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Why does nobody warn you that a drum sander is a money pit for a small cabinet shop
I bought a used 18/36 drum sander for $1,400 about 8 months ago thinking it would save me hours on cabinet doors and face frames. What nobody told me is that the paper wraps alone run me close to $60 a week when I'm busy, and if you load it wrong the paper tears and you're out $15 right there. I've probably dropped another $700 on abrasive strips since spring, plus a new feed belt after the old one glazed over. For a two man shop in Tacoma, that machine eats money faster than it saves me time. I still use it for wide glue ups and veneer, but if I could go back I would have put that $1,400 into a better edge sander and a decent random orbit setup. The guys on YouTube make it look like the first big tool you should buy and I think that advice is backwards for anyone under 2,000 square feet. Anybody here running a small shop get real use out of theirs, or did you sell it and never look back?
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paul_mason1218d ago
I read a thread on a woodworking forum a while back where a guy ran the numbers on his drum sander and figured out he was spending almost as much on paper as he would have paying a local shop to wide belt his panels. That stuck with me because nobody talks about the ongoing cost, they just talk about the machine price. Load it wrong once and you rip a brand new strip, and at 15 bucks a pop that adds up fast when you're doing this every day. Your point about square footage is real too, in a small shop that footprint has to earn its keep and a drum sander mostly just sits there unless you're doing wide glue ups. For face frames and doors a good edge sander and a decent ROS will outrun it all day. I kept mine for veneer and panels but if I was starting over it would be way down the list.
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