Looking to invest in a 24" sander

Hi Rick, I have the open ended Delta. Deflection is not a problem. Once it is set up properly you can sand large panels well. And if your glue ups are close it does a good job on kitchen door panels otherwise it takes a lot of passes to level the surface. However, I do wish it would sand more aggressively. If you try to take off too much at a time, the drum stalls and the belt rips gouging the piece. If I were to make doors once a week or more I would get something with more horsepower. For occasional use it is ok.

Cheers, JG

Try the Woodmaster, heavy machine does good job I did see a double oscilaatting drum sander on the Sunhill site but never checked the price

When I first resarched the drum sanders I was warned to stay away from the grizz but that was 5 years ago, Open ends I would not trust

Good Luck, George

I owned a knock-off of the Performax. I think it ws 18" wide, can't recall exactly. I've also used the Delta open sided. I really don't think they are worth the trouble compared top a similarly priced normal unit.

I did do some succesful two pass type sanding that were wider than a single pass could make but honestly it is impossible to get a perfect (flat) result. Also, I would consider the open sided units horsepower. A makes a big diff when you are talking 1 1/2hp vs 5 hp of the bigger unit. Only $500 diff, go for the wide drum.

The open sides also do not have that accurate of screw feeds and they will occasionally drop to far and just gouge and stall and it takes many passes. I mean you lower it 1 32nd it works fine, you do it again fine. You do it a third time and gouge.

I have a Woodmaster planer that converst top a sander but that is over kill. They sell sandes alone also. The woodmasters are not elegant but reliable.

Finally, I have access to a 24" wide belt and the few times I needed something wider, I still sanded it in sections and glued up the sections and hand sanded the final. Of course this won't work for a 25" wide door but I don't think you will be very satisfied with the results of that 25" door on the open sided.

Rick's Cab> Hello,

I have the Delta 18/36 open end. It works great for boards that fit in the under 18 range. I really don't think there's a problem with it just being opened ended. If you are going to be sanding 24 inches regularly, I agree you should get a wider drum. The method of flipping it around is somewhat flawed, particularly if you have something pretty wide.. The part of the board that is not supported by the conveyer belt will tend to cause the opposite end to lift up a little bit. But the sander itself is good. The open ended Performax is also good. You just have to realize that realistically, you aren't going to get a perferct surface if you sand something 36" wide. It will need some touch up with random orbit.

There is a big difference between the R model and the Z besides the variable speed and switch. First both machines are Dual Drum sanders not wide belt. The biggest diffrence between the two is drum rotation. On the Z the rotation is counter to the feed direction. Also the Z uses hook and loop fasteners, the R uses clips.

I own the R model. It is a brute and will sand down glue ups rather quickly. It does require a very good DC attached to it. The 5 hp motor has never hesitated. These are not finish sanders, they are thickness sanders. You will still need to finish the job with a ROS or scraper.

Larry

Sorry about my mix-up with terminology between widebelt and dual drum. I expected you to say you had the Z as I was reading your first paragraph. I knew neither were finishing sanders. Do you think the Z is worth the extra $445.00? Like I said, I have the Z "extreme" series 15" planer. My brother bought the G0453 and his just seems a lot "cheaper" when you are standing in front of it, looking at it. From the comments posted, I will be staying away from the open ended models.

Rick

I think it would be worth it. I know from the Grizzly stuff I have the Z's are better. Understand, I have not had any issues with my sander. I just think the extra features of the Z model would be good to have.

Looking at the pictures it looks like the top of the Z is easier to open too. The R you have to take it completly off to change the paper. Which means You have to keep the DC rather moveable.

Larry

So what is the finest grit sandpaper you use on this machine?

What is the advantage to having dual drums?

Do you put the same grit on both drums, or different grits?

What would you say is the difference between a finish sander and a thickness sander?

thanks

brian

Mine is set up with 80 and 150 grit. That would be the advantage for me. Two grits. Up to 220 is easy to find and that is what I will try next. Right now with the 150 there are well defined sanding marks left that need to be worked out of the pieces. I generally use a scraper and it takes care of them rather quickly.

Larry