Sanders Now

First, What is a drum sander?

A woodworking workshop needs quite a few machines, and a drum sander is a wonderful machine meant for sanding and finishing of big wooden surfaces. Its mechanism is quite similar to that of thickness planer. They come in sizes varying from 10″x20″ to 26″x52”. The numbers 10 and 26 represent the width of the sanding belt. One side of the machine is open that enables to pass through the panel once, turn it around, and pass it again the second time. Thus it sands or finishes a piece of 20” in two passes.

Within the machine, the sandpaper moves on a continuous loop, like a planer, through a sanding drum. It has a cylindrical abrasive sleeve that is rotated by an electric motor on a cylindrical slotted drum. There is a provision of height adjustment that allows handling of jobs up to four inches in thickness. You just need to adjust the feed rollers and height as per the thickness of the material to be passed thru. The looped abrasive sleeve sands or finishes wood as it gently moves and gets pushed out at the other side. Changing of sand paper is very simple. The quality of results it delivers is much better than a bulky wide-belt sander and it offers a very economical operation.

Dual Drum Sander:

As the name suggests, the machine comes with two sanding drums. This can accommodate two different sanding belts with different grits. Thus you can sand a panel with rough grit and finish it with fine grit in one go. That means you can simultaneously perform sanding and finishing actions. As can be expected a dual drum is slightly more
expensive, but it is very efficient in saving money and effort.

Oscillating and Non-Oscillating:

Though drum sanders are generally non-oscillating, they deliver amazing smoothness.
Oscillation technology is a new concept. It offers movement in more than one direction, thereby giving a smoother and finer finish. While the material gets pushed ahead, the oscillator causes the belt to move from side to side. This oscillatory motion causes a very smooth finish in a considerably less time.

Pricing and Brands:

The price of a drum sander may vary from $400 to $2200. For handling of bigger panels, larger machines that are naturally more expensive are needed. Other factors that add to the cost of the machine apart from its size include dust collection arrangements and the facility of in-built oscillator. Single drum sanders from Jet/Performax are better known machines, while Steel City offers only a dual drum. Powermatic too manufactures a good dual drum machine while Delta only makes a single drum sander.
All these are well known brands and you will certainly need to consider them while deciding the machine that best suits your purpose.

Certain designs of drum sanders are compact and can be bench-mounted, while others are nearing the size of a washing machine. The available variety is large enough for craftsmen of varying calibers to select a suitable model. A sander helps to make a sanding or finishing job very convenient, efficient, economical and cleaner. A drum sander enables woodworkers and craftsmen to handle their varied projects competently and confidently.