JET 10-Inch Benchtop Drum Sander, 1 HP, 115V 1Ph (Model JWDS-1020)

I have 1/2 of a two car garage for my wood shop, the other half has a collectable car under a car cover. My space is extremely limited for all the power tools that I use. I make small boxes not cabinets, and I have gone to a friend's in the past to sand resawn boards from my bandsaw. He has a larger drum sander and quickly spoiled me with what his sander could do. It's a hassle to go over there for a small job so I purchased the JWDS-1020 drum sander for these reasons: It needed to be small, it needed to sand short boards and it needed to sand thin boards. That's exactly what this drum sander does best. It will sand a board less than 3 inches long and it will sand a board down to veneer thickness, and it fits on my flip-top cart taking very little space. The dust collection works very well, it's a smooth running, quiet (for a power tool) and does a great job, build quality is excellent. It will also sand a board up to 20 inches wide by running the opposite side through the open end on a second pass. It does everything that my friend's larger sander does just as well as his, except it doesn't sand a 36 inch wide board that is 4 inches thick. But his doesn't sand short boards or as thin as this machine. They have different applications is all. If you don't need a big boy drum sander for cabinets or status or if you don't have room, don't hessitate to purchase this machine. The only part of the learning curve that I am getting used to is that it's a sander not a planner. Take small amounts of material off, don't turn the crank a quarter turn at a time like you do with a planner. If you do it will pop the circut breaker. That's not a defect, that's operator error. I love this machine!

I’ve read and seen many negative reviews on this machine, both here and on YT. I really hesitated to buy this thing but it was the only drum sander that checked the boxes in my list. Size and weight were most important to me as I have to get my equipment down a flight of stairs to my basement shop.It came well packaged and was damage-free. No smashed motor fan cover which many have complained about. It was pretty much ready to go out of the box. I placed it on my bench and connected my dust collector. I switched on the conveyor then the drum and ran a few test boards through. The sander performed very well. It’s really quiet and dust collection is very good.So far after two weeks of ownership I have run through about 150 linear feet of wood through it. It has performed perfectly. The boards come out clean and with no snipe (after slight roller adjustment). The boards also come out with a uniform thickness.So far I’m very pleased with this drum sander. Maybe I got lucky and received a good one. YMMV.

My wife gave this to me as a Christmas present. It was delivered by Amazon and the box was fine. The product was packaged well and I mounted it to a portable table. My first project with it was to sand some hard wood pieces that are about 2” wide and 12” long. I’ve never had a trim sander but I knew from using my surface planer that you need to go slow and take your time. I started with 1/64” increments and it bogged the conveyer belt, so I backed up to smaller increments. It worked well for a few passes, then I had a board come through with depressions in it. I look at the sand paper. It was still clipped in but had an overlap where the paper fat just a little loose. I tried to tighten the paper back up. That’s when I realized how cheap the paper holder was. I’m not real confident that the simple clips they use are ever going to hold up for future projects. I had a little problem with the conveyor belt not tracking properly, but I adjusted it and thought it would be ok, but after reading some other reviews I have my doubts. I love the concept of the drum sander and have wanted one for some time. Maybe the bigger versions are better products, but there’s no way I recommend this product to other woodworkers. I’ve boxed it up to be picked up be Amazon.

I bought this upon the recommendation of a professional woodworker. It works beautifully. It will take some time to learn the best speed for various jobs. Also, I litterally spent two hours trying to change the sandpaper (now that I know how it is much easier). Highly recommend.

Excellent little machine when keeping its limitations in mind. This can't handle giant heavy pieces of wood. When a piece of wood is too big, heavy, or long the weight of the wood will not allow it to evenly pass under the drum.I bought this unit to do very small thin lightweight pieces. I like that I was able to put it on a flip top table. I can't imagine trying to sand anything more than 8" wide and 48" long. I owned a 1st generation jet 16-32 some years ago. You can do slightly bigger/longer pieces with those machines, and that piece particularly is a better model if you're going to have only one machine because of its size, weight, and extension tables. My other drum sander is a powermatic dds225, which is way to big and powerful for small stuff. No one machine is perfect for every task. I have 2 table saws, 2 drum sander, 2 planers, 2 miter saws, and so on... (I'm a professional woodworker working solo).All these machines have a learning curve. Remove material slowly to avoid damaging your paper and drum. I don't find tracking difficult on the newest generation of sanders, but it may require continuous tuning. Paper changing is easy.I'm a big fan of jet/powermatic (jpw industries) because the machines are easy to repair, and it's fast and easy to get replacement parts.