Drum Sander

[Dan]

I've been wanting to add a drum sander to my small shop and after reading some reviews went with the Grizzley G0459. It's a 12" portable (as portable as 145 lbs can be) variable speed sander. I built a rolling stand for it before I took it out of the box. I finally got around to testing it today and feel I made a great purchase. It's capable of sanding 1/8" up to 3 1/2". It comes with 80 grit paper but will accept any grit. I ran a few boards through and it does a nice job. With no adjustments the side to side difference of a 4" wide board is 0.000" measured at 3 locations each side. There is about a 1/128" snipe about 1" long which I can live with as it's not noticeable without a caliper. I didn't buy it for fretwork but I'm wondering how it will do...will fretwork survive? 

I'm a happy camper but I better buy the wife something to keep her happy. I wonder if she would like a new table saw. 

[preprius]

I was reading if I should get a planer or a drum sander.  Some articles say they are 2 different functions. The  planer makes dimensional lumber. Drum sander should not be used for reducing thickness very much.  Which one is more important? 

Do you already have a planer? 

[Dan]

3 minutes ago, preprius said:

I was reading if I should get a planer or a drum sander.  Some articles say they are 2 different functions. The  planer makes dimensional lumber. Drum sander should not be used for reducing thickness very much.  Which one is more important? 

Do you already have a planer? 

Yes I have a planer. The reason for the drum sander is for making end grain cutting boards. It can be dangerous to send end grain through a planer. Also, it will take off tool marks from a planed board. If you resaw boards a planer will be the better tool to get. 

[preprius]

This is a great tip. 

 

[dgman]

I’m jealous Dan, nice score!

[spirithorse]

Good for you, Dan!
God Bless! Spirithorse

[Tom-in-Ashland]

With a planner it is important to pay attention to grain direction as the knives can catch the rising grain and tear out a small but deep section.  I have heard that the newer helical head planers reduce this problem considerably but I have no direct experience with one.  If you work with figured woods this will usually be a significant problem and the sander is the better solution.  I usually used the sander when I would re-saw but then I had a very good band saw with a 1" carbide resew blade and there was no drift so I could cut to within 2-3 mm of the final desired thickness. 

[oldhudson]

A tool that's on my endless list. I've seen several YouTube videos where folks have made them. I think I'd like to give that a try. When you've used it for a few months you should post a short review. I'm pretty sure you're going to be happy.

[Roberta Moreton]

On 4/14/2021 at 7:21 PM, Dan said:

I've been wanting to add a drum sander to my small shop and after reading some reviews went with the Grizzley G0459. It's a 12" portable (as portable as 145 lbs can be) variable speed sander. I built a rolling stand for it before I took it out of the box. I finally got around to testing it today and feel I made a great purchase. It's capable of sanding 1/8" up to 3 1/2". It comes with 80 grit paper but will accept any grit. I ran a few boards through and it does a nice job. With no adjustments the side to side difference of a 4" wide board is 0.000" measured at 3 locations each side. There is about a 1/128" snipe about 1" long which I can live with as it's not noticeable without a caliper. I didn't buy it for fretwork but I'm wondering how it will do...will fretwork survive? 

I'm a happy camper but I better buy the wife something to keep her happy. I wonder if she would like a new table saw. 

I do have a drum sander. I use a random orbit sander and this to sand my fretwork.  That is a piece of finished plywood with a piece of router or carpet non skid fabric and some leftover threshold nailed to hold it together. 

[amazingkevin]

Nice info!!!

[kmmcrafts]

A tool I have on my wish list.. actually most of the tools I already have is on my wish list for a better / updated one, LOL. I'm good with my Hawk as far as scroll saws and my CNC and bandsaw are good for what I need.. Like a better table saw, sliding miter saw, and a drum sander is my list. LOL

Is that the 12" wide one? If I get one I'd like wider than 12" and possibly open end so wider stuff could go through it. My CNC working area is 24" x 24" and I'm finding most my projects I make on it are 12-16 widths by 16 - 22 lengths.. My current miter saw only cuts about 6" wide so I'm constantly having to flip boards that are wider than 6". Would use the table saw but even with a new blade the motor is weak and can't really cut through thick solid lumber like it used to, so I only use it to cut 1/8 - 1/4 BB ply blanks. So the miter saw and table saw is the top of my list.  

