Question for those with Drum Sanders

[Jediscroller]

Hi All,
My planer recently decided it was going on strike. I turned it on and nothing, nada, zip. I've ordered a new switch which will hopefully fix it but this thing going down basically shut my shop down. I want to have a back-up (I have back-ups for most of my tools) but I've also been planning on adding a drum sander (Jet 16-32). My question is if in a pinch, can the drum sander do double-duty to also thickness lumber? I'll likely be buying another planer anyhow but I'd rather invest in the drumsander first.
I have a jointer as well but using that to thickness wood is a pain in the you-know-what.

[BobD]

It's not traditional woodworking, per sey, but when I worked in an MDF plant, we created the wood 1/4-3/8" oversized, and sanded it down to the proper thickness...so in theory, it should work....

Bob

[CanadianScroller]

It depends on how patient you are. My thickness planer is at a friends house right now so I am using my thickness sander for lack of a better term.
The wood I have was resawn with a bandsaw and left outside in the weather for some time.
The planer does a much better tob of removing material, but with recent projects I am using fiddleback maple and there was always some tear out with the planer.
Also my stock is quite thin. 1/4 or less so the sander is the only way to go.
My setup is a simple table, similar in principle to the Sandflea.
It does work, but slowly.

[Mike Crosa]

I have the sand flee and I have used it to to plane down wood, but like Carl says it is not going to be as efficient as a planer. What I like about the sand flee versus the drum sander is that I am not limited by height as to what I am sanding.Thus I could sand the side of a box and not be concerned about the height limitation.

[millwab]

Originally Posted by Jediscroller

My question is if in a pinch, can the drum sander do double-duty to also thickness lumber?

Kevin,
I don't own one, but I had a friend thickness sand some material for me. I had to glue up panels to get wide enough pieces (one of them finished to 1/8") and I needed a consistently flat panel. My experience with the sander was a very slooooow process and frequently cleaning the abrasive. I don't remember what grit he was using, and that may make a difference, but it would also make a difference on how finished the surface is left. I would like to add a drum sander to my arsenal some day too, but unless you're talking thin stock, I'd leave the thicknessing to the planer.

[workin for wood]

You definitely can do all your lumber through the drum sander. I wouldn't use a sand flee though, man would that be a workout! It does take longer. I plane my lumber and then run it through the drum sander to remove planer marks and possible snipe, or tear out in figured woods. I'm using the Delta X5, which is a good value machine, especially for people like ourselves. I don't know how I lived without it to be honest with you. Cleaning the abrasive, well that is a combo problem of the user and the wood. You have to start rough with a panel because it has glue that clogs the paper, but that would happen to any sandpaper. Oily woods or woods with gum in them clog paper too. Starting with a lower grit and light passes helps. Always lighter passes helps no matter what the grit you are using. Trying to remove too much material only heats the paper up more and heats up any glue or whatever else gummy stuff is in the wood making the paper clog worse and causing burns. Sandpaper doesn't last forever either. Whatever sander you decide to buy, try and spend a few extra dollars and get a digital depth guage for your sander. This way you will always know no only how thick the wood is, but how much you are removing each pass. How much you remove being the key, as it adds life to the paper, extends life of machine and uses less electricity. Drum sanders require a dust collector with a 4" port, pretty standard and pretty much mandatory for proper tool operation.

Planer...I know it sounds silly, but be sure and check the breaker or fuse in your planer, the breaker in the wall and check the outlet itself with something else you know works, like a drill.

[Jediscroller]

Thanks for the input guys. Jeff, first thing I checked was the breaker, second thing was plugging something else into the same outlet (I learned this a while ago when I thought my bandsaw quit, hehehehe). I have no interest in the sandflee, if I were going to go that route, I'd just use the jointer to thickness the stuff. Too much work, hehehehe. Hopefully the switch fixes it, if not, planer shopping I will go.

[Rolf]

Kevin, would it be possible for you to bypass the switch (jumper)
just to make sure it is the switch or use an ordinary wall switch jumpered in.

[workin for wood]

I like the way you think Rolf. Could be a pinch in the wire before it even gets to the switch too, stranger things have happened. Bad plug maybe...lots to investigate before buying a new planer. If you bypass and it works, why spend money on a new switch anyhow, just get a metal box and use a wall switch like Rolf says..that's what I would do. If you fix it, use the extra money you would have spent on a new planer to get extensions for your in and outfeed tables on the new drum sander.

[Jediscroller]

The worst part is I used to troubleshoot and repair stuff like this and I can't even find my multimeter. It took me about 3 hours to get to the thermal switch (it's internally mounted) so I don't want to spend 3 more hours putting it back together without the new switch just to spend 3 hours tearing it down again. At my labor rate, that's more than the cost of a new planer. I'm going to buy a new multimeter so I can check the connections and what-not but my gut is telling me it's the motor. These planers (grizzly) have a habit of burning out motors. I can't complain though, I've run hundreds if not thousands of board feet through this one and it's paid for itself many times over. The switch itself was only $5.