Roll the drums

[Nick W]

I'm thinking about getting a Drum Sander such as this or maybe even this. Now I've read some of the opinions about them on this site, but no one seems to talk about using them to sand wider boards. Has anyone tried this, and does it work, or do you end up with a nasty step down the middle?

Those people who have had problems with burning: have you tried using a more powerful extractor? Is there scope for putting a brush inside the head to scrub the drum clean?

 

[RogerS]

Steve Maskery has one of these and IIRC he swears by them

 

[Chris Knight]

NIck,
I have the Performax 22-44. You do not end up with a nasty step in the middle - simply reversing the workpiece and running it through again, takes care of that - but I always finish by hand (planing, scraping, sanding edpending on what I am doing) any case.

 

[Nick W]

Thanks Chris. Do you get the burning problem that others have mentioned?

 

[MikeW]

Hi Nick--sorry for butting in.

I have found that for any given species of wood, varying the feedrate and or the attempted depth of cut alleviates or prevents any burning.

Also, I suppose, the grit being used affects how the feedrate and depth is affected.

Maple and Bubinga are two that have given me the biggest problems. But even on those woods, varying the two things above works for me.

Take care, Mike

 

[Chris Knight]

Nick,
I was one who mentioned burning as a problem. This can be alleviated as Mike suggests but it does happen to me once in a while, especially if I don't keep an eye on the extraction. I use a small dedicated extractor for the machine (a bit larger in capacity than a typical shop vac) and it is amazing how quickly it fills when working on large panels. If I am careless it starts to get close to full, dust builds up on the drum somewhere and hey presto a burnt bit on the drum, scratched and burnt workpiece and a new length of abrasive soon follow

 

[Nick W]

Mike and Chris,

Thanks for the feedback, it's cleared my concerns up. Now can I really justify the expense? :?

 

[RogerS]

Mike and Chris,

Thanks for the feedback, it's cleared my concerns up. Now can I really justify the expense? :?

Nick - did you buy one in the end? If so, which one did you go for and are you happy with it?

 

[Nick W]

Roger,

No, I haven't bought one - yet. I was going to buy the big Jet, but they didn't have on in the country :roll: , and for the moment the need has passed.

 

[RogerS]

Nick

What made you opt for the big Jet? Capacity?

Roger

 

[Nick W]

Roger,

Yes, I think that was about it. There isn't a lot of choice out there, as you will no doubt have discovered, but being able to do 'standard' widths (wardrobe sides etc.) in one pass seems a good idea.

Just to be clear, I am talking about the 22-44 plus (not the DDS 225).