Official Luthiers Forum!

Well I don't remember exactly what I was doing. It probably wasn't a smart move. I might have been sanding a bridge. Its hard to spread a bridge evenly across a 16" drum. It could have been a head plate veneer. I might have been making a tapered wedge. It could have been working on a rosette. I might have even been just testing the limits of my sander. You know, getting a feel for what it would and wouldn't do. I might have not properly tightened the paper on the drum in the first place and it shifted on me. I do remember that happening after my first paper change. Either way, I ended up needing to replace the paper on entire drum before I went back to thicknessing larger plates because I had some worn spots. It can happen even if you are being careful.

My point was that over buying on size could have a martials cost that you don't really want. That may not be an issue for most, but its something I think of when I'm stocking up on supplies. Since I've had my sander, I've noticed that I'm using it for smaller items that I hadn't thought of more than just ticknessing top and back plates.

My main point that applies to the OP question is that the open end sanders (even some of the cheaper ones) are really nice tools.

I have the delta 31-250 it has an 18" drum it does have a little flex but you dont really want to take a lot off at a time anyway. If you run it thru twice at the last cut its perfectly flat.
I picked mine up on craigslist 300.00 I think or 250.00 anyway I see them on there from time to time. It might be worth looking could save some big bucks.

http://cleveland.craigslist.org/tls/4666180743.html

This is a pretty sweet deal not to far away from you!!!

I don't have a thickness sander yet, but when I am putting wood through my planer, I make sure that I run boards across the entire width so that the blade doesn't dull in one spot. I would think that the same applies to the paper on a drum.

Alex

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"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker