love like drum sanders!


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## TopamaxSurvivor (May 2, 2008)

What does 16-32 mean?


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## Brad_Nailor (Jul 26, 2007)

Topa…the first number-16 indicates the actual physical length of the sander…the -32 indicates that by flipping the piece you can sand up to 32". The sander is open at one end which allows you to sand objects that are wider than the actual sanding drum.


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## tbone (Apr 24, 2008)

I've got a 16-32 in my shop and-like the others-I think it's great. 
It is *s-l-o-w*, but then so am I.

Rich, another advantage is the ability to sand very small pieces without the fear of kickback or binding.


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## PetVet (Nov 7, 2008)

I have the 12-24 and love it.
If you are getting lines here are some tips to try.
1. Leave an 1/8 inch gap between the edges when you load the paper. After a couple of passes, re-tighten the paper as it will stretch some. This needs to be done periodically, and watch for overlaps!
2. Use a sandpaper eraser periodically to remove buildup.
3. Don't try and take too much off with each pass.
4. On your last pass, raise it just a hair so it is just touching the wood.
5. Make your last pass with 220 or higher paper.
6. Make sure the outside edge of the drum is ever so slightly higher than the inside edge.

Enjoy, it sure beats hand sanding!!


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## TopamaxSurvivor (May 2, 2008)

I thought it was probably the size of material, but didn't know how it worked. thx ) If you were thinking of buying as drum sander or planer for thicknessing and smoothing, which would you get first?


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## woody57 (Jan 6, 2009)

lanwater

what do you mean by a jig to encase the drum?


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## gbvinc (Aug 6, 2007)

Hardly anything leaves my shop that hasn't been run through my 16/32. A bit slow and a bit sensitive to taking too much at once, but very useful!


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## JonathanG (Jan 18, 2010)

Topamax,

I am new to woodworking, but this tool is at the top of my list. I was going to get a planer, as they're normally a chunk cheaper. I have to show my wife I'm using all these tools in a productive and worthwhile manner.

With that being said, I've also been hunting for a drum sander at the same time, just in case one "popped up". I would much rather have one of them, as opposed to a planer, especially now that I have a nice big dust collector (that I still need to rewire and put a new plug on, to downgrade it from 240VAC to 120VAC). You can be assured I'll have that done before hooking up the drum sander though, assuming I can get the one I'm looking at now.

My reasoning for wanting a drum sander is simple: deals with endgrain wonderfully, it's much quieter than a planer, and no tearout, and no snipe. My biggest holdup has been the pricetag. I was basically ready to "settle" for a planer. Don't get me wrong, I'll probably get a planer eventually too, as it tends to dimension lumber much faster. However, I'm not into running hundreds of BF through at a time right now, so that's not a concern.

I've tried to do a lot of reading, and the above information is the conclusion that I've come to. Everybody has different needs.

For what it's worth though, Charles Neil has an article on the subject that, if you haven't read yet, you should. I hope it's OK to post the link to your article Charles! Here's the article: http://charlesneilwoodworking.com/articles.php?art=1009feature2

I thought it might be OK to post that because Charles also posted it on another review of the same drum sander (in JET form), several months ago: http://lumberjocks.com/reviews/1095

Hope that helps.

I'll post back if I do procure this drum sander. I have several projects stalled, just waiting off to the side, ready to run through this thing!


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## TopamaxSurvivor (May 2, 2008)

Thx Jonathan, Sounds like a planer would be best for cleaning up rough cut lumber ripped with a chain saw.


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## JonathanG (Jan 18, 2010)

Quick update:

I was able to pick one of these up today. Only problem was, it didn't have a manual with it. I've done a bit of searching online and haven't been able to find the manual to download. So far, the closest I've found is the JET 16-32.

With that being said, does anyone have a copy of the manual they'd be willing to email me, say, in PDF format? Or somewhere online I can download it from?

I'll either report back here, or post a separate review once I've got it up and running. I'm definitely looking forward to using it!


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## JonathanG (Jan 18, 2010)

I single-handedly hefted this thing out of the Jeep this morning and set it up on a folding table in the garage, not sure it was going to hold up under the weight! I couldn't wait to get it into the basement, but wasn't sure how much dust it was going to spew out, so I left it right there, turned it on and fed a small scrap of 2×4 through it.

This thing is much quieter than I thought it was going to be, which is a plus! I think I can run this while my wife is home and not disturb her. The dust collector is going to make more noise than this thing does!

I ran down into the basement and came back with the glue-up for the coasters that I'm building for a fundraising effort for my wife. After that went through several passes, I decided to see if I could get this thing into the house by myself.

It was a challenge, but I made it! Carried it through the small garage door, across the backyard, into the back door of the house, and down the narrow and steep set of stairs into the basement. Once in the basement, I hooked it up to my freshly cleaned shop vac, since I don't yet have the new dust collector rewired. I then grabbed a serving tray I'm making for the fundraiser and ran that through a few times. The shop vac actually captured most of the dust.

I did experiment a bit lifting the trailing and leading edges on entry and exit, as I was getting a bit of snipe.

I figure once I get the shop made stand that came with it (MDF on gorilla shelving), I'll bolt it back down to that, then probably build a simple infeed and outfeed table on either side of it to help eliminate the snipe.

I love this thing already! I can't wait to see how well it performs once I get it figured out!

I might be jumping the gun here, and it'll probably come back to bite me, but I'm no longer worried about sanding my next end grain cutting board, once I make it. I'm guessing from what I witnessed this morning that it'll make short work of it.

I do think from my initial observations that taking shallow passes is definitely the way to go here. It only takes a couple extra minutes… still way faster, and certainly comes out better than using my handheld belt sander.


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## JohnAlson (Aug 9, 2011)

I love this model, I reviewed it at: drum sander reviews


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## fito (Jan 13, 2009)

Hi to all, i just recently buy me a used Delta 18-36 drum sander, my first drum sander and it work great, i have to tune up a bit but it works very well. this is a great machine.


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