I'm outfitting a new shop and will be doing more custom work than I have
in the past. I'm moving to a smaller town so it will be difficult to use
large tools at other shops or schools. Hence, I intend to buy either a
24" planer and a wide sander or both depending on what I find. I have
not been a big fan of the drum sanders in the past but understand they
have improved in recent years. Given the costs of the various sanders
what i the feeling out there regarding which to buy. Space will not be a
huge concern so I am sort of leaning towards the stoke sander but I have
never really used one on a regular basis so my opinion is not well founded.

Please let me know your thoughts on the short comings and benefits of
the three options. My primary need will be tops for dressers and tables
but I will also be making some concave pieces where the platten on the
stroke sander could be modified to meet specific shapes.

Look forward to your advice. Thanks in advance.

JC

"Another Jewish Carpenter" wrote in message
news:U4sne.1536853$8l.89451@pd7tw1no...
I'm outfitting a new shop and will be doing more custom work than I have
in the past. I'm moving to a smaller town so it will be difficult to use
large tools at other shops or schools. Hence, I intend to buy either a
24" planer and a wide sander or both depending on what I find. I have
not been a big fan of the drum sanders in the past but understand they
have improved in recent years. Given the costs of the various sanders
what i the feeling out there regarding which to buy. Space will not be a
huge concern so I am sort of leaning towards the stoke sander but I have
never really used one on a regular basis so my opinion is not well
founded.

Please let me know your thoughts on the short comings and benefits of
the three options. My primary need will be tops for dressers and tables
but I will also be making some concave pieces where the platten on the
stroke sander could be modified to meet specific shapes.

Look forward to your advice. Thanks in advance.

With you as the real "power" in a stroke sander, stock removal is much
slower. Makes it great for sanding with finer grades, too.

What it will not do is flatten a board.

So if you have a nice spiral-head wide planer, makes no sense to me to go
drum sander.

On Thu, 02 Jun 2005 00:07:16 GMT, Another Jewish Carpenter
wrote:

I'm outfitting a new shop and will be doing more custom work than I have
in the past.

What are you looking to sand? Drums and belts are great for preparing
stock, but a storke sander is much better on finished panels -
especially if there's any raised moulding work involved.

Also a drum is expensive, a belt is unaffordable, but you can make a
perfectly serviceable stroke sander yourself.

Just an idea, I recently bought a Woodmaster Planer/Sander/Moulder. I
am not usually a fan of multi-purpose machines but this seemed to have
a few things I needed. I actually bought this unit for the gang ripping
capabilities. I'll surely use it for moulding too, so I bought the mop
sander to sand as moulded. If I move out into my own shop I'll have it
as a planner and sander too until I can gear up with better stuff.

I actually have pretty much zero experience with the machine yet. I
just assembled it and planned one board to make sure it all works.
Anyway, Mine is an 18" unit but they do make a 25". I also have the
standard cutter head but they apparently also have a spiral available.

Just a thought.