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Other topics for members => General Woodworking => Topic started by: aburnette165 on October 12, 2017, 09:25:58 AM

Title: Planer vs Drum sander
Post by: aburnette165 on October 12, 2017, 09:25:58 AM
Went to the Woodcraft store the other day to look at planers and they where telling me a lot of people are now getting drum sanders. The super max 19-38 is what they where showing me. What are the pros and cons? thanks
Title: Re: Planer vs Drum sander
Post by: pineywoods on October 12, 2017, 09:53:11 AM
You can have the best of both. Woodmaster makes a series of planers with a removable planer head and swap in a sander drum. 12 inch, 18 inch and 25 inch widths. Optional molding knife head..I have an 18, like it..
Title: Re: Planer vs Drum sander
Post by: GAB on October 12, 2017, 10:06:37 AM
Quote from: pineywoods on October 12, 2017, 09:53:11 AM
You can have the best of both. Woodmaster makes a series of planers with a removable planer head and swap in a sander drum. 12 inch, 18 inch and 25 inch widths. Optional molding knife head..I have an 18, like it..

Pineywoods:
I have the same planer and attachments and have never used the sanding drum or molding head.  Now I realize that you have probably changed over numerous times, however I am curious as to how long it takes you to go from the planer head to the sanding drum or vice versa.
TIA
GAB
Title: Re: Planer vs Drum sander
Post by: pineywoods on October 12, 2017, 10:15:00 AM
Quote from: GAB on October 12, 2017, 10:06:37 AM
Quote from: pineywoods on October 12, 2017, 09:53:11 AM
You can have the best of both. Woodmaster makes a series of planers with a removable planer head and swap in a sander drum. 12 inch, 18 inch and 25 inch widths. Optional molding knife head..I have an 18, like it..

Pineywoods:
I have the same planer and attachments and have never used the sanding drum or molding head.  Now I realize that you have probably changed over numerous times, however I am curious as to how long it takes you to go from the planer head to the sanding drum or vice versa.
TIA
GAB

5 minutes at most..2 bolts, one of them is left handed don't forget. The molding head takes a little longer, have to change out the shaft...It's a very well thought out design..
Title: Re: Planer vs Drum sander
Post by: TKehl on October 12, 2017, 10:16:51 AM
Planer can hog off more material, but depends on HP.  Better for rough sawn or anytime you need to take a bite.

If you are using wood that's already been planed smooth and dimensionally where you want it, the sander will make it smoother.  Less hand or hand tool work.

How wide of a piece do you plan to work with?
Title: Re: Planer vs Drum sander
Post by: pineywoods on October 12, 2017, 10:27:35 AM
One nicey, with the wider units, you can run an entire, fully assembled cabinet door through the sander. I've made truck loads of flat molding with mine. It don't do tongue and groove unless equipped with optional router mounted on the outfeed table.
Title: Re: Planer vs Drum sander
Post by: warren46 on October 12, 2017, 12:08:00 PM
Drum Sanders remove material very slowly.  Planers will reduce thickness efficiently.  Both are good tools and complement each other but I suggest a planer first.

You can sand a planned board with a hand held sander.  It will take a long time to take an eighth of an inch off of a board with a drum sander.  You generally cannot take more than 1/32 of an inch per pass without burning the wood.
Title: Re: Planer vs Drum sander
Post by: opticsguy on October 12, 2017, 12:18:43 PM
If you have your own mill, get a planer.

If you buy your wood for cabinet making possibly a drum sander might be more usable.

If you do not want to die with money in the bank, get both.

I have more than one planer and more than one jointer and am only a hobbyist.

I have more money than time and not a lot of money.

After exploring many of the drum sanders and the options and limitations and talking with several Grizzly support persons, I am currently looking at their 24" double drum variable speed sander. yes, expensive but seems like it does exactly what I want. 

