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Rarely, oh so rarely. Most boards i work on, would require a way way more than two passes on the drum sander. Planer is so much more efficient.
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My drum sander see's glue-ups 99% of the time.....the exception would be reclaimed lumber.
A missed nail doesn't bother it.
Ed
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09-20-2017, 09:27 PM
(This post was last modified: 09-20-2017, 09:31 PM by packerguy®.)
(09-20-2017, 06:29 PM)cams2705 Wrote: do you find yourself going to the drum sander right after the table saw/jointer and avoiding the planer? I know that you can't do this for everything, but I have found myself cutting to rough dimension, flattening a face and squaring an edge on the jointer, heading back to the table saw for parallel edges about 1/32" oversize and then a couple passes on the drum sander.
All I use mine for is taking saw marks off of resawn boards. Really, its one tool in my shop that sits for months at a time collecting dust, but when you need it, you need it. (I dont have the luxury of taking a smoother plane to the board)
I would never dream of using it as a planer to get a flat surface. I use rough lumber. Id be better off using a jack plane over a drum sander. Either way, I am not making money. The planner for the win.
Once Favre hangs it up though, it years of cellar dwelling for the Pack. (Geoff 12-18-07)
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Nope never use it like that.
-Marc
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Not as a routine, but if the stock is flat and stable I have done it in the past, usually the stock is skip planed 13/16 stuff, that for all intent has already been planed both faces, just not entirely clean. Generally even if I think that to start when I go through the processing I find I got into it, and did it all in the same order I would usually do. The biggest failure of any woodworking project is making something square, and true if you start with wonky wood.
Worst thing they can do is cook ya and eat ya
GW
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For me, the biggest challenge is to not rush processes. This includes learning to plane and joint correctly. My drum sander (25" General) is not a dimensioning piece of equipment, but very minor flattening and more close to a finishing operstion.
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I use the drum sander to smooth up the faces of segmented rings after glue-up because I'm not good enough to make the glue-ups dead flat and smooth right out of the clamps.
With rings anywhere from 2" to 14" in diameter and anywhere from solid to 1/2" walls, I don't even try to use a planer on them.
We do segmented turning, not because it is easy, but because it is hard.
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Anything over 15" have to go to the sander to flatten. I will go to the sander sometimes if I only have a couple of pieces and am not in a hurry. My shop is a shared garage so everything is like a jigsaw puzzle in one third of it. The planer is in the far corner. The sander is also quieter to use so it is used when I don't want to create a lot of noise.
"There is no such thing as stupid questions, just stupid people"