What are the advantages of using a drum sander over a planer?
Drum sanding for finish sanding and planer for taking off more stock?
And why are drum sanders so expensive, for what you get one would think planers would be at a higher price point. Supply and demand? Is there some logic to the price of woodworking equipment?
Performax the only way to go? 16-32 worth the $849?
Deltas are second best?
Gary
Replies
Web,
Drum sanders are for those who are unable to set up their tools and planers correctly.
No I am just joking.I would dearly like to have a decent wide belt sander, but a drum sander would be almost as desirable when now and again some timber cuts up rough.I make do with a home -made stroke sander for a light sanding of panels etc.Sanding machines are not intended to whack off large amounts....or substitute for planers.
I think that Performax is useful for small operators, especially box makers and people who require very thin material-here that Performax and cousins are good value, making easy work of "thicknessing" very thin boards.
web,
My shop got along for a long time with only a stroke sander and hand tools. About a year age we got a 20" oscillating drum sander (from SCM) which changed the the quality of the frame and panel doors we produce, not to mention cutting sanding time to 1/4 of what it was before.
I'm no spokesperson for the machinery companies, but the oscillating sander is a much more complex machine than a planer. It has nothing to do with how much material it removes. There may be market forces at work, bacause there is a very wide selection of planers on offer. But essentially a fine sanding machine is a more complex thing to build than any planer I know of.
DR
A search of the archives will give you some opinions on drum sanders. Have you ever used a small drum in your drill press? If so, you have noticed that it leaves striations on the work, straight line scratches caused by the grit. You may also have noticed that the paper wears out rather quickly and loads up. Sanders like the Performax do these things in spades. With a drum in the press you can at least control the pressure against the paper. With these drum machines, the pressure is constant, heat builds on the drum. paper wears out, loads up and often starts burning your work. It only takes a 1/16" spot that loads up to ruin your work.
The drum spindle sanders have oscillation which improves on all the above mentioned problems. To get a wide belt sander that has oscillation, electric eye tracking and a pneumatic platten will cost thousands. There are also abrasive planers. I owned the top of the line Supermax from Performax which at the time sold for around $4000. It was useless and cost me more in ruined work, sandpaper and maintenance time than I paid for it. There are some better drum type sanders out there but they are in the $3000 to $5000 price range. At those prices, you are approaching costs for an entry level oscillating wide belt. You also will need 3 phase electric service, a large compressor and powerful dust collection. As far as the 16/32 goes, you can do a lot of hand or belt sanding for $850 and it will probably come out better.
Beat it to fit / Paint it to match
I just recently purchased a drum sander (the delta). I have had a makita 2012 planer for years. If I could only have one, it would be the planer. The planer can take lumber down pretty quick to your desired thickness. The money saved not buying dimensioned lumber makes the planer pay for itself. The Sander is the opposite, it will take it down in very, very small increments. If you thing you can cross function use the sander, you will be disappointed unless you have tons of time. They both are nice. I know once I got comfortable with the quirks of the sander, it was very nice. I have not made a lot of doors, but some panels I ran through were extremely flat. If you don't have a dust collector, the sander will overwhelm you. It's amazing how much dust you create. You are correct about them being expensive, but that's true with any tool any more. I got the Delta, and they had a sale going, and Wood craft had a delta day (additional 10% off + a free tool). They have it every so often. Good luck on the choice.
What are the advantages of using a drum sander over a planer?
The cost of the SAND Paper?
It is very difficult, and sometimes even impossible, to plane a figured board to a decent finish. The planer will leave little craters where some of the figure was - because the wood in the figured area does not conform to the grain of the rest of the board. You could get a Byrd shelix head for the planer and that would help a lot - but that is very expensive. With the drum sander, you can get a very nice surface on figured wood. You can also put panels through the drum sander - i.e. cross grain sanding. You should not go cross grain with a planer. Want to flatten a tabletop that is 30" wide? You can do that with the Performax or Delta sanders (flipping the tabletop around, and assuming very good adjustment) - you'd need a VERY big planer for that. You could put plywood or MDF through a drum sander - not a planer. Glue can play havoc with the non-carbide planer blades.
