Baby vs. Mini drum Sander

[Uncle Billy]

Anybody have any recommendations on choosing between the Grizzly G0459

12" Baby Drum Sander and the Jet (Performax) 628900 Mini 10" Benchtop Drum Sander?

I know that many will recommend a bigger better sander, but money and space dictate one of the smaller, cheaper ones.

TIA

UB.

[Leon]

Then wait until you can afford one and a place to put it.

[William Slavin]

Well maybe someday my hobby will grow to the point where I'm willing to buy a new house to hold my drum sander, but in the meantime, I'm looking to get a small one to make dealing with small, thin parts easier.

[Lew Hodgett]

Benchtop

Then really save money, go to a commercial drum sander.

Less than $30 gets a lot of tops sanded.

Lew

[Leon]

Good advise but I bought one last year, a 22/44 and I use it almost every day that I am in the shop. I tend to use it much more than expected and have only used it about 20% for what I originally bought it for. I am currently building some upper end jewelry boxes and need "small and precise" fitting pieces. The drum sander lets me get there quickly and consistently.

[Neillarson]

I was kind of bowled over by the answer "Then wait until you can afford one and a place to put it.". Are small scale hobbyists no longer part of the community? Or those of us on a budget? I don't think waiting until we are retired or financially capable of our dream shop in respect to tools or facilities. Personally, I only have about

18 by 16 feet of space to work with and I try to buy the best tools I can afford, but there are times that I have to compromise. I sure as hell don't plan to just stop because you don't feel that doing this on a limited budget or in a small shop is wrong.

That said, Unk, I don't have one either and I do not own any Jet or Grizzly tools (though I guess my Powermatic tools might qualify as Jet). I would think either would be fine, though you might find some deals locally on the Jet that would save you $75.00 on shipping.