Monday, October 10, 2016

Best Drum Sander Reviews and Tips

A smooth wooden surface is what everyone wants in his or her home. But at times the surface is not how you want and you can’t go about sanding your floor to smoothen it all by yourself. So, you have to get one of the best drum sander to finish your job to perfection and effortlessly.

Drum sanders are a large tool that is used for sanding of wood and plastic surfaces. The sanders not only help in effortless sanding but also do the job quickly. It is specifically used for wood sanding, as it is extremely smooth and quick in completing the job.

Drum sander reviews have confirmed that the best drum sander maintains edges that are perfectly square while also completing the task quickly. As compared to the orbital sanders, the drum sanders smoothens the entire uneven surface on the floor to perfection.

It is easy to work with a large surface of wood more efficiently and perfectly on a drum sander than any other such tools. You can use both your hands to get more grip and control on the surface while working on a drum sander. This will help you achieve precision in your work and get the desired results in a quick time.

The best drum sander also comes with another useful feature, that of a suction mechanism. The suction mechanism in the drum sander sucks in all the debris and dust that is generated while working thus making the surrounding and work area clean. For a drum sander to have a good working space it needs two feet clearance area on both sides. The standard feature of a drum sander would be 30 inches of width and 25 inches of length and weighing about 75 pounds.

While working on a drum sander the only real effort that you will have to make is to run the piece through the machine. The best drum sander can work with a large piece of flat wood in a very quick time giving it the perfect smooth finish. With a drum sander you can easily smoothen a door, tabletop and boards to your desired finish.

Though a drum sander has a floor model that is very heavy, it is still smaller in size as compared to the heavy industrial models and the wide belt sanders. This makes a drum sander a perfect tool for homeowners who can sand their bench, tables and floors to perfection and in no time!

The drum sander is so easy to use that in no time you will find yourself working with it in very possible project.  A drum sander makes sanding easy for homeowners and a essential utility time to have at home.

The best drum sander should fulfill some important considerations to be of great use for the homeowner. The first criterion for a drum sander is to have quality. The quality of a drum sander will ensure its durability and perfection to the work.

Next before buying drum sander you should check the customers drum sander reviews. By going through the customer reviews you come to the conclusion of buying the best drum sander. Third, when buying a drum sander you should take a good look at the platen that is at the sanders lowest part. Ideally this platen at the drum sanders lower part should be wider than the drum and not smaller in size. A quality platen will ensure a performance that will be to your liking. Fourth feature that needs to be taken into account when buying a drum sander is the speed and performance of the sander. The best drum sander will have a good speed as well as a powerful speed. It is important for a sander to have powerful speed as it not only improves performance but also improves the sanders polishing aspect.  Lastly, another important feature of a drum sander is to have a suction machine to collect the dust. The best drum sander comes equipped with a dust suction system that helps the home users to keep their workplace and surrounding clean. Thus, while working homeowners can concentrate at the quality and perfection of project and not worry about the cleaning of the mess that it creates. A clean work area and a clean machine also ensure the durability of the drum sander.

Another important feature when buying a drum sander is to check the noise capacity of the machine. It would be annoying to work with loud noise around while working on a sander trying to bring perfection to it. There are sanders that are higher priced but they come with a noise control system. These drum sanders though expensive have a noise control technology that leads to less noise and more concentration while doing the job. Medically too it is not advisable to work on sanders that create a high decibel of noise as that would be harmful for your ears. It is important that spend more if you have to and get best drum sander that generate less noise pollution.


Another important feature that you need to consider when buying a drum sander is the vibration of the machine. If you buy a machine with a lot that vibrates a lot than it will leave a blabber to the surface of the item that you are working on. To help you decide on the good drum sanders you should always check drum sander reviews of the customers. Making an informed decision will help you get a product that is value for money.

Drum sander reviews will help you find a sander that will last a long time and also give a flawless finish to the hardwood that you work on. There are different types of sanders available in the market that caters to the different needs of the users. So, customer reviews is one way to know what exactly suits your need. This will help you invest in a machine that will be a useful tool at your home.


