Sander

Ok guys it's need to know time wide belt or drum which is better and why? I know which cost more money

Ive used both, I have a drum. Would say if its in the budget go widebelt. the belt will not fetch up as easily as the drum and not wear a trench in your stock. Also, with the platen you can control the pressure of the paper on the stock. Also, a widebelt is going to be a bit more accurate.

Another is the ease of changing paper. its easier to open a door release the tension slide out one belt slide on another reset tension and go. With the drum you have to cut your paper to length and wrap/unwrap it each grit. doesn't sound like a lot but when you do it a few times you start to see the benefits.
Anyway, hope that helps

Wide Belt. You can also wash the belts at the car wash and use for a LONG LONG time. Plus like Rich said changing paper is a breeze. A wide belt is the fist thing I bought when I move to the new place and Not one regret.

And just as a side note I never seen a need for anything bigger than a 24" most of the time you are just sizing stock. I love me 16"

I have a drum sander, I suppose the wide belt is probably always better, but depending on your intended use a drum sander may be perfectly suited. My drum sander works great for what I need, I built the sander myself. Mainly I use it to level glued up panels and table tops. I have hook and loop paper on it so it doesn't flatten as perfectly as straight paper on a dry,m buts thats not really an issue for me. I don't have any paper burning issues, I think that having a large drum (8") and good dust collection is the reason for that.
http://familywoodworking.org/forums/showthread.php?20424-Building-a-37-quot-drum-sander

Thanks for the input guys. The more I look the more it seems a wide belt is the way to go. Good thing a wide belt machine is the same price as a compact car.

Don't forget the DC issue. Wide belts like a lot of dust collection. I can get by with my little DC on my drum sander wouldn't even consider trying to run a wide belt with it.

A Laguna 51" almost cost more than my truck

have DRUM but wished i had a wide belt.. and get as wide as you can chuck..

But the Laguna TS is very reasonable on the price.

I have a 38 inch 5 hp drum sander, and sure wish I had saved my nickels for a wide belt.

The hook and loop paper on the drum, combined with the relatively thick rubber feed belt, makes thickness far less accurate than when I had the cheap Performax (Jet). I can make three passes, and still remove material, without adjusting the depth. If I have run narrow boards, it is easy to bugger the paper, and then it will leave shallow grooves in the wider panels. I have a 5 hp dust collector with a 6 inch hose connection (close to the cyclone), and I still get piles of sawdust on the floor near the outfeed, but I MUST run the DC.

For years I considered the Speedsander by TimeSavers to be inferior quality, even next to the Grizzly wide belt. Then I saw four of them in use in a cabinet door factory (don't bother adjusting the depth, just go from one machine to the second, then flip the doors over and two machines for the backs. In use 8 hours per day, so I don't think the quality can be too shoddy. As I near retirement from my retirement job, I don't know if I will ever make the step up, but I wish I had taken this step rather than my big drum sander.

Jim Hager did a review of the TimeSaver sander back in 2008 - http://familywoodworking.org/forums/showthread.php?7667-Timesavers-Speed-Sander

What are you going to sand Chuck? I had a 24" Powermatic in my production shop and in 17 years only had a need for a 37" twice and just went to a friend of mine to let him sand it. I sanded all day long with just running a 10 hp motor and not the 20 hp he had to run and I only had a 3 hp dust collector and it worked just fine. Now I have a 16" and yes it is a Grizzly ( take a close look at them I can see very little different in them from Powermatic or Timesavers Speedsander just the price) that is 5 hp and only have a 1 1/2 hp dust collector and it works just fine.

I have a friend that has 2 Shop Fox 24" and he is sanding Bow parts to .028 with it (Yes that is not a type error) and runs thin stock all day long.