tor wrote:
Do you think its possible to get a smooth sanding job from planer to
performax with only 220 on the drum? Will I have to touch up with a
220 random orbit pass? Or will I need to go from planer to 150 to 220
to random orbit? This is on an alder board say, 2.5 inches wide.

Drum sanders - at any grit - leave straight line scratch marks. As
would belt sanders. Personally, I always sand after with random orbit
at the same grit.

I *love* my Performax 16-32 ; however, I almost never use anything finer
than 120. I have, on occasion, used 180 but it requires a very light
touch.

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I hear all these online folks warning that a drum sander is just so
weak and slow compared to a wide belt sander.

I have never used a wide belt sander so can't compare but - despite what
the tool sales guy says - I don't consider it either weak or slow. Nor
finicky. I use mine mostly for getting rough lumber down to a uniform
and flat thickness as opposed to finish sanding and it does that very
well. I have run 1000s of board feet through it without a problem.

--
dadiOH
____________________________

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