Now, how does a drum sander work? A drum sander basically is a power tool that helps to smooth a wood and plastic surface using sandpaper. The sandpaper is affixed to the machine in a way that helps the sandpaper to move swiftly against the surface in use. Unlike other such machines, drum sanders have a different design and function. The drum sanders come with a reel of sanding paper that glides on to the drum. It has a handle that lowers it to the floor working much like a chainsaw.

The best drum sander is quite aggressive in its cutting with a very small part of  the drum or the paper is in contact with the lower base. The drum sander has a spin capacity of 1800 Revolutions per Minute (RPM).

The drums sander comes equipped with a motorized conveyor that has leads to the continuous working of the belt on the hardwood in the open box below. The best drum sander normally comes with a standard design that uses a non-slip material for the belt. A motor that is slow in speed and is small in size powers the belt. The drum sander box, however, is loaded with a bigger and powerful motor that is covered with the sandpaper.

Though you can use single grit of sandpaper, it will not be enough to fulfill all your sanding needs. To get a flawless and perfect result to your hardwood you will need a drum sander with a quick roll change mechanism that can be coarse, fine or medium.

On the side of the drum is a couple of pressure roller. The motor does not power this pressure roller unlike in a planer.  The wood is pressed against the belt by these rollers. If these pressure rollers go missing the wood will fall off the tool. The drum sanders mostly come with two mechanisms for sanding of the wooden floor. These are horizontal sanding of the hardwood and vertical sanding of the hardwood. These two mechanisms gives you the option to choose any one according to the finish you want and the type of wood you are using.

There are some standard versions of the best drum sanders that have a easy replacement method for sandpapers. Specially for sanding wood floors it is important that the machine is convenient for replacing sandpaper, as it requires grit and grade to be changed constantly.

Drum sanders Do’s and Don’ts

Though a drum sander is huge in size, it is surprisingly versatile in its performance. Despite its bulk form it can perform and complete various actions that can resolve your many shop problems. This said, it is however, not advised to expect miracles from it. Therefore, it is essential to understand to you can expect from tools as powerful as this and what not to expect.

There are many jointers and planers in the market but the capacity that best drum sanders offer is in comparison to none. With drum sanders you do not have to worry about the size of the wood you want to work on. You can work with woods with extra width (as much as 24 to 32 wide). The capacity of the best drum sander can be a luxury for the users who may have to work with extra wide boards. There are various models that give you the option to play with the width of the boards and then there are some that have the capacity to work on extra length. If you are someone, who often works with different length and width boards, then you the best drum sander to suit your need are the long-bed jointer.

A drum sander is equally easy and effective in case you are using it for smaller wood materials, something as small as 2.25 inches in length. And, similarly it is very comfortable and easy to work with on thin pieces of wood. You can easily use it for a wood that is only 1/16 in thickness and successfully remove the band saw marks from it.

If you go through the drum sander reviews, you will find that a drum sander is very effective in removing band saw marks from the edges of the face frame too. And if such finesse is not enough, your drum sander can also do tear-out in a flawless manner. No matter if you are using a grain to dusk up the top of your material and moving in opposite direction or working on a high piece of material, you can rest assured to have a dazzling and flawless surface.

With all the flawlessness that you get from the best drum sander it is not a surety that you will get a flat and uniformly flawless surface. A drum sander many a time can lead to a shallow dip that is not only random on the surface but also difficult to see. However, when the material has undergone a finish, these shallow dips may become visible. You can work out these dips and roughness on the surface by sanding them out manually. There have been mixed drum sander reviews on this aspect of the tool.

If you take in to consideration the speed of the drum sanders, then in comparison it is the planers and jointers that take the crown. The planers and jointers are comparatively faster in working out the wood while the drum sander works at a speed of  1/64 in removing the wood. The drum sanders, however, compensates this delay by being a fast finisher. The drum sander does the finish sanding of the wood much faster though many times the work has to be done manually because of the random dips it creates on the surface.

Another, drum sander shortcoming is that it leaves behind scratches that are in straight line and visible to the naked eye.  Though such scratches may still be acceptable on a coarse wood material like the red oak but it spoils the finesse of the woods that are finer grained.

