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What Drum Sander do you have and why??

E

Eric

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Feb 2, 2005
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Location
Waldorf, Md.
Hello Everyone,

I am thinking about a drum sander to aid in my segmented woodturning and other small projects (boxes, cutting boards, etc). I have looked around at woodworking shows, woodworking stores and even found plans for making my own on the web. I’ve been looking at the Delta X5 31-250 and the Performax 16-32 Plus, but at $899.00 each for these units I don’t want to buy something I’ll regret later. :confused: I’m on a fixed income.

So I’m looking for your experience to add to my research.

What drum sander do you have, why did you select it and how do you like it after using it for a while???

Any advice you can provide will be greatly appreciated. :)
 
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my experience with the Delta

have the delta unit. it works fine, although the amperage is high and you need a seperate circuit, have popped the breaker several times as i have my furnace on same. Have to take very light cuts. the wheel to raise and lower the table you only need to turn a 1/4 rotation or less on a pass.

the sanding roll change is tricky. And once you get a glue patch stuck to the abrasive clean it with a crepe stick, it will burn the stock. you can wash the rolls in green stuff to remove the pitch buildup also.

have sanded wide panels up to 30", be careful to switch sides and rotate panel.

i don't have the add-ons.
 
Performax 16-32 plus.

I have the Performax, because I got it on sale. I think both machines are good. Any wood that clogs sandpaper is a pain. I assume you have a dust collector. They don't recommend using a drum sander without it and I believe that they are right. What is the green stuff you wash the sandpaper with, Dr. Dewey. I’ve used mineral spirits to remove pine resin from it. I hate sanding pine but it was flatwork for a customer and that is what they wanted. It sounds like both machines perform about the same. I only take 1/4to ½ a turn in depth at a time with the performax. One advantage I have is if I overload it the breaker on the motor pops, I only have to turn it off and reach over the motor to reset. I don’t need to go to the fuse box.
 
Green Stuff

TEK

That would be "Simple Green" detergent. Works well. I have a P'max 22-44 pro that I bought for flat work. Any of the "sweet" woods like cherry and maple will present problems with burning because the high sugar content tends to gum up the abrasives in the same way that they do your saw blades. Very light cuts needed there to keep the abrasive belt cool.

My P'max has done well, although it hasn't replaced the planer for hogging off material. Belt changes take about 60 sec., and I do make good use of a gum rubber cleaner. Flatness and "parallelness" has held well at the 1/100th" published tolerance.

My 22-44 is wired for 115 for both the drum motor and the transport belt driver. This is not a "goes in here - comes out there, gee wiz" machine as you must stay close and be prepared to adjust things in the event the drum starts to bog down as it will easily blow the breaker, toast the belt, or both. Now that mine's off warranty, I really should get in and rewire the main drum motor for 220 to remedy the stalling situation. You will have to play with both drum height and feed speed to get the right balance for each piece of wood.

Small safety note: Do NOT stand behind the machine when feeding a workpiece. I had several dents (on the far wall) to attest to the fact that the friction between the drum abrasives and the wood can easily exceed the friction between the wood and the transport belt. When that happens and your board gets launched out the back of the machine, you REEEELY DON'T WANT TO BE STANDING BACK THERE :eek:

Oh yeah. Use a DC or be prepared for your shop (and your lungs) to look like
there was a volcanic eruption upwind.

M
 
Mark Mandell said:
TEK

That would be "Simple Green" detergent. Works well. I have a P'max 22-44 pro that I bought for flat work. Any of the "sweet" woods like cherry and maple will present problems with burning because the high sugar content tends to gum up the abrasives in the same way that they do your saw blades. Very light cuts needed there to keep the abrasive belt cool.

My P'max has done well, although it hasn't replaced the planer for hogging off material. Belt changes take about 60 sec., and I do make good use of a gum rubber cleaner. Flatness and "parallelness" has held well at the 1/100th" published tolerance.

My 22-44 is wired for 115 for both the drum motor and the transport belt driver. This is not a "goes in here - comes out there, gee wiz" machine as you must stay close and be prepared to adjust things in the event the drum starts to bog down as it will easily blow the breaker, toast the belt, or both. Now that mine's off warranty, I really should get in and rewire the main drum motor for 220 to remedy the stalling situation. You will have to play with both drum height and feed speed to get the right balance for each piece of wood.

Small safety note: Do NOT stand behind the machine when feeding a workpiece. I had several dents (on the far wall) to attest to the fact that the friction between the drum abrasives and the wood can easily exceed the friction between the wood and the transport belt. When that happens and your board gets launched out the back of the machine, you REEEELY DON'T WANT TO BE STANDING BACK THERE :eek:

Oh yeah. Use a DC or be prepared for your shop (and your lungs) to look like
there was a volcanic eruption upwind.

M
Click to expand...
Do you use the simple green strait or diluted?I haven't had a piece do a full launch yet. I've only had a couple of small kickbacks. Thanks for the warning.
 
Green

"Standard Dilution" but let belt soak over night. Scrub lightly with a natural bristle scrub brush, rinse well, lay out flat with fabric side up to dry.

Resist the urge to use a dab of oven cleaner on a stubborn spot [DAMHIKT]. Stuff that doesn't come right off with the brush can usually be carefully "picked off" with a sharp-pointed something. A good power washer works wonders :cool2:

Mark
 
Thanks

Thanks for the tips Mark. I really like the machine. The belts are not cheap cleaning them should help extend thier life. What grits do you find most useful?
 
True Grit

TEK,

I originally bought into the whole "abrasive planing" schtic and got belts down to 36 and up to 220. I rather quickly found that 36 scratches so deeply that you loose way too much material getting the board evenly smooth. I also find that 220 tends to clog and burn with very little persuation; especially in the cherry and maple I use. I found the workhorse grade was 80 then 120, but I'll go to 60 for a pass or two to get rid of planer tearout. If I'm doing a panel or full table top, I'll go to 180 for a couple of light passes. I find that sanding finer than that goes much faster (and better) with the random orbit or in-line sanders.

Mark
 
how is the Performax with double spans

i mean they say you can do double widths. the delta needs some support to carry a wide panel otherwise a ridge or divet can be made. the tracking of the carrier belt has has to be adjusted with my unit. Also on hardwoods i turn the speed of the belt to about 1/3 or lower.
 
I like the delta

I like the heft of the delta it a rugged machine. I also talked to a guy from one of the stores that holds classes and he commented that they liked the delta because it stood up to all the use and abuse that everyone threw at it. I had mine before i started segmented turning but have found it a great tool for that purpose alone. Just be gentle with the oilier woods they gum up a belt real fast. You can also buy rolls of paper and cut them to length saving a ton (at least some) money.

Vernon
 
Hafzies

Dr.

Sorry for the delayed reply.

As long as I keep the drum alligned within tolerance, I've not had a problem with stuff wider than 22". That said, I've not tried a full 44" panel, but have done 36". You will get a slight line at the edge of the overlaped area that {so far} has come clean with the follow-on sanders.

User needs to pay special attention to abrasive belt tension on wider stuff as it will effect the depth of cut even if the drum is adjusted dead-nuts. That I found out the hard way, and had to go to a belt sander fitted with a sanding frame to erase the error. :o

Mark
 
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