Wide belt, drum or stroke sander?

[Another Jewish Carpenter]

I'm outfitting a new shop and will be doing more custom work than I have in the past. I'm moving to a smaller town so it will be difficult to use large tools at other shops or schools. Hence, I intend to buy either a

24" planer and a wide sander or both depending on what I find. I have not been a big fan of the drum sanders in the past but understand they have improved in recent years. Given the costs of the various sanders what i the feeling out there regarding which to buy. Space will not be a huge concern so I am sort of leaning towards the stoke sander but I have never really used one on a regular basis so my opinion is not well founded.

Please let me know your thoughts on the short comings and benefits of the three options. My primary need will be tops for dressers and tables but I will also be making some concave pieces where the platten on the stroke sander could be modified to meet specific shapes.

Look forward to your advice. Thanks in advance.

JC

[George]

With you as the real "power" in a stroke sander, stock removal is much slower. Makes it great for sanding with finer grades, too.

What it will not do is flatten a board.

So if you have a nice spiral-head wide planer, makes no sense to me to go drum sander.

[Andy Dingley]

What are you looking to sand? Drums and belts are great for preparing stock, but a storke sander is much better on finished panels - especially if there's any raised moulding work involved.

Also a drum is expensive, a belt is unaffordable, but you can make a perfectly serviceable stroke sander yourself.

[SonomaProducts.com]

Just an idea, I recently bought a Woodmaster Planer/Sander/Moulder. I am not usually a fan of multi-purpose machines but this seemed to have a few things I needed. I actually bought this unit for the gang ripping capabilities. I'll surely use it for moulding too, so I bought the mop sander to sand as moulded. If I move out into my own shop I'll have it as a planner and sander too until I can gear up with better stuff.

I actually have pretty much zero experience with the machine yet. I just assembled it and planned one board to make sure it all works. Anyway, Mine is an 18" unit but they do make a 25". I also have the standard cutter head but they apparently also have a spiral available.

Just a thought.