Drum Sander

[Masonsailor]

We have been wanting to upgrade the surface sanding for some time. We have a couple projects coming up ( kitchen and stairs) that without a good sander will perhaps extend beyond my serviceable life span. We have been following Craigslist etc for some time now without much luck. They went on sale so my boss decided to bite the bullet. It was delivered today. It’s a 37” double headed Grizzly drum sander. The wiring and dust collection were a bit of work but now it’s time to install it. 
Paul

[Grandpadave52]

Nice score Paul. That's a big 'un. Hope it has casters or a movable base.

[Masonsailor]

It does. I will need to turn it 90 degrees for really long stuff. 

[Masonsailor]

[lew]

Wow!  Nice score!!!

[Gerald]

Wow ; Give that woman a big hug.

[Fred W. Hargis Jr]

I love the smell of new tools in the morning! Congrats!

[John Morris]

Oh ya man!!!! Congratulations Paul! Like Fred, I remember the smell of my new machinery as it arrived years ago, I had a shop full of Grizzly and absolutely loved unboxing, smelling all the wonderful cosmuline (can't spell it) and the anticipation and wait and looking at the tracking information, how fun!!!!! My shop is quite reduced now, but I do have very fond memories of my shop full of Grizzly.

That there is one heck of a machine Paul, have fun!

[Cal]

That means business!  Congrats man

[Danl]

With that sander you are assured to get more friends.  Very, very nice.  Danl

[Masonsailor]

I finished up the installation today and did the first test runs. The dust collection is adequate but could be better. Working on that. Accuracy is very good. On a 12”’wide 24” long piece of maple it was within .005 from corner to corner. Pretty much the same as my Shopsmith drum sander. 
Paul

[Grandpadave52]

Looks great in its new digs Paul.

[Fred W. Hargis Jr]

Paul, how big a circuit does that thing take?

[Masonsailor]

It calls for a 60 amp dedicated circuit. 
Paul

[Smallpatch]

You will enjoy that thing forever...There is just one thing I don't like about my Grizzly double drum sander is when it is time to change the sand paper...

[Masonsailor]

Why so ? I installed it on both rollers yesterday and they went on pretty easy. The spring loaded tensioner is pretty cool. I have never had one with the tensioner system. 
Paul

[Masonsailor]

Ok. Time to admit that at 72 I’m not what I used to be. Went to move this thing 90 degrees to do some door jambs and discovered that even on wheels 1200 lbs is too much. Nothing serious but definitely strained the back muscles. I will be using up favors with my buffed out neighbors from now on. 
Paul

[Masonsailor]

Put the sander to the real test yesterday sanding all the jambs. One problem is passing the boards back over the sander to feed them back in. There are four acorn nuts sticking up on both sides which makes it not feasible and a pain to hand the boards around the machine. My solution was to make some skid boards to put over the acorn nuts and also to protect the sander. I also made a box to hold all the doodads for the sander. 
Paul