Official Luthiers Forum!

if used only for guitar building, which of the performax sanders would you recomend? anything larger than an OM is going to be two passes on the 16-32 anyways, so is there an advantage to the larger sander? $850 for the 16-32 and $580 for the 10-20. both ship for free from amazon.com right now. or is there another drum sander in that price range that does the job better?

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sweat the small stuff.

I have the 16/32 and it works good for me. The problem is that if a joined back or top is over 16", there is a line left unsanded that has to go through again. If I were to buy another one (and I will, one day), I would go with something like the grizzley 24" found HERE

I know Hesh uses the 10/20 and seems to do well with it, but I like to pass the whole top or back through and have it ALL sanded at once. Like anything else, the more you spend, the better tool you will get.

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Reguards,

Ken H

16-32 here. I don't build anything (at least yet) as wide as 16", so the width is fine. It's also nice to be able to sand plates more on a diagonal when you are just hogging off material during basic thicknessing.

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Jim Kirby
kirby@udel.edu

The primary difference between the 10-20 and the 16-32 is that one of them is bigger....... not sure which though.......

Seriously people, including me initially, seem to have an aversion to the idea of simply turning the back or top around and running it through the Play-Dough fun factory again but it works fine I assure you. And in order to purchase a sander that is large enough to do it all in one pass you will spend considerably more. Remember too that a drum sander requires some substantial dust collection, as added expense as well that if you do not already have dust collection you will have to spring for too.

The 10-20 works great for me and I am very pleased with mine. We have a member or two here who ungraded from the 10-20 to the 16-32 and actually were sorry that they did. They found the 10-20 to be a better machine.

The 10-20 is not perfect and has some quirks but nothing that stops me from getting consistently perfect results every time.

I've read so much on these drum sanders ,mostly here, and I have still not bought one.
I'm happy with my Wagner safety planer and disc sander on the drill press. It
works for me but I only build a few guitars a year. If I was to increase production I would
probably look into a drum sander.

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Anderson Guitars
Clearwater,Fl. 33755

I have the 16-32 and have used it from my second guitar until present.
It is adequate.
That said, had the 22-44 been available at the time I would have sprung for the extra cash.

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Lance@LuthiersForum.com

I had the same dillemma deciding which to buy and settled on the 10-20 for size reasons (small shop) and the price. I really love it, I have not wished I bought the larger one once. Running things through one side at a time is really not a problem. The more suction you can get the longer your paper will last, this is pretty important. Also, if you can dedicate it to a certain spot, build a table around it completely level with your feed belt. Having a surface, especially on the side when putting through a wider piece, that supports the wood is also really handy.

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Burton
http://www.legeytinstruments.com
Brookline, MA.

I've had both the 10-20 and 16-32 sanders. More accurately I've had one 16-32 and two 10-20s. I originally had the 10-20 and was very pleased with it, it gave very accurate results and running a joined plate though it in two passes was no problem, accurate all the way across. But of course I 'upgraded' to a 16-32, and could never get as accurate results as I had with the 10-20. I believe the extra flex in the longer overhang was the problem. Anyway, I dumped the 16-32 and got another 10-20, result back to the old accuracy and one happy builder again. I do only use them for their proper purpose as finishing sanders, if I need to hog a lot of wood off it gets done with the Wagner or more usually a hand plane.

Colin

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I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.

how much money can you spend? how much floor space do you have to for sander and other things may need in a shop? what is your shop enviroment ( in house, garage, detached building) consider these and you will make right decisison. You can use either effectivly.

for the money, the new griz 18" open end, built in dust collection, and easier method of attaching abrasive is less expensive than the others and about the right size for joined tops and backs. The Griz 16 closed one sucks big time. hard to change abrasive, dust collection a hassle, and abrasive is taped on. thing about griz in the drum sanders are they are cheap and I dont mean in the cost definition.

hey guys, thanks for the replies. i know this question has been dealt with in one way or another quite a few times, so i dont mean to beat a dead horse here. i have a decent size shop (3 car garage), so space is not really an issue for me so much as money is. im actually selling a mandolin and an amp to pay for the purchase. even then, ill still be spending more than i will get for those two items. and i have a three week old baby to care (pay) for . i also have a 2HP cyclone dust collector to suck up the dusty junk. generally, i try and buy the best and biggest tool i can afford at the time. i just wasnt sure if the extra $270 was really worth it for the 16-32. i guess im still undecided.

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sweat the small stuff.

I have the 16-32 and I find I need to check and tweek the drum tilt once a year or so (I use it most weekends). That minimizes the line you get when milling a piece wider than 16".

I personally think drum longer than this should be supported on both ends, based on my experience with this one.

You can also get the paper way cheaper than purchasing the pre-cut Performax rolls.

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The member formerly known as erikbojerik....