On 3/29/2018 3:39 PM, Scott Lurndal wrote:
Leon lcb11211@swbelldotnet writes:
On 3/29/2018 12:38 PM, Jack wrote:
On 3/23/2018 8:55 PM, Meanie wrote:
I'm contemplating the purchase of a bench top planer. After looking
around for a used machine, I often thought about a vertical drum sander
instead. Obviously, I know the difference between the two but they
basically do the same thing. Therefore, seeking the sage advice, could I
get by with a sander instead of a planer?

I'd go for the planer. Moreover, I would go for one with a spiral head
segmented cutter. Grizzly sells them rather cheap, and they work well,
much better than a 2 or 3 knife cutter. A bit louder than a sander but
still very quiet. Like a sander, they cut smooth regardless of grain
pattern/direction or knots. You can finish sand with a hand sander in a
minute, even large surfaces. About no need for a drum sander if you
have one of these as they come out ready for a quick finish sand.

But to be clear, a drum sander is hard to beat when sanding thin veneers
to a uniform thickness. Or for flattening the top and bottoms of the
sides of small/short drawers and boxes so that one side does not stand
higher or lower than it's mating piece.

A drum sander can also be useful for surfacing wider surfaces than the 15" a typical
planer will handle. The 16-32 will handle 32" wide surface and
the 22-44 a 44" wide (in two passes).

A 15" planer can plane 2 perfectly flat, exact thickness 15" pieces that
can be edge glued easily to 30" wide with very minimal sanding needed,
which can be done quickly with any hand sander.

--
Jack
Tolerance is the virtue of the man without convictions.
http://jbstein.com