Flatmaster by stockroom supply

[tuneswoodshop]

Hello,
I am looking at a 30" flatmaster from stockroom supply and was wondering if anyone had one?
Do they work good and seem to be built of decent quality?
I would generally be using it to level end grain cutting boards, picture frame stock and smaller cabinet face frames.

I also have been looking at a grizzly G0458 18" drum sander but leaning toward the flatmaster because its has a bigger width and the open top would allow me to use it in different ways then the grizz.

Any opinions on either of these machines?
Thanks

[Steve N]

2 different animals for the most part, spend time looking at what they do, to see if it matches your needs. Their similarity is they sand, and are wide, but as a Jointer and a planer do two different functions so do these two.

Recent thread about V drum sanders

[retfr8flyr]

I have a 24" Flatmaster and I love it. As Steve said, a Flatmaster and a drum sander are similar but work entirely differently. With the Flatmaster everything registers off of the flat table top, just like a jointer, so no matter what you are sanding, if you use light pressure and keep it flat to the table, it will be sanded truly flat. This is a very important fact to remember. I have corrected many slightly warped pieces by using my Flatmaster. With a drum sander the drum presses down on the piece and will sand it to the thickness of the distance between the moving conveyor belt and the drum sand paper. This process will not guaranty the entire piece comes out flat. If the piece is warped it will come out the correct thickness but still warped. I added a drum sander to my shop this past spring but I still use my Flatmaster for lots of things. I personally think the 24 inch is as large as I would want to go. I think the 30 inch would have difficulty maintaining it's correct shape, without flexing in the middle.

The Flatmaster works great on end grain, as well as other, cutting boards. The floating paper doesn't build up heat, so there isn't any burning and it handles the extra glue spots really well. I think you would like the Flatmaster just be aware of it's limitations. It's not a thickness sander and everything has to be run through manually with some care given to continuous speed. If you stop moving a piece it will create a spot across the piece and will require some extra work to get it out. I later added the wings and rollers to mine and they really help on longer pieces.