Drum Sanders

I have a Performax 16/32 drum sander that I bought secondhand 5 or 6 years ago. It is a great little sander except for the feed platten tracking. No matter what I do the feed platten belt eventually ends up on one side, so I live with it and move the platten belt back every now and then.

I'm thinking of upgrading to a larger drum sander such as the approx 600mm wide Carbatec or Sherwood offerings. Do these larger sanders have feed platten tracking issues, too?

Any advice on these machines would be appreciated.


Palu

I have a Carbatec 400mm unit and after initial adjustment have no problems with tracking unless I take a heavy cut

You can buy new travelling mats, but it looks troublesome to fit.

I've the carbatec version and tracking was initially troublesome. Getting the goldilocks tension and then the tracking right took a bit of time, but it's worth persevering.

Thanks for your quick replies. Searching for solutions to the tracking issues with the 16/32 I found and bought a re-inforced vinyl mat from Hamilton Tools (or similar in the US) to replace the sanding belt(s) I'd tried previously. The vinyl feed mat worked straightaway and the machine ran without issue for a year or so. Now the mat runs to one side. Perhaps if I flipped the mat I'd get another period of trouble free use.

My reason for posting was to get some feedback on the approx 600mm wide drum sanders. Perhaps I should have just dived in and said so without referring to my existing sander.

So, I'm thinking of buying an approx 600mm wide drum sander. I'd be grateful to hear other Forum members' experiences with these machines.


Paul

What's your budget. Is this for hobby or making a living. How thin do you want to go ? I have a jet 22-44 and works well but if I could get and afford it Powermax drum sander would be better


Acoustic & Electric Bass Guitars
Neptune’s Guitars - Master Luthiers

Quote:

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Originally Posted by scuzyboy

What's your budget. Is this for hobby or making a living. How thin do you want to go ? I have a jet 22-44 and works well but if I could get and afford it Powermax drum sander would be better


Acoustic & Electric Bass Guitars
Neptune’s Guitars - Master Luthiers

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Hi scuzyboy,

Less than $3,000 - hobby - mostly box and furniture pieces but occasionally 1.5mm with a backer.

I was considering the approx 600mm wide Carbatec or Sherwood offerings that are between $2K and $3K.

Either of those would do the job as based off the same design just don't push them to hard and they run pretty smooth it's when you get aggressive with the cut things start failing. I had 1st machine fail and was replaced and the second had tracking issues but was due to bad manufacturing of the conveyor paper in the glue line. Sandpaper man is good to talk to in this regard.


Acoustic & Electric Bass Guitars
Neptune’s Guitars - Master Luthiers

Bought the Carbatec WDS-630 last week. So far so good, straight out of the box. I've sanded a toybox lid (jarrah 1000x500mm) and a couple of end grain cutting boards. No problems there.

I did have an issue with dust collection. My 2HP sherwood connected to the sander in the most efficient manner (directly and vented to air!) was woeful. I do hope my neighbour's washing wasn't on the line :( I had dust over everything, floor, job and feeding belt. I headed back to Carbatec and bought their $499 dust collector DC-2300P. Virtually dust free sanding was the result. I could actually feel air being pushed over the feeding belt into the hood. There was just a small amount of dust remaining on the feeding belt. I'm considering cutting a third 4" port into the lid and run 3x4" dust hoses to the 3x4" dust inlets on the dust collector.

its only matter of time you need something larger than the drum sander....