I caught the woodworking bug while at a university with a fabulous wood shop. I was spoiled by the 16″ jointer, 4′ x 8′ veneer press, and a whole host of other expensive industrial machinery. One of the things that I miss often is the 50″ widebelt sander. It was a dream to sand solid wood panels flat after glue up. My question is this:
How do drum sanders compare to wide belt sanders for sanding solid panels flat after glue up?
Let’s assume that the individual boards in the panel were well milled and reasonably well aligned and that I would only need to sand 1/16 off each side.
As I have casually compared drum sanders to wide belts, I find that for example, I can get a 37″ 15 HP 3 phase 2 drum drum sander from Grizzly for $2,795 (model #G0450). A 37″ 15 HP 3 phase 1 belt wide belt sander from Grizzly costs $9,500 (model #G0539).
I don’t want to say that cost is not a consideration, because I would be willing to spring for a more expensive machine if it was far superior, but I would prefer the less expensive machine unless it wouldn’t adequately do the job.
Replies
Jon,
I'll get back to you on the sanders, but a question first: do you have the electrical power to your shop to support equipment of that size?
John W.
Electrical support is no problem. My father happens to be an electrical engineer who is very generous with his time and resources.
Jon
If you live in a residential area of the US your local power company is probably under no obligation to supply you with three phase power even if it is available at the pole, or they will charge you a very high monthly fee for the connection. You can use various types of equipment to create 3 phase off of single phase but it is fairly expensive when you are talking about supplying a 15 hp motor.John W.
The shop is not in a typical residential area. Let's assume that power supply will not be a problem.
Jon
I would also like to note that Grizzly offers 10 HP single phase versions of both machines.
Jon
John,
Any update on the wide belt vs. drum sander question?
Jon
Hi Jon,I've been researching your question. While I've worked with both drum and belt sanders I can't claim to be an expert on their use. This is what I've been told from several sources:What it comes down to is that a drum sander is slower and doesn't leave anywhere near as good a finish as a wide belt sander that uses platens and has an oscillating belt. It also takes much longer to replace the paper on a drum sander and the costs for paper will probably be higher on a drum sander. The paper on a drum sander can easily get misaligned leading to torn paper and burning and gouging of the stock. We had a Grizzly two drum sander for testing several years ago and I recall that paper changes on it were a real chore.Based on my own experience you are better off investing in a wide belt sander, you will probably be disappointed in the results you get from a drum sander unless you are only planning to use the drum sander for roughly smoothing out glued up tops.I know that many shops that have large sanders will rent time out on them at a very reasonable cost, you might check to see if there is a shop in your area that does this, it could save you a lot of money.In my research I found that Timesavers makes a nice, relatively inexpensive for an American made machine, under $9,000, 37" wide belt sander that was designed specifically for small shops. It might be worth looking at, given the quality and reputation of their machines, even if it is smaller than you were considering.Sorry I didn't get back to you sooner, I only finally managed to get in touch with someone I wanted to speak to about sanders yesterday.
John,
Thanks for your well thought out reply. It was worth the brief wait. Any idea of a ballpark cost for time on a wide-belt in your area?
Jon
There is a discussion in the regular Knots site under power tools titled "Drum Sander Options" that will give you some additional views on drum versus wide belt sanders, for the most part the discussion agrees with what I've already said. There is one posting there that mentions a shop that charges a $20.00 flat fee plus a dollar a minute for using their big wide belt machine. At that rate it would probably cost $30.00 total to sand a table.John W.
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