[Rolf]

Dan nice new tool! Nice and compact! You will wonder why you never got one earlier!  If you didn't already you will need to add dust collection to it. 

Once I started doing a lot of work with thin woods I quickly realized I needed to make my own. I bought a Dewalt DW735 planer that was great down to 1/4  the 1/8 range can get scary without some fixturing. For my thin fretwork ornaments 1/16 BB I used to cut my squares into 4 x 4  pieces then pre-sand each side on the Sandflee. Very time consuming. 

It was time for a drum sander, I had my heart set on the small Jet open ended, but the reviews were not great, belt tracking issues and difficult paper changes. 

Carole Rothman had done a lot of research and found the  Super max, I bought the 19-38 open ended. I now cut a strip of my BB and run it through the sander with 220 grit. 

Saved me a ton of time. I am also re-sawing a lot and I have sanded down to .04" (1mm) .

I did add a digital readout worth every penny. 

I have never run completed fretwork through it as all of my fretwork is 1/8 or thinner.

Edited April 19, 2021 by Rolf

[Dan]

1 hour ago, kmmcrafts said:

A tool I have on my wish list.. actually most of the tools I already have is on my wish list for a better / updated one, LOL. I'm good with my Hawk as far as scroll saws and my CNC and bandsaw are good for what I need.. Like a better table saw, sliding miter saw, and a drum sander is my list. LOL

Is that the 12" wide one? If I get one I'd like wider than 12" and possibly open end so wider stuff could go through it. My CNC working area is 24" x 24" and I'm finding most my projects I make on it are 12-16 widths by 16 - 22 lengths.. My current miter saw only cuts about 6" wide so I'm constantly having to flip boards that are wider than 6". Would use the table saw but even with a new blade the motor is weak and can't really cut through thick solid lumber like it used to, so I only use it to cut 1/8 - 1/4 BB ply blanks. So the miter saw and table saw is the top of my list.  

Yes, it is only 12". For a 16" it would add almost $1000 to the price, but it comes with a stand. My shop is small so a 12" is all I have room for.

[Dan]

59 minutes ago, Rolf said:

Dan nice new tool! Nice and compact! You will wonder why you never got one earlier!  If you didn't already you will need to add dust collection to it. 

Once I started doing a lot of work with thin woods I quickly realized I needed to make my own. I bought a Dewalt DW735 planer that was great down to 1/4  the 1/8 range can get scary without some fixturing. For my thin fretwork ornaments 1/16 BB I used to cut my squares into 4 x 4  pieces then pre-sand each side on the Sandflee. Very time consuming. 

It was time for a drum sander, I had my heart set on the small Jet open ended, but the reviews were not great, belt tracking issues and difficult paper changes. 

Carole Rothman had done a lot of research and found the  Super max, I bought the 19-38 open ended. I now cut a strip of my BB and run it through the sander with 220 grit. 

Saved me a ton of time. I am also re-sawing a lot and I have sanded down to .04" (1mm) .

I did add a digital readout worth every penny. 

I have never run completed fretwork through it as all of my fretwork is 1/8 or thinner.

Thanks Rolf. I will probably add a digital readout at some point. Right now I'll use the calipers. 

I just ordered other grits of paper. Changing is straightforward, but may be a little time consuming. I watched a video and the guy changed grits in about 5 minutes. When going through 4 grits that can add some time to the job. 

I hope to be able to run 1/32" hardwoods through it for bookmarks. I'll have to build a sled but I'm not sure how that will work. I guess I'll find out one of these days.

[CSull]

Dan, I was just looking at that same model because, I HATE SANDING!  If your happy with it I will order.

Thanks for sharing.

[Dan]

38 minutes ago, CSull said:

Dan, I was just looking at that same model because, I HATE SANDING!  If your happy with it I will order.

Thanks for sharing.

