Thoughts On A Used Drum Sander?

[onocoffee]

Came across a seller trying to move a used Grizzly F0716 10/20 drum sander and asking $215 for it. The sander currently is inoperational with a kink in the power cord. Seller says he had replaced the circuit board in an attempt to get it running and also "opened up the motor" (don't know what that necessarily means) and that it is "in perfect shape". He did note that the motor fan blade was broken and needed to be replaced. And that the dust hood is missing.

New, from Grizzly, the sander is listed for $870 (plus $199 freight) for a total of $1,069*.

*I could order Grizzly from Home Depot and they will deliver it to my local store for pickup with no freight fees.

From the pics, I've determined that these are the parts that would need to be replaced (currently):
Motor Fan - $9.75
Motor Fan Cover - $18.00
Dust Hood - $15.00
Hood Elbow - $10.00
Drum Housing Support Bracket - $8.25
M8 Knob - $5.75

So, maybe $90 in parts, including a replacement wire and plug. But, if the motor is actually dead, a new 1hp costs $626. Which pushes it well over the cost of a new unit. I offered $150 and he said that a couple people had already offered that amount and that he's going to hold out to see if he can recoup what he put into it plus the $30 for the circuit board and that number is $200.

I'm tempted to meet the asking price of $200 but I have no experience with drum sanders. All I know is that the SuperMax and Jet drum sanders I see at Woodcraft are quite pricey. I'm interested in the drum sander because I'm planning on resawing 1/16" veneers and figure the drum sander would be good to smoothen those veneers. The 10" width I don't think is an issue since that will be typically wider than most of the veneers I see myself cutting (max capacity on the saw is 12").

Thanks!

 

[jeffinsgf]

Rode hard and put away wet. I wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole. Not only would I not give him $200 for it, I might not take $200 to haul it away. Am I getting my point across?

 

[onocoffee]

Rode hard and put away wet. I wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole. Not only would I not give him $200 for it, I might not take $200 to haul it away. Am I getting my point across?

5x5!

 

[Cheese]

Rode hard and put away wet. I wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole. Not only would I not give him $200 for it, I might not take $200 to haul it away. Am I getting my point across?

I know nothing about drum sanders Jeff, however I have looked at the Jet 16-32 from time to time for finishing highly figured wood. What did you see that made you come to this conclusion?

 

[waho6o9]

Nice boat anchor

 

[jeffinsgf]

I know nothing about drum sanders Jeff, however I have looked at the Jet 16-32 from time to time for finishing highly figured wood. What did you see that made you come to this conclusion?

I don't know anything about the design of the Grizzly. That particular one is a train wreck. If the motor fan is off, but the motor has been "opened up", someone didn't have much of a plan. The drum has pitting that I would expect to telegraph through the paper. If that isn't pitting and it's burned on adhesive, then someone tried to hog off too much at once, which makes me suspect the frame has seen more stress than it was expecting. At least if it's adhesive you have a chance. If it's pitted, it's over. If it's burned on glue then you get to spend the next few weekends trying different solvents to get it off without causing damage.

Go through all that, including (more than likely) replacing the motor and you end up with a Grizzly sander...with a possibly compromised, single-sided frame.

I'd keep scrolling. But that's just me.

 

[luvmytoolz]

I wouldn't consider it for the condition, but also the size. It's a false economy to get a small drum sander thinking you'll save money as you got it cheap, but what actually happens is you end up using much more sanding rolls due to the pitch build up.

On a larger drum sander you have much more surface area so you can work around pitch lines on the belt, greatly extending the life of the sanding belt. On a smaller drum sander it's much more difficult to work around them. And if you're doing veneers, the belt's useless once a single pitch line develops. Sometimes if it's not too bad you can clean it off, but generally they can be impossible to remove.

The drum sander most users will find is the best return on investment as you'll use it for so much more than you'd think, so it's really worth getting the best possible.

Also, a lot of drum sanders won't go down to below 1/8" thickness.

 

[onocoffee]

This is why I ask the dumb questions here: experienced advice. Thanks @jeffinsgf and @luvmytoolz - these are issues that I'm too inexperienced to know or look for.

I'm not set on a drum sander, just might be useful for the work I'm getting ready to do. Nothing below 1/8"? That's good to know. And the pitch/pitting - wouldn't have thought of it with those potential results.

I'll pass on this one and perhaps one day will find a solid deal or spring for the SuperMax.

