"tor"
I run a small one man operation and I am looking to cut my sanding
time/displeasure. I fear that I could purchase a contraption that does
not save much time, compared to my current method.

snip
I build chests and coffee tables out of solid red alder,
My 6x48 belt sander is near death and in need of replacing. I currently
spend about 15% of the job sanding. It goes along ok but holding pieces
of wood up to the vertical belt sander is exhasting. So is sanding if
there is some way to sand a little bit faster.
snip
I am looking at machines like the woodmaster 18" planer/sander , or the
grizzly 16" dual drum sander. My shop is somewhat small, and only has
220.

http://www.musicalfurnishings.com

BYW your chests (and other furniture) is very clever! I would, as others
have said, get a Performax drum sander. I have the 16x32 and it would work
out very well in your application.

As for the planer, most any blade will chip/nick when going through knots.
Just get a small diamond stick sharpener and touch them up once and a while.

Dave