Craig, I haven't used it much but so far the only thing that bugs me is to raise and lower the table the crank is a little stiff, but I think that is OK because nothing is binding. I do like that the table mechanism is driven by a chain so it raises at all four posts evenly. It takes a lot of turns to raise/lower the table any great distance.

[Rolf]

2 hours ago, Dan said:

Craig, I haven't used it much but so far the only thing that bugs me is to raise and lower the table the crank is a little stiff, but I think that is OK because nothing is binding. I do like that the table mechanism is driven by a chain so it raises at all four posts evenly. It takes a lot of turns to raise/lower the table any great distance.

They all take a bit of effort to raise. Fine pitch threads for the precision. The only drum sander that I have seen that has a rapide height change is the newer version of the Super max. This feature was not available when I bought mine.  One other thing NEVER try to sand the paint off of a board. The paper will load up instantly. 

 

[Dan]

1 hour ago, Rolf said:

They all take a bit of effort to raise. Fine pitch threads for the precision. The only drum sander that I have seen that has a rapide height change is the newer version of the Super max. This feature was not available when I bought mine.  One other thing NEVER try to sand the paint off of a board. The paper will load up instantly. 

 

Yes on the paint. And some glues can heat up and gum up the paper too. 

On another note, I did a test and ran some 17/32" x 17/32" white oak through the sander to bring them down to 1/4" x 1/4". Worked great. Then ran them through 3 more times and they are all still 1/4" x 1/4". I also have an application for that and being off more than 1/128" is not acceptable. So the result of the test made me happy.

[Rolf]

16 hours ago, Dan said:

Yes on the paint. And some glues can heat up and gum up the paper too. 

On another note, I did a test and ran some 17/32" x 17/32" white oak through the sander to bring them down to 1/4" x 1/4". Worked great. Then ran them through 3 more times and they are all still 1/4" x 1/4". I also have an application for that and being off more than 1/128" is not acceptable. So the result of the test made me happy.

.0078" tolerance, that is two sheets of paper.  The wood will probably move more than that with humidity changes  Nice to have repeat tolerances. 

[Woodmaster1]

I have the supermax 16/32 drum sander and love it. I use it for end grained cutting boards and cheese cutters. I just got a 15" jet helical head planer and it does a great job. I can go from the planer and start sanding at 220. I sold my Delta 13" planer which done a great job but the extra width and noise reduction was worth the expense.

Edited April 23, 2021 by Woodmaster1

[trackman]

I plane down to almost than run through drum sander couple of times to get right.  Always sand before cutting than only have to clean up fuzzies. 

[Rolf]

On 4/23/2021 at 3:51 AM, Woodmaster1 said:

I have the supermax 16/32 drum sander and love it. I use it for end grained cutting boards and cheese cutters. I just got a 15" jet helical head planer and it does a great job. I can go from the planer and start sanding at 220. I sold my Delta 13" planer which done a great job but the extra width and noise reduction was worth the expense.

I have been thinking about the helical cutters for my jointer and planer. On my list.

 

Dan do you buy the precut paper for it or are you buying the bulk rolls?  I bought bulk rolls from Klingspore and cut my own. 

[Dan]

9 hours ago, Rolf said:

I have been thinking about the helical cutters for my jointer and planer. On my list.

 

Dan do you buy the precut paper for it or are you buying the bulk rolls?  I bought bulk rolls from Klingspore and cut my own. 

I just bought 100, 180, and 220 in rolls. I haven't cut any yet but it sounds straightforward, just requires a little time. That is something I'll have to preplan when doing a project so I don't have to change back and forth.

[dgman]

3 hours ago, Dan said:

I just bought 100, 180, and 220 in rolls. I haven't cut any yet but it sounds straightforward, just requires a little time. That is something I'll have to preplan when doing a project so I don't have to change back and forth.

Simple, just buy two more sanders. One loaded with a dedicated grit. No need to change grits between projects!

[Rolf]

I made a template for the angle cut out of a piece of aluminum. 

This is how my paper is changed 

 

Edited May 1, 2021 by Rolf