Plus .... it's another cool tool! You know the rule.
It is very difficult, and sometimes even impossible, to plane a figured board to a decent finish...I hear ya.. I did that to some really nice figured Sycamore.. All went well till the last pass.. DAMN.. Can I say that in here?
There are drum sanders that are also true thickness sanders. I have 5 hp dual head 25" PerfroMax that can substitute as a planner depending on the aggressiveness of the grit. Frankly, it has limited value to me for dimensioning large panels, slabs and laminates to a consistent thickness. I still have to hand-finish the old fashion way. The roll paper for the drum sanders is very expensive compared to sheet sandpaper. Another post indicated that the oscillating drum/belt sanders eliminate most of the problems of sanding striations but he costs of these machines is high. Except for the width, a well-adjusted planer with sharp blades will do every thing you need. Planes, scrapers and sandpaper will get you the rest of the way.
In my humble shop I use both a Dewalt planer and the Delta drum sander. It depends on the wood I'm working with as to my approach. I almost always start with the planer bringing the rough down as close as possible to the finished dimension. If in this dimensioning process there aren't any tear problems then I will call it good. Often time though there are pieces that show even minimal tear out, then I will proceed to the drum sander to finish the dimensioning. I noted all the comments about burning, sanding marks and have experienced all of them, but with some patience and practice those problem rarely occur anymore. The drum sander is not fast, it absolutely will not work without adequate dust collection and it will snipe just a big time as the planer when I'm not paying attention.
I consider this device to be one of the best powertool additions to my shop ever. It has helped me improve the consistency of the sanding, gets things really flat, even large panels. Do I wish that I could afford the big belt sanders, yes, maybe someday when I'm building enough projects to justify that expense. Today though my almost $800 investment gets me through some substantial projects in a much more reasonable amount of timeDave Graf
DANG! NICE house! Yours?
That is my house. The MacIntosh fireplace mantel came basically from the Taunton Mantel book with lots of modifications. The drum sander was used extensively on this project. The front of the mantel is curved as is the top ledge itself. Makes it really cool to look at, but made for some significant extra work. It has also stayed together now for the last two winters of running the stove. I was really concerned that the thing would expand and contract and blow itself up.Dave Graf
Everyone has raised valid points. I have the 16-32 and will tell you my experience. The drum sander will not replace my planer for dimensioning lumber but it does compliment the planer in several ways.
1. Tames wild grain - alot of times my grain isn't consistent so I get tearout with the planer. The drum sander will smooth it out.
2. Removes Bandsaw marks - It will smooth out a bandsaw cut with one pass.
3. Makes flatter boards - Since the bed is longer than my 12" planer I find that boards are consistently flatter.
BTW I find that the drum sander doesn't replace using ROS or hand sanding. Although it makes the board flat it also leaves behind lines that get picked up in the finish. So generally I need to use my ROS before I finish. That said, it is still much faster and more accurate (ie the boards are all the same dimension) than without using the drum sander.
Kevin
What are the advantages of using a drum sander over a planer?
I'd say the cost of the sand paper... But sometimes the sandpaper work best!
And why are drum sanders so expensive..
Supply and demand or just Marketing..
OR it is hard to make something that works!
I started with a 8" jointer and a 15" planer.
I use to sand lots of dents in things.
Then I fell in love with LN hand planes and all kinds of scrapers.
Today I belong to the "Sanding Abstinence " club and if I had to start over again I would probably still get the 8" jointer, but live comfortably without a planer.
I have to add, that I do not run a high volume production shop.
Gary -
Here's a drum sander I made several years ago. I only use it for small stuff and it works quite well. Nice thing to have for what I do.
Go to Advanced Search and put in this message number at the bottom of the page. Or, you might just be able to click on the number below.
7738.4
PlaneWood by Mike_in_Katy (maker of fine sawdust!)
PlaneWood
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