First post. Carpal tunnel has gotten the best of me. Need to take some time off from my Mirka ROS. Anti vibe gloves don’t seem help much. Not enough strength right now for the card scrapers. I guess I would be categorized as a serious hobbyist woodworker. Anybody happy with their drum sanders? I’ve read the reviews in FWW, but they don’t seem recent.
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Not sure if your hands can handle it, but I recommend a cabinet scraper (like a Stanley #80 or copy thereof). It is definitely less strain to use than a card scraper. I've been using cabinet scrapers of various types for over 40 years; they have saved me a lot of sanding. After scraping, I typically start with 220 grit, to remove any little defects from the scraper and to even the texture. With most of the finishes I use, I then use 320 grit. It refines the surface enough that any defects are more visible. Unless the wood is soft and rowed (like figured mahogany) hand sanding is quick. The woods like mahogany require a power sander to get the speed of attack high enough that the fibers are cut rather than bent. I do have a ROS, but I did fine without it for most of my career. I just finished a top for a chest of drawers, and scraped it with a Stanley #112 scraper plane, then hand sanded it with 220 around a block of wood, then 32o just with my hand.
If your hands don't allow you to use a plane, I'm not sure what to suggest. I hope your hands improve to allow you to continue making wood projects!
Thanks. I’ll try a cabinet scraper.
I have a Jet16-32. I use it primarily for cleaning up thin resaw panels too thin for the surface planer. It can be a bit fussy but also does a a great job for in-line grain sanding. I could not see it replacing my ROS. I can just grab my ROS and clean up a small area or corner where the thickness setting on the drum sander must be dialed in every time
I use my Jet 16-32 the same as jdstreet above -- to clean up thin resawn panels under 1/8 of an inch.
It does a nice job, but the straight-line sanding marks are deeper than other kinds of sanding. Iuse pretty much 120 grit exclusively, but the going is slow, and the scratches are still pretty deep. I haven't tried 220 to see if it leaves an acceptable surface. But after 120 you'd need a bunch of hand sanding, or a ROS.
Changing grits takes a bit of time but if you go to 220 and take a very light pass I think you can get a smooth surface
I have both but would only use the drum sander for the coarser work. Even at higher grits they have a tendency to accumulate raised spots and I just don't find the finish as good overall.
Carpal tunnel syndrome usually responds very well to simple office-based treatments such as injections, and the benefits can last quite a long time. It's worth asking your doctor if that is an option for you.
It is also worth looking into your sleeping position - sometimes sleeping with hands bent back can cause the problem.
I have a King 16-32 drum sander that I use mostly for dimensioning resawn veneers and strips for Kumiko panels. I leave a 220 grit belt on it and the scratches are minimal. The 220 grit while slower is worth the time. I have sanded veneers below 1/16" and my Kumiko strips are very consistent in thickness.
I wouldn't think of using a drum sander to replace a random orbit but the drum sander is a great addition to my shop for my style of work.
Thanks all for your helpful information. I now know that a drum sander isn't a replacement for a ROS. That's exactly the info I was looking for.
Drum sanders are good for sanding things with the grain to an exact thickness (+/- 0.05mm). To do that, they have to be set up very exactly and kept that way, which isn't always straightforward, especially with the less expensive models. I sold mine some years ago as I could micro-thickness the small parts I typically needed with that accuracy of thickness with hand tools (a small depth setting plane and a similar scraper thing from Veritas - there are other hand tool methods).
If you would like n RO sander with far less vibration, have you considered one of those air-driven items that doesn't have a motor in the tool itself? I've never used one myself but they have the reputation of being much kinder to the hands because of the lack of motor vibration and their light weight.
Lataxe
*moderator's note-Lat_axe, I deleted your link because it goes to website that was obviously setup as a click farm.
Hello Mod,
Apologies for the poor link - it was the first US place I found with a search for a "test" of various pneumatic sanders.
