Anyone Interested in a Grizzly Ind. drum sander

Re: Anyone Interested in a Grizzly Ind. drum sande

John McGaw

It looks like a real beast and given the space needed for infeed and outfeed it will take up a lot of space. Smaller sanders either come with or are amenable to wheeled portability but that is probably out of the question with this one. Then again, having your own 5hp 2-drum sander seems really sweet...

Re: Anyone Interested in a Grizzly Ind. drum sande

C. John Hebert

I really hate it when people post things that they don't know anything about. Yes...you can get a mobile base for the drum sander from Grizzly, because I had one! I would be caught dead without my dual drum sander in any shop. It's a must as far as I'm concerned for raised panel work, and truly flat surfaces. Yes it has a large foot print, but so does all machinery but this can advance your final work much easier and better and well worth having. Just attach velcro to the rollers if it doesn't have any.

Only 442 lbs. shipping weight

Dick Coers

So the machine is just a touch over 400lbs. not bad at all for a mobile base. I've always wondered about those duel drum sanders. How do they work if you have to run multiple passes to make it flat. Can you raise the back roller easily?

Re: Only 442 lbs. shipping weight

C. John Hebert

Yes...you can make several passes, in fact...you most likely have to and slight passes at that because it's not a thickness planer like most think it is. I's merely a sander. Like anything else...there is a learning curve as to what grit paper to use with each wood species. I always do a quick finish sanding with an orbital, especially on cross grain. I found 100 grit was a good all around paper to use on most anything except pine. Pine destroys paper quickly due to clogging.

Really?

Barry Irby

"I really hate it when people post things that they don't know anything about."

I really don't understand that statement. Don't we come here to learn about things? What part of my post made you think I don't know anything about it? I know it has a 5 hp motor. I have a Performax so I know about drum sanding. I built a sideboard out of heart pine, so I KNOW about clogging belts. I know this machine weighs 440lbs and it has a mobile base. Since I already have a Perfomax I did not know if this would be twice as good or twice as bad. I was looking for some advice on whether it pulls it weight in the shop.

Do you regret that it will only sand 23 1/2" wide panels? The open end design of the Performax allows me to sand a 32" wide panel.

Can you install two of the same belt? Say two 80 grit? To sped up the intial process?

Re: Only 442 lbs. shipping weight

Barry Irby

It has a mobile base. The problem with that is I have a room adjacent to the shop, but the door is a normal 32" pedestrian door and I don't think the machine will pass through it. Maybe if I got it to really high speed?????

And I wonder about using two of the same belts to speed up the initial sanding.

Re: Really?

John McGaw

I think that he was aiming his jibe at me so no need to get your hackles up. Me, I've learned to ignore such reactions to my opinions.

If you think that you have the space to even park the beast and your floor is even enough to move 400+ pounds around conveniently to a place with enough infeed and outfeed space and you think that it would make your shop life better by all means pull the trigger. I would love to have such a machine if my shop was twice as big as it is but with a half-ton Robland sitting in the middle of the shop there is no way to move anything larger than my mobile router table and chop saw stand and sometimes even that can be a challenge if a larger project is under way. In theory, even my Robland with its wheels installed is movable but I challenge anyone to do something so simple as turning it 90-degrees in its limited space in less than a quarter hour.

Its all in the casters... *LINK*

John in NM

Get a good set and a 400 lb machine rolls around easily.

Years ago I always bought the red ones from Woodcraft, I think that's what is in the link -- But the way the retailers are going these days they may not be the same as I bought 20 years ago. Usually what I did was to buy casters rated for 4x the machine weight and avoid cheap ones from Home Depot or Harbor Freight.

Friend of mine had a 3500 lb planer on casters for years


https://www.woodcraft.com/products/3-caster-double-locking-swiveling-with-4-hole-mounting-plate-4-1-4-tall?via=573621f569702d06760016d3%2C57641fa969702d3baa0023fe%2C576421ef69702d65930032dc

Re: Its all in the casters...

Barry Irby

My problem with keeping the machine is not moving it around, even on an excellent set of casters, it's having the space to move it, anywhere. There is no more space. The joke is that if I get one more machine I will just have to look in from the door and admire my shop.

I am considering swapping out my Performax for it, but the Perfomax is mounted on a low cart and parks under the wing of the TS. I guess I could raise the TS about 18". Wait, I'm too short.

But can the back roller be easily raised?

Dick Coers

I'd like to know if you can get the back roller, with finer grit on it, out of the way. I now it's not a thickness planar, but when sanding a wider glued up panel, there could easily be 1/32" of material that needs to be taken off. Emphasis on the word WIDER, which means multiple passes even for 1/64".

This should be obvious Barry...

John in NM

Time to build more shop!

Re: But can the back roller be easily raised?

C. John Hebert

It was so far back in time, I can't remember which I raised...but yes, it can be raised

Re: Really?

C. John Hebert

sorry if I raised hackles...I am to use to some bashing Grizzly and I read to fast and when I got to you calling this machine a "beast"...well I just reacted. Very rare I put long stuff through mine...with the exception of a laminated hardwood countertop. Had a dust collector behind me, and a bandsaw on the other end. I just pulled the sander out from the wall about 12" or so, and I was clear. Under normal usage (doors primarily) I had about 3 feet of room on either end during operation.