Title: Re: Planer vs Drum sander
Post by: Brad_S. on October 12, 2017, 01:05:21 PM
Opticsguy,

I too am considering a drum sander to complement my planer. I have read a number of negative reviews on the grizzly unit and mostly positive reviews on the General International dual drum sander. You might want to check them out.  When finances allow, that is the unit I am going with.
Title: Re: Planer vs Drum sander
Post by: 21incher on October 12, 2017, 01:14:12 PM
I have both and rarely use the sander other then clean up of wide glue ups. If you plan on using a sander for rough stock sandpaper rolls can get expensive and you have to clean the paper often with certain woods. 40 grit paper makes tons of sawdust quickly so you will need a dust collector that can handle it. With a planer I can just use a Cyclone lid on a trash can in front of the collector and dump it quickly. Flattening  a board with a varying thickness will take many passes and hang up at highspots on my sander.  My planer is more usefull, costs less to operat, and is quicker for rough stock then my sander. :)
Title: Re: Planer vs Drum sander
Post by: opticsguy on October 12, 2017, 01:24:53 PM
Hello Brad,
Thanks for your comment. I have not yet been a serious purchaser of a drum sander and had just looked at the Grizz last week.
I looked up the General drum sander and all the reviews I see are not very positive, big problems with the paper coming off even when brand new.
I just checked out the Delta machine, a 12" DEPTH capacity and very good reviews;

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Delta-230-Volt-3HP-26-in-Industrial-Dual-Drum-Sander-31-481/205112104?MERCH=REC-_-PIPHorizontal1_rr-_-204205752-_-205112104-_-N

ENJOY!!
Title: Re: Planer vs Drum sander
Post by: muggs on October 12, 2017, 03:37:31 PM
If you want a sander, consider a used wide belt sander.Much better than a drum.   Muggs
Title: Re: Planer vs Drum sander
Post by: aburnette165 on October 12, 2017, 04:10:56 PM
Thanks for the info. I will mostly be planing stuff from off my sawmill. so the planer will probably be the better option for what i need.
Title: Re: Planer vs Drum sander
Post by: Larry on October 12, 2017, 04:59:20 PM
Quote from: opticsguy on October 12, 2017, 12:18:43 PM
After exploring many of the drum sanders and the options and limitations and talking with several Grizzly support persons, I am currently looking at their 24" double drum variable speed sander. yes, expensive but seems like it does exactly what I want.

I had that machine.  It is a poor design and cheaply made.  Performance was ok sorta.  It was slow like most drum sanders, didn't take much off, and end result still needed to be sanded with a ROS.  Changing paper was a royal PITA, but I was told if I equipped it with the Velcro conversion it would be much easier....just a lot more expensive.  It might be ok for some uses, but I moved my machine down the road.
Title: Re: Planer vs Drum sander
Post by: Kindlinmaker on October 12, 2017, 07:30:32 PM
I am only a hobbyist so I don't do production work.  I do own multiple planers including the 25"Woodmaster molder-planer and a 38"Woodmaster double drum sander.  I bought the molder-plane to do moldings but purchased the 25"spiral planer head as well because my workhorse Powermatic is only 20".  The planer works OK but tends to have a bit excessive snipe because to the soft feed rollers; they offer serrated steel rollers for planing but I haven't purchased them.  I don't have the drum sander attachment for the molder-planer.  The 38"drum sander is great for the work I do.  As someone stated, it makes short work of glue-ups but I use mine for sanding just about anything that is flat.  The trick is sanding lightly.  I have tried to remove material with it and have had very poor results; it is not a planer.  In fact, the instructions are to make 2 or 3 passes at each depth adjustment.  My results at trying to remove material resulted in wavy surfaces.  I agree that you might need to do some ROS finish sanding but I find this to be minimal and mostly on closed grain woods where minor defects are very visible. I would not want to use this machine in a true production environment; too slow.  A big belt sander would be great but I just can't justify the expense to get one that delivers the results I am looking for.