Mark Hepburn
Artist & Chef
I posted this over on the SWT forum but no replies and thought maybe some folks here might have a thought or two:
I've searched the posts and so on and don't find an answer to this so I hope that a) I'm not imposing on the patience of long-time forum members, and b) I posted in the right place
I'm looking at the possibility of a small drum sander for my shop. A bit of background as to why small. I have accumulated more tools than wisdom over the years and really have little room.
My shop is 9 x 27. It currently houses my 7' miter station with a nice Bosch 10" axial glide, a 17" Grizz band saw, a G0700 Grizzly sliding table saw, a Jet belt/disc sander, a Ridgid lunchbox planer on a cart, a Delta jointer, a Jet 1642EVS, a VB36 lathe I just got, a Grizzly cyclone DC, a Ridgid floor drill press, and a downdraft table I built with an old squirrel cage motor. Just sold off some tools including a Grizzly shaper to make room for a sander. I have a tiny space adjacent to this shop to do assembly and finishing but can't put any tools in it.
Also, I'm running completely maxed out on 220V and no way can I add more without pulling a permit, bumping up the service panel and blah blah blah. So I need 110V.
Money and size are both issues at the moment. Just got that VB 36 with the short tailstock, which ends any wild and crazy spending for a long time to come, since I'm a hobbyist (and super-lucky to have a successful and highly supportive wife!) I'd say that $1000 is far beyond my current max and I know some will recommend used on Craigslist, but the stuff I find around here is junk and there is a dearth of supply in the small town of Houma, LA. Plus, I would consider this a transitional purchase to last a couple of years until I can do something about shop size and electrical capacity.
I've used lots of Grizzly products and have never had an issue with any of them. So they're on my list. So here are the questions I have and I would appreciate any help anyone would like to offer.
If I were to get the Grizzly 10" drum sander, which is open-ended but with a support bar, could i rotate segments through in multiple passes, or in half rings, to achieve a flat surface or is that just about the dumbest thing anyone here ever asked?
I was also looking at the G0458, which is like the Jet 16/32 but cheaper and does not have an oscillating action. It too is open-ended, but the table moves up and down rather than the sanding assembly. It may make outfeed tables an issue, but seems to me it won't matter at all for working with segmented rings.
There is the Grizzly G0459 baby drum sander, which is a 12" wide, closed end sander.
Then the Jet 16/32, which I have seen many people like, but that's more than I can spend, and I've seen mixed reviews on keeping the sanding drum parallel to the table.
Frankly I'm leaning toward the little $400 Grizzly because it's cheap. The reviews I've read are consistently pretty good and all I would want it for is to run the occasional board through, but mainly for segmented projects. So how limiting is this 9.5" width, given that I want to do projects that will sometimes exceed this size? But I don't want to buy a $400 paperweight either
I will eventually go with a wide belt sander or dual drum, but that's in the future. I'm thinking of something I can get utility out of for a couple of years and then pass on to a son-in-law or friend in need.'
So if anyone has any thoughts that might help they are most appreciated.
I've searched the posts and so on and don't find an answer to this so I hope that a) I'm not imposing on the patience of long-time forum members, and b) I posted in the right place
I'm looking at the possibility of a small drum sander for my shop. A bit of background as to why small. I have accumulated more tools than wisdom over the years and really have little room.
My shop is 9 x 27. It currently houses my 7' miter station with a nice Bosch 10" axial glide, a 17" Grizz band saw, a G0700 Grizzly sliding table saw, a Jet belt/disc sander, a Ridgid lunchbox planer on a cart, a Delta jointer, a Jet 1642EVS, a VB36 lathe I just got, a Grizzly cyclone DC, a Ridgid floor drill press, and a downdraft table I built with an old squirrel cage motor. Just sold off some tools including a Grizzly shaper to make room for a sander. I have a tiny space adjacent to this shop to do assembly and finishing but can't put any tools in it.
Also, I'm running completely maxed out on 220V and no way can I add more without pulling a permit, bumping up the service panel and blah blah blah. So I need 110V.
Money and size are both issues at the moment. Just got that VB 36 with the short tailstock, which ends any wild and crazy spending for a long time to come, since I'm a hobbyist (and super-lucky to have a successful and highly supportive wife!) I'd say that $1000 is far beyond my current max and I know some will recommend used on Craigslist, but the stuff I find around here is junk and there is a dearth of supply in the small town of Houma, LA. Plus, I would consider this a transitional purchase to last a couple of years until I can do something about shop size and electrical capacity.
I've used lots of Grizzly products and have never had an issue with any of them. So they're on my list. So here are the questions I have and I would appreciate any help anyone would like to offer.
If I were to get the Grizzly 10" drum sander, which is open-ended but with a support bar, could i rotate segments through in multiple passes, or in half rings, to achieve a flat surface or is that just about the dumbest thing anyone here ever asked?
I was also looking at the G0458, which is like the Jet 16/32 but cheaper and does not have an oscillating action. It too is open-ended, but the table moves up and down rather than the sanding assembly. It may make outfeed tables an issue, but seems to me it won't matter at all for working with segmented rings.
There is the Grizzly G0459 baby drum sander, which is a 12" wide, closed end sander.
Then the Jet 16/32, which I have seen many people like, but that's more than I can spend, and I've seen mixed reviews on keeping the sanding drum parallel to the table.
Frankly I'm leaning toward the little $400 Grizzly because it's cheap. The reviews I've read are consistently pretty good and all I would want it for is to run the occasional board through, but mainly for segmented projects. So how limiting is this 9.5" width, given that I want to do projects that will sometimes exceed this size? But I don't want to buy a $400 paperweight either
I will eventually go with a wide belt sander or dual drum, but that's in the future. I'm thinking of something I can get utility out of for a couple of years and then pass on to a son-in-law or friend in need.'
So if anyone has any thoughts that might help they are most appreciated.