I finally got my bonus today so I bought the drum sander I’ve had my eye on which was on sale this month at Woodcraft. Assembly was very easy and the drum was factory set perfectly level with the feed belt. It works absolutely perfect. With the dust collector hooked up there is absolutly no stray sawdust. The tool was packaged very well. I realy like the quality of JET tools. I was going to build one but I wanted one that would give me some flexibility as far as width of object to be sanded vs tool footprint. Now for some cutting board construction.

Congratulations on the new addition to the shop John, I have been very happy with mine. I have been sanding cutting boards the past few nights. The older model had the 2 1/2" dust port and it does a pretty good job, but I bet the 4" port they now have really pulls the dust off.

 

 

That's utterly disgusting!!! I don't see a speck of dust on that tool.

One suggestion..........install a 90 on the top or your suctioin hose will have a kink in it real soon. They don't recommend that sharp of turn, but my 16-32 works good with a 90.

Thanks for the tip Gary, I'll be adding one as soon as I can find one that fits the quick disconnect on the hose and the fitting on the sander hood. Hopefully I can find a PVC fitting that matches up.

Gary Heltemes said:

That's utterly disgusting!!! I don't see a speck of dust on that tool.

One suggestion..........install a 90 on the top or your suctioin hose will have a kink in it real soon. They don't recommend that sharp of turn, but my 16-32 works good with a 90.

After assembly of the sander I realized that this thing is heavy and difficult to move around the shop, after pricing a set of casters from JET which cost $149.00 for a set of 4, completely outrageous. I found casters with toe brakes at WOODCRAFTERS for $9.95 apiece and with my turning club discount I wound up paying $9.00 apiece. They work great and this is going to make the sander easier to use and stow. I also picked up a 90 deg elbow for the dust port. Thanks again Gary for the tip.

Whow!!!! Isn't inflation great???? Them jet casters where ONLY $100.00 about 5 yrs ago..............real expensive then and worse now.

Thankfully there was a promo going when I bought mine 16-32. They came with the sander.....at no extra chrg. 

John Michael Dillen said:

After assembly of the sander I realized that this thing is heavy and difficult to move around the shop, after pricing a set of casters from JET which cost $149.00 for a set of 4, completely outrageous. I found casters with toe brakes at WOODCRAFTERS for $9.95 apiece and with my turning club discount I wound up paying $9.00 apiece. They work great and this is going to make the sander easier to use and stow. I also picked up a 90 deg elbow for the dust port. Thanks again Gary for the tip.

With our economy in the toilet the dollar isn't worth as much. The Chinese won't even take the dollar in payment for the loans the clowns in Washington took from them!