Review of the Grizzly G0716 Drum Sander

Dave38

Dave38

theemperorhasnoclotheson
Silver Member
I just finally spent some time to setup and adjust/tryout my new drum sander from Grizzly. First, the price is great $419 shipped. Second, delivery was 3 days early. The crate that it shipped in was a very sturdy one made of plywood. I actually used a piece to make a shelf underneath. It is a heavy unit, took 2 of us to load it into my van to bring home from my work. It says 220 lbs on the crate and it seemed it. It is made mostly of cast iron, and appears to be very sturdy and well made. It took about 2 hours to assemble the stand, and attach it and do the adjustments. It was faster than I thought it would take. The stand seemed a bit short, only about 25" so I put a 2x6 under each end of it to raise it some. I was very surprised at how quiet it was when I started it up. it runs very smooth. The belt needed some tracking adjustments, but not much. I did the bed to head adjustments, and it now is within .002" from left to right on a 9" wide board I used for testing. The conveyor runs nice and smooth also. I have a 4" dust collection port right above it and it took all of it right in, couldn't even smell the wood dust afterwards. The instructions were very easy to follow for assembly and adjustments.
I think it is a great deal for this type of machine and would recommend this to someone, just make sure you have the room, and the manpower to move it around:grin: I've included a couple of pictures:
Dave

sander #1.jpg

snder #3.jpg

sander #2.jpg
 
Last edited:
Looks great, I'm in the market for one and was definitely considering the grizzly. just wondering how low can it go it says .250 I cut all my inlays out at .100 let me know and also if you think it can be modified to go lower. thanks D Hill
 
hillscues said:
Looks great, I'm in the market for one and was definitely considering the grizzly. just wondering how low can it go it says .250 I cut all my inlays out at .100 let me know and also if you think it can be modified to go lower. thanks D Hill
Click to expand...

You can use a base board under your inlay slab to prevent needing any mods. Just a thought. I have been considering a drum sander, too. This drum sander to be specific. Sure would be handy.
 
qbilder said:
You can use a base board under your inlay slab to prevent needing any mods. Just a thought. I have been considering a drum sander, too. This drum sander to be specific. Sure would be handy.
Click to expand...

That's the way to do it. MDF board is about the best as it's usually flat as you can get, and cheap. I haven't used a jet or performax, but I am impressed with this one. The only 2 things to change, IMO, is that the sandpaper is too agressive and I will change it to a finer grit. The next thing is to change to a velcro system for the sandpaper. Grizzly sells a kit for a larger sander and will probably buy that so the paper changes will be faster, and the paper won't slip while running.
One other thing I will be doing shortly is installing a vertical digital readout unit from ebay so I can actually make .013" adjustment to the height and have it really do it, instead of just turning the handle 1/32 of a turn and hope it was the right move.
I'll post pics once I've got it worked out.
Dave
 
GrizzlyG0716 review?

How is your sander working out for you? Are you having any problems with the belt tracking? How about burning the wood, belt slipping or any other issues?
Thanks, Stefan
 
I had a digi readout

mounted on my performax. But it is misleading. You do not perfectly cut what the readout indicates. There is a lot of "windage" to the readout. In other words you may set it to cut .03 inches and it may cut .018, then you leave the sander as set, and give it second and third passes before the slab comes closer to the intended thickness. I ended up removing the digi readout and reinstalling the rule scale, and just mic my piece and know from the turns or partial turns of the handle what it will take off. Trial and error here.
And when I want to make thin veneers with my sander, I use a sled made of cabinet plywood, and contact glued on a sheet of that sticky rubber stuff they sell for kitchen drawer liners to it. It keep the wood from sliding around and allows me to make veneers as thin as a couple hundreths thick consistently. Just blow the dust off the rubber surface and it is ready to take a new piece into the sander.
 
GrizzlyG0716 review?

Dave,
Sorry as I read my post, I wasn't sure if people would know who or what I was addressing.

How is your sander working out for you? Are you having any problems with the belt tracking?
How about burning the wood, snipe at the ends, belt slipping or any other issues?
The manual says to take 1/32 per pass with course paper, 1/64th with fine. Does that seem to be the case with your experience?
Thanks, Stefan
 
sbukows1 said:
Dave,
Sorry as I read my post, I wasn't sure if people would know who or what I was addressing.

How is your sander working out for you? Are you having any problems with the belt tracking?
How about burning the wood, snipe at the ends, belt slipping or any other issues?
The manual says to take 1/32 per pass with course paper, 1/64th with fine. Does that seem to be the case with your experience?
Thanks, Stefan
Click to expand...

Sorry, been very busy lately. My son is going to be moving in and therefore am starting to remodel the basement.:angry: It's amazing how much wood one can acquire over the years. I now know what I have, as I've had to move it all out of the way.
I have had the belt move, but I haven't used it too much so I assume due to the material it's made of, it will take some time to stretch and find it's happy place. The feedrate is important, I just sanded a 8 ft long board, and it did not snipe, but with a long board you must support the input side and the output side so that the board doesn't sag and cause a less than consistant thickness or divots. I did pop the reset button a few times untill I adjusted the feedrate to a slower speed, to accomadate the hard maple board.
Haven't burned a board yet, and no belt slipping, so I guess that's a good thing:D
I made a couple of sleds to accomodate different lengths and glued 320 grit sand paper to the bottom to eliminate the slipping issue.
It works very quiet, and does a great job, but definately needs a dust collection unit attached to it, as it will make it snow in July with the dust if you don't exhaust it outside.
 
Thanks for the info
You wrote:
"I made a couple of sleds to accomodate different lengths and glued 320 grit sand paper to the bottom to eliminate the slipping issue."

That's a great idea! It might help with the belt tracking too since it distributes the pressure on the belt. ( I assume that's what you meant when you said the belt moves)

Are you happy with the purchase?
 
How's the sander working

Dave, I read your review from about 15 months ago about the Grizzly drum sander. Now that you've had it a while, would you provide an updated brief review for us? Thx. rdt2
 
In all honesty, I haven't used it much. been too busy with life. I did just use it recently to square up some point stock, and also to size some ebony inlay strips and it did everything well. I would still recommend this unit, especially for the money. I haven't gotten around to changing the paper to a velcro, nor have I installed the digital readout due to being busy with other stuff. Someday....:smile:
Dave
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top