Am getting ready to purchase a drum sander. Am primarily a "hobby" kinda guy, on the serious side. Current thoughts are toward the Grizzly G0458 18" 1-1/2 HP Single-Phase Open End Drum Sander. I have several Grizzly tools (TS, jointer, belt sander, DC) but am not a slave to them (Dewalt planer, Bosch 12" sliding chop).
Thoughts??
I've been thinking about that one too. The only review I could find was at Amazon:
Anyway, it's an interesting review. He seems to have had a LOT of trouble and vexation with it, but admits it gets the job done if you're careful and keep an eye on it.
It's the part about the dust collection not working that bothers me. That guy used a shop vac and I've got a Harbor Fright DC, but still. I'd like to know more.
Take a piece to a commercial drum sander and watch them do the job.
Your requirements will be upgraded several notches.
Around here it's about $25-$30 for the first 15 minutes, then a $/minute.
$200 gets of alot of quality work done.
Lew
PS: The guy is also a pretty decent story teller which makes the trip more fun.
I would do a Google search since this topic has many threads with many opinions.
Decent dust removal is a must. Be aware that open ended drum sanders are very difficult to make parallel passes. Even if the drum is parallel, when the wood passes through they can deflect.
Mine does, but I accept the slight thickness deviation.
For the record I have a Performax 16/32. It is the model before the latest. Only a 1HP motor. When purchased it had 2.5in dust connection. I did a home adapation and have 4in dust collection. Made a huge difference. I have no dust removal problems.
Most drum sanders are good for light passes, but "power sanding" is not recommended. These units are very easy to bog down if you attempt to take off too much stock.
Personally I wanted a unit where the head moved and not the table. I prefer to set my wood supports once and have the drum move at the material is removed.
Dave Paine.
My thoughts are that I wouldn't want a sander which adjusts by raising/lowering the table. There are certainly advantages to that (drum stability) compared to raising/lowering the drum but it complicates infeed/outfeed tables.
I often sand long, heavy things and have 5' tables at each side. Since the drum on my Performax raises/lowers my tables are always aligned with the tool table.
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