Drum/wide belt sander

[nip0001]

Hi, I am looking for a drum/wide belt sander for my home workshop. I will be using it for hobby/general use, sanding items up to 600mm wide. Firstly can anyone tell me the difference between a drum and a wide belt sander, and can anyone advise me on which machine to buy.
Many thanks,
Nip

 

[JonnyD]

A Drum sander has the abrasive wrapped around a steel drum typically 100-150mm diameter and is held on with clips of some sort and you use abrasive from a roll usually cloth backed.

A wide belt uses a made up sanding belt that is pneumatically tensioned this is a pic of the belts on my widebelt sander

The widebelt sander is a lot more complex than the drum sander and therefore is a lot more expensive machine and it gives a better finish and is less likely to burn as the abrasive is a lot longer and has time to cool.

A lot of people seem happy with the senior drum sander from axminster which has a 600mm capacity i believe.

Cheers

Jon

 

[Doctor]

Yeh but, the idea Jon is that the belts go round and round rather than rot away, when you going to get it working?

 

[JonnyD]

The technicians been Bob and checked everything over and the motors and belts run fine. Theres a fault with a microswitch and a solenoid in the pnuematics which hes gonna sort in the next couple of weeks cant wait to get it running.

cheers

Jon

 

[nip0001]

Thanks for the replies guys, I think it a drum sander is for me as its just for my home workshop I will keep me eyes open for one.
Regards
Nip