Drum Sander Reviews

Jet Drum Sander: If you are looking for a tool that is flawless in its finish and lasts a long time than you should consider buying the Jet drum sander. This particular drum sander is loaded with a 1HP motor that gives you a smooth finish when working on a hardwood. It is very handy and mobile in its use. You can carry it and place it on a table if you want. The Jet drum sander can easily work on a piece of material that is 3” in thickness. The machine has well sealed ball bearings that prevent it from being spoiled with dust and debris that is generated while working.

Supermax 19-38 Drum Sander: This model of drum sander is perfect for a homeowner who works on wood as a hobby or for a small shop. The Supermax 19-38 drum sander is a sander equipped with wide belt. It consistently performs to give a flawless smooth surface devoid of any rough edges. This drum sander is mounted on a open stand and comes pre-wrapped with sandpaper of up to 80 grit. It provides easy alignment of just the working of a single nut. It is also equipped with drum for self-cooling that prevents it from heating even when overworked.

Drum Sanders in Comparison to Other Sanders

Drum Sander and Belt Sander: The drum sander and the belt sander are tools that are different to each other. They have different mechanisms that they use to work. The belt sanders are more abrasively in contact with the wood leading to more removal of the surface it works on. The drum sanders on the other hand are comparatively less abrasive. This results in less removal of the material from the surface of the wood it is applied to. There are, however, many times that the belt sander can outperform the drum sander. But there are many times and actions where an only a drum sander can perform the action, especially when the wood that is to be worked on is not too wide.


Drum Sanders and Thickness Planner: These are two sanding tools that virtually perform the same action but the scale at which each performs is different. For instance, to finish a hardwood that is 4/4 to 4/3, you will find it forever to finish it with a drum sander. A drum sander is most often used to smoothen the surface in to a flawless top while the thickness planer is generally used to thicken the stock. The drum sander, however, has the ability to work with super thin pieces of wood that is virtually impossible to work on using a thickness planer. One major plus point of a drum sander is that it does not lead to any tear out on the wood surface.

Drum Sanders and Orbital Sander: One major difference between a drum sander and an orbital sander is that a drum sander cuts the stock while the orbital sander will grind it. In a drum sander the sanding paper is fitted to the drum that s bought low using the lowering handle for the drum. Thus, very little portion of the floor comes in contact with the drum resulting in a very abrasive cutting action. The drum sander is the perfect tool for any material that is finish heavy, cupped or damaged.

Drum Sanders and Square Sander: The square sander is slow in performing actions in comparison to the drum sander. If you are a professional wood refinisher than the drum sander is one of the finest sanding tool you can have. It is perfect for finishing wooden floors and achieving a flawlessly smooth top. To use a drum sander, however, one needs to be well trained in techniques used for sanding of floors otherwise it may lead to spoiling the finesse. A square sander is easy to work with, as it is less aggressive as compared to the drum sander. The drum sander is abrasive enough to lead to marks on your stock. For a novice who is still learning the tricks of using a sander, the square sander is the perfect beginners tool.


Drum Sanders and Disk Sander: The drum sander and the disk sander are two different mechanisms that are used for smoothening surfaces using sanding papers. A disk sander is a tool that is used for stocks that are not very rough and do not have too much work required. The drum sander on the other hand is used to remove large bits of waste from the surface it works on. Another advantage of a drum sander as compared to a disk sander is that it can work at an angle on the surfaces it is applied to.

Drum Sanders and Stroke Sander: The stroke sander is best used fro refinishing of stocks especially on veneered panels. You will have to gain expertise on the stroke sanders to get the desired result but once gain experience you can get a flawless finish. The stroke sander is equipped with a less powerful motor in comparison to the drum sander.

A drum sander is generally found in large shops and stores where it is sued to finish off large planks of hardwood. It is especially perfect to use for refinishing of floors that are large in size. Professionals who work on wood mostly prefer it and are not recommended unless you have gained some experience working on it. It is perfect for those who are looking for a tool that is robust and lasts lifetime.

There are many drum sanders that are available in the market. Some are excellent for use of the professionals and there are some perfect for developing your hobby. So take a look at them to understand your need and get one accordingly. There are various models of drum sander that is being made available in the market for both commercial and professional use. And if you are someone who ants to pursue it as a hobby with no experience then there are options available fro you too. The customer drum sander reviews may be off some help to you to get an idea of the sander that may be perfect for you.

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