Deciding on a drum sander

julio, you have been given some sound advice from 2 pros, and others as well.. this is one place where you can spend money and lose it just as fast.. i dont see much resale in the one your looking at,, where as one like this
LINK has some substantial resale.. like karl mentioned and i am sure jim got a fair deal on the general he sold.. so maybe you can find a good used one near you that would help on the initial outlay and still give you much better service. the one your looking at even if it does work as a cantilever type wont be what you think it is for flattening panels, once you have to switch it back and forth and then get a high center you will understand..
 
Well, after reading all the comments here and some over in Lumberjock I think I have been talked out of the drum sander for a while. At least until I can find a good deal on a quality machine.

Thanks everyone. All this great advice is why this forum is such a valuable source.
 
Don't let us chase you completely away from the idea, every business has to grow. My first purchase was a little ryobi machine with an open end design and it just didn't perform well at all but it was all I could afford at the time. My last machine was $8000 and it was all I could afford at the time and likely will be my last one until I upgrade my shop with 3 phase. It however is one of the best investments I have ever made. A fledgling business has to start small and move up. When I started I had little equipment and lots of desire. Years later and a full time job retirement later, I've got a shop second to none in my immediate area. Grow slowly and pay for everything as you go, nobody makes money financing their dreams.
 
I've always thought that drum sanders are made so that people who use them can realise how much better a wide belt sander is. I don't know this specific machine but if its like the drum sanders I have used you will spend a lot of time cleaning burn off the sanding sheet. Don't even think about it unless you have fantastic extraction and be ready to take very very small passes. If it was me I'd keep using a ROS and save my pennies for a wide belt.

I built myself a 38" drum sander that works great. I don't make a living doing this stuff, its just a hobby with some small jobs for people, anyway I am making a coffee table for myself and my planer blades were so dull I couldn't plane the 12" wide stock I was using so I completely surfaced 2 12" wide by 5' long red oak boards and I had NO burn on the sand paper and not even any build up of dust. I believe this is due to 3 things, my drum is 8" in diameter, I have variable speed feed so I can run things through at the appropriate speed, and I have good dust collection on it which keeps dust from getting pounded back into the paper and keeps the paper cool. I also use hook and loop paper so that helps keep the paper from stretching or burning.

http://familywoodworking.org/forums...um-sander/page8&highlight=building+drum+sande
 
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