# Great Drum Sander



## northwoodsman (Feb 22, 2008)

How long have you been using this sander for? How many linear ft. would you say you have run through it? Is it hard to change the paper? Does it track fairly straight or do you find yourself having to make a lot of adjustments? How is the dust collection?


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## Lumpy63 (Jan 16, 2021)

Did you read the review? I said what I have to say at this point.


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## northwoodsman (Feb 22, 2008)

Am I missing something?

"The 19-38 has a lever that lets you slightly alter the relationship between the conveyor and the drum, preventing lines from showing up when sanding wide boards. I haven't used this yet so I can't comment on its effectiveness, but I don't think the 18-36 has a similar feature."

You haven't used this feature or you haven't used the machine yet? I took it as you haven't used that feature yet.


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## chem (Jan 2, 2014)

Thanks for this careful analysis. I have the Jet and the results are fantastic. Changing the paper makes me want to sell it every time! My sense was the Supermax is more refined than Jet and your analysis agrees. Probably not enough difference to trade up unless I start doing wide panels a lot more where the clever tilt mechanism helps.


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## robscastle (May 13, 2012)

Northie,
Its purely a 2D review
The machine has not been used to make anything


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## Lumpy63 (Jan 16, 2021)

When I wrote the initial review, I had used the sander very little. Now that I have put some more wood through it, I can add a bit more.

I think this sander is awesome. I've used it on cutting boards (maple, purpleheart, walnut, mahogany, padauk) and on figured wood for bandsaw boxes.

The conveyer belt started to drift, but it was very intuitive and easy to correct (there are wrenches supplied on either side of the conveyer assembly for use in correcting drift). You just 'lengthen' the side of the conveyer that it is drifting towards a little.

I may need to slightly reduce spring pressure on the infeed roller on the motor side a little; sometimes wood doesn't want to pass under it on its way to the drum. It hasn't been enough of a bother to address, and the solution is apparently simple (just rotate a screw).

I changed out the 80 grit sandpaper wrap that came with the sander for a 100 grit wrap. I cut the 100 grit wrap using the original wrap as a template. I've found two versions of the manual online; one shows the length and geometry of the sandpaper wrap and the other doesn't. The one that does show it is marked 2017, while the one that doesn't was not dated as far as I could see.

I'm very pleased with this sander.


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## awsum55 (Jan 3, 2017)

I bought the 16-32 Supermax and I use it everyday. I don't know how I built anything without it. It might be my favorite tool in my shop. I originally bought mine with the extension tables, but within 2 days returned them. You can surely damage a finger if you're not paying attention when lowering the tables, and they gave me more problems than they solved. The first board I sent through the sander had a slight bend and the tables even though perfectly adjusted, held the board up off the conveyor.










Been using the sander for several months without them and have not had a problem since. Mine also has the handle that lets you adjust the head up or down very quickly without having to turn the handle to wind the drum down to the wood. It also has a DRO that is very accurate.

I would recommend this sander to anyone wanting a very nicely built and thought out machine. No buyer's remorse from this guy.


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