 

[smorgasbord]

I'll pass on this one

That's the right choice. Just to kick this dead horse - the seller doesn't know what's wrong, probably made things worse trying to fix it, and as @luvmytoolz says, it's not even a unit suitable for a home shop doing lots of things, it's single purpose like "sand the rails and stiles for the doors we sell by the hundreds."

If the seller really got a $150 offer, I bet he'll be sorry he didn't take it.

 

[luvmytoolz]

That's the right choice. Just to kick this dead horse - the seller doesn't know what's wrong, probably made things worse trying to fix it, and as @luvmytoolz says, it's not even a unit suitable for a home shop doing lots of things, it's single purpose like "sand the rails and stiles for the doors we sell by the hundreds."

If the seller really got a $150 offer, I bet he'll be sorry he didn't take it.

Dead right, especially the last line!

 

[luvmytoolz]

This is why I ask the dumb questions here: experienced advice. Thanks @jeffinsgf and @luvmytoolz - these are issues that I'm too inexperienced to know or look for.

I'm not set on a drum sander, just might be useful for the work I'm getting ready to do. Nothing below 1/8"? That's good to know. And the pitch/pitting - wouldn't have thought of it with those potential results.

I'll pass on this one and perhaps one day will find a solid deal or spring for the SuperMax.

I spent many months going through all the models and noted issues for the drum sanders on the market, before finally settling on the 25/50 Supermax as the one that routinely received the most praise, especially from commercial users.

I really couldn't recommend one high for anyone who even has a barely passing need to sand boards, I was worried it was bigger than I needed, but I can now say this is the most used tool in my shed, even more than the CNC. I use it every day, and for thickness sanding timber and charcuterie boards, it's an absolute godsend! I couldn't operate without one now as it's become so crucial to my work flows. Whack a 40 grit roll on and thickness sand 32mm down to 25mm in minutes on burls with no tear out.

I also cut my own belts from large rolls so the ongoing costs are as minimal as possible, and I can work around pitch lines for weeks without needing to throw the roll out.

 

[smorgasbord]

I have an old General 25" dual-drum sander (enclosed on both ends):

General International Drum Sander 15-250

It's been pretty good. The cord connecting the control pad to the motor frayed internally (!) and for years I couldn't figure out what was wrong - all I knew what that if I pushed on the sheet metal holding the control pad, the unit worked. Eventually, I started taking it apart to try to fix it, and of course, I fried the circuit board and only then determined that the cord was bad internally. After asking some electrical engineer friends of mine to help fix it to no avail, an intern at the place one of them worked figured out that Grizzly sold the same unit for years and had parts for sale. So I bought a new circuit board for like $80 and it's been humming ever since.

Having two drums is great - I run either 80 & 120 or 100 & 150 or 120 & 180 grits. I really should put a Shelix head on my jointer/planer to get a better surface, and then I could keep higher grits on the sander, but that's yet another thousand(s) of dollars expense.

Keeping the conveyor belt centered has always been a small issue. When it runs hundreds of feet of boards through it, the belt does inch to one side of the other over time. It's easily re-adjusted, but I can never get it perfect. My guess is the rollers aren't crowned (like bandsaw sheels or belt sanders). I have a beefy dust collector, which is a must for any drum sander. My thinking at the time was that a two-side unit was going to be more robust and even across the width than a one-ended sander. I'm not sure that's true today, although I probably can take heavier passes. My minimum thickness is ¼", but a board carrier is a simple option to get thinner. I put a Wixey DRO on it, but sanders don't precisely sand to a thickness, and that varies by board width. Probably mostly from the rubber conveyor belt giving way under pressure. But, easy enough to sneak up on an accurate thickness, although I have to admit my sander isn't perfectly adjusted to be even on both ends - there's a slight (a bit more than 0.01") taper across the 25" width. Turning wide boards around for a repeat of the final pass gets them close enough for me, mostly.

They are a real time-saver. I did all the baseboard and door and window moldings in my house, so I've run thousands of feet through it. Having to just do the final high grit sanding by hand was really great. I do guarantee that as wide as you get, you'll eventually wish it was wider.

 

[luvmytoolz]

@smorgasbord I looked at a couple of drum sander enclosed at both ends, which is a great idea, but they couldn't go below around 3.5mm or so which was a deal breaker for me. Having dual rolls though is fantastic, you must love that.

If anyone had told me how much I'd come to use and rely upon a drum years back I wouldn't have believed them. They are a seriously underestimated tool.

 

[Cheese]

They are a real time-saver.

Hence the name...