The ABCs of Drum Sander Reviews: Which Are the Best of the Bunch?

This 230-volt and 25-inch drum sander offers 5 HP or horsepower of pure sanding strength. It's considered a quality machine by people who use it because of its consistency. It's cost-effective enough to do the job of a comparatively more expensive belt sander. Your investment is secured with the Powermatic 1791290 mainly because of its heavy steel cabinet that can deal with rugged handling and a feed motor that's connected to a gearbox that's two-speed (it can go forward and reverse). You're also ensured of a mar-free finish with your sanded wood through its Durometer Rubber surface.

The only thing that will be sanded down is the rough spots. The end result won't end up with any dents or imperfections when all is said and done thanks to the design and construction of the 1791290. In terms of pet peeves, the sandpaper it comes with is an issue. It comes wrapped with a 4-inch wide roll of Klingspor sandpaper but you can only purchase 3-inch paper rolls that are harder to wrap around the drum. Putting on the wraps also requires quite a bit of trial and error because of the lack of a template. This machine for some reason wraps in the opposite direction as other sanders.

Meanwhile, theJET 649004K22X44, it's a highly recommended planer-like product that's capable of removing a decent amount of material in one pass (but not as much as a real planer power tool, admittedly). Its main claims to fame are that it requires minimal assembly, so that means easy setup from you, the conveyor bed ensures smooth feeds thanks to its precision-flattened steel conveyor bed, and the stock is quickly removed thanks to its 1.75 horsepower motor. It also easily collects dust to its 4-inch dust power.

Management of load is also dealt with dependably with its propriety SandSmart load control. The machine is an all-in-all dependable sander that's quite silent for something so large and washing-machine-like in bigness. It won't easily trip your 25-amp circuit or end up with an overheated motor thanks to JET technology. In terms of downsides, the sanding drum parallel to the table tends to end up askew in some models (by as much as 0.375 inches). It's also difficult to attach the sandpaper belt to the drum. The second clip can't be seen and the clearance between the frame and drum is tight, so those with big hands will have issues in accessing the clip.

The JET 649003K Model 22X44 is yet another 1.75 HP beast of a benchtop drum sander that's able to get the job done with many of the same technologies that its 49004K enjoys, such as its SandSmart variable feed rate that goes from 0 to 10 feet per minute as required and its aluminum drum that's precision-machined and self-cooling to ensure less downtime and smooth sanding every time. The motor it has is also capable of running continuously so that you can get a fresh supply of sanded planks and logs for your woodworking needs.

It comes with an infeed/outfeed tables and stand that's mostly optional. I find this machine quite pleasing when I bought it even without the infeed/outfeed stand because it's easy to change belts with this piece of equipment once you get used to attaching it at the motor end. In terms of downsides, it's limited to certain customers ending up with just the bottom feed table and not the motor. This means its flaws are mostly from poor shipment of certain units rather than issues on the Jet 649003K Model 22X44itself. This sander is also quite heavy so find help when moving it around.

The JET 628900 Mini is quite impressive for a 10-inch drum sander model. Aside from obvious advantages like smallness for better mobility (since many gadgets nowadays are experiencing miniaturization to make them more portable and less unwieldy to handle), the Jet 628900 Mini also has key specs like quick sander paper change to increase productivity and decrease downtime, 20 inches of wideness and capacity for sanding large-surface work pieces, large hand wheel to make adjustment easy, and a 4-inch dust port so that you can keep your work area clean because of all the collected sawdust.

It even has the ability to change its feed rate from 0 to 12 feet per minute depending on the volume of your work. Finally, it has a motor that has 1 HP in horsepower rating, which means it's only 0.75 HP short of other models so it should dependably sand down all sorts of surfaces and work pieces big and small (except the exceptionally large ones that only bigger sanders can deal with). In terms of flaws and drawbacks, the belt it comes with has issues in tracking. While it's able to sand dependably for a drum sander its size, the belt still tends to eat itself from going off the side of the rollers.

The Powermatic PM2244 has a lot going for it even when compared to its Powermatic 1791290 counterpart. It has an integrated LED control panel that shows you info on DRO, belt speed, and power being used by the machine, making it one of the more advanced sanders on this list. Furthermore, you're assured of an exceptional finish thanks to this sander's Feed Logic. This cutting-edge tech is also responsible for keeping your feed from being overloaded. Additional height reading is also done through the secondary absolute depth scale. This further ensures ideal finishes and dependable precision sanding.

The Powermatic PM2244 also has a steel hood and a 4-inch dust port that ensures cleanliness around your workshop because all the dust particles are collected within that designated container. Meanwhile, its drum carriage is made of tough cast iron, which provides consistent performance and strength. In terms of flaws, Powermatic also has issues in quality control wherein faulty machines can end up on the doorstep of customers. What's more, because of its cast iron carriage, you still need to watch out for moisture and the like because unlike aluminum carriages, iron has a tendency to rust when not carefully maintained.