Perhaps you could find an alternative test website that would illustrate to the OP all the stuff about pneumatic sanders. Is there a FWW article? I could only find FWW tests of motorised sanders myself.
Lataxe
We've never tested pneumatic sanders. They generally require a much larger air compressor than most woodworkers have. Industrial shops can move that kind of air, so that's why you normally find them in that setting.
I have the Performax 19-38 and find it very useful for flattening and obtaining a uniform thickness and finish. Particularly on panels and flat glue ups. A 120 grit leaves a decent smoothness and then very easy to finish with a ROS.
I have a pneumatic sander and can drive it with a 60 gal compressor. Even 60 gals is a bit small to really use the sander for a bit job. My sander is straight circular and not random orbital. Lack of random oscillation causes deeper scratch patterns. So basically, I never use it.
Not all RO sanders are the same as far as vibration is concerned. I do not have carpal tunnel issues that I know of, but I am very sensitive to tool vibration. I recently replaced my old RO sander that caused pins and needle feelings after just a few minutes of use with a Festool. I was skeptical, but figured I had nothing to lose with 30 day trial. It works better than I expected, and I can use it for long stretches of time with no numbness or tingling. Over the summer I spent almost a whole day sanding a lot of siding and my nerves were fine. That level of use also made me wish it was better balanced when used with the dust hose. It also made me wish I had a drum sander for the speed and that the local mill had a better setup planer.
I have Rockwell's Vibrafree ROS and find it to not only be a very good sander but with little vibration. I have used Festool's ROS and while not used side by side, I could not feel significant difference. My first one lasted about 8 years and I'm on year 3 of the second one. One consideration is I have only been able to find sandpaper for it online.
I just checked on availability and I suspect it is a supply chain issue affecting many tool makers, but it is currently not available. While at the Amazon website I looked over a few of the recent reviews and noticed this one that you may relate to. Here is part of the reviewer's comments:
"I received this sander as a gift. I have nerve issues in both hands, and using a traditional orbital sander for any real length of time has a tendency to leave my hands aching, tingling and numb. It has also left me with a strong preference for hand planes.
So far I love this thing. The vibration reduction system works very well to cancel out the vast majority of the felt vibration."
Hope this helps.
"It has also left me with a strong preference for hand planes".
Perhaps this is another potential answer to the OP's dilemma? Personally I use hand planes of many configurations to plane some often difficult-grain wood parts to very nearly finished, then sand or sometimes scrape them to final perfection. Once the hand planing skills are acquired (along with decent quality hand planes) the pieces that need exact sizing require very little final sanding; and sometimes none.
Unless you already have them, though, a plane collection to meet all possible needs can get expensive. On the other hand, you can acquire planes gradually whereas a decent drum sander requires a Very Big Wodge all in one go.
Lataxe
Just another drum sander owner (Performax 16-32, now distributed by Jet, I believe) who finds it to be extremely finicky (not difficult to get it set up correctly to give parallel boards up to 32" wide, but the paper easily clogs and burns after a short time, no matter how light of passes I make), slow, unpredictable and in my case, once it gets warmed up after maybe a dozen light passes, it begins to trip my 20 amp circuit breaker. Worst tool in my shop, by far. I only use it to flatten chessboards and the like, or to surface resawn veneers.
I'm not sure if you have carpal tunnel issue in both hands or just your dominate hand.
1. When using a ROS I tend to switch hands on different sanding passes of the wood to give my hand a rest during the operation and I can work much longer than using just my dominant hand.
2. When working with wood (not plywood) handplanes may be an alternative to a ROS that uses a different motion that may not trigger your carpal tunnel symptom.
I second the quality on Festool. I also have a 16-32 jet and wish I had a performax or one of the bigger drums It is very difficult to get the 16-32 paper on.
most difficult machine in my shop.However when I need some serious sanding I too go to a facility with a belt sander.
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