Grizzly 12" drum sander

[muskiedaze]

Has anyone here ever used or seen a review of the  12" Grizzly Baby drum sander? They have them on sale and are offering free shipping. I have found most of their tools to be pretty good, but..... I guess they have some  bad days in Taiwan too, like when they make their belt/disc sanders. The hook and loop paper on the drum sounds a little suspect, but, hmmm.... alot cheaper than a Jet.  John

[Pat B]

I own quite a few Grizzly tools. If you need a 12" drum sander go with Grizzly.

[Apex Predator]

I don't own one yet, but have heard good things about that one and the Performax.

[Dean Marlow]

Be careful with the Grizzly baby drum sander. I bought one a couple of years ago and I finally sent it back. It was broke down all the time. I didn't use it a full 2 hours while I had it. I replaced the conveyer belt motor twice and replaced the up and down handle several times. They were good replacing parts but got tired of rebuilding it every couple of boards. Dean

[No-sage]

I use the Performax 10/20 and I'm very happy with it.  I've had it for 5 years now and the only issue I've had is that the feed belt can be a pain to get tracking correctly.

[bjansen]

I also have the Performax 10-20. It is one of the best tools I own.  I was looking at the Grizzly 12", but the reason I went with the Performax is the aluminum drum (the paper is attached with preloaded spring clamps.  I think the grizzly paper is attached w/ Velcro.  I read an article that said that cushion would allow the centrifugal force to inflate the drum slightly when sanding...possibly allowing some inconsistency in the desired thickness.  I am not sure if this would make noticeable differences but it is the reason I went with the Performax.  An article that noted this is attached below.  That being said.  I still think you could obtain great results with a little practice…and it is such a good deal compared to the price of a 10-20.  

 http://blogs.popularwoodworking.com/editorsblog/Tool+Test++Grizzly+G0459+Drum+Sander.aspx

[LC]

I borrowed a "Woodmiser" combo planer drum sander from a friend and it used the velcro setup. It sucked for tolerances we needed. I ended up just buying plain roll sand paper and used fiber backed tape to hold the ends in place and it worked great. It just "sniped" so bad no fault of the sand paper setup. I ended up buying a Performax and like above the only problem I have is the feed belt tracking problem mentioned above.

[muskiedaze]

Thanks for the advice. I think I'll pass on the baby drum. I haven't heard of the performax, but I'll check it out. Appreciate the input.

John

[Jerry Gille]

I have had the same experience with the Grizz Baby Drum as Dean has had.  I ran just a few sets of lams through it and had to replace the plastic motor gear - and I don't think I over-loaded the machine at at all.  Then ruined the next gear on the next set of lams and not sure what happened there either.  Those parts cost $20.00 each by the way.  Then, somehow while just sitting there in my garage the worm drive on the motor broke the next time I plugged it in.  So I replaced that motor and replaced the conveyor speed switch.  It worked fine on the last set of lams I ground out, but I got over $200.00 in reparis into the machine right now and will likely do as others have done, which is just buy something else soon because I do not like where this thing is headed.

I got a local bid on that Performax that was in the $575.00 range. Not sure what that Grizz brings now but I didn't pay much less than that for mine and mine was slightly used.

Personally, I'd stay clear of that baby grizz.

[bigbellybuck]

I have a performax 10/20. I'm happy with it, except for the feed belt tracking. The sandpaper for it is much cheaper than hook n loop.