On 4/1/2018 11:18 AM, -MIKE- wrote:
On 4/1/18 9:42 AM, Jack wrote:
On 3/30/2018 11:50 AM, Scott Lurndal wrote:
-MIKE- writes:
On 3/30/18 10:18 AM, Jack wrote:
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.Â
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.


That's what I end up doing for wider panel glue-ups. One glued
seem is pretty easy to knock down by sanding or a card scraper,
which works better to avoid dips at the seem.


On the other hand, I see no good reason to rip a 30" wide board down
to 15", plane, then glue it back up when I can just use the drum sander.

On the other hand there are very good reasons to rip a 30" piece of
lumber into less than 6" widths, then glue them up into a large
piece. In fact, it is the common method of making wide boards.


I think the point they're making is if you have a 30" wide board, you
probably aren't going to do that. You're probably going to find
something to make for which you can leave it 30" wide.
Yes, glued up panels are more stable, but solid panels are better looking.
Unless you're talking poplar or some other very plain wood.
But if you have a 30" wide board with any character to the grain at all,
it would be a shame to chop it up.

For me, the only reason I would want a wide board is to chop it up.
This way, you can make an entire piece of furniture, the top, styles,
rails, drawer fronts, doors, door panels from one board from one tree.
Looks good, sands the same, stains the same, is stable and so on.

Yes, I get making a 30" table top from one piece of crazy figured wood,
but rarely is that done or necessary. If you chop up one huge board for
a wide top, and are careful you can re-assemble so it looks much like
same board before you cut it up, even if using a magnifying glass to
search for seams, which no one does. Much more noticeable w/o a
magnifying glass is cupped/bowed/cracked 30" wide, one piece top. Sure
it's done, sure it's risky.

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