Official Luthiers Forum!

Hi Folks, I was wondering if anyone has had experience using the JET 1020 Benchtop Drum Sander? I recently saw it advertised and it caught my attention. Looks to be handy for sides and possibly top/back if you are willing to sand 1/2 the width at a pass. Just curious. Can't beat the price and it seems to be cheaper than building a larger version.
Thanks all.

A lot of people report being very happy with theirs, getting good results after careful fine tuning.

Been using one for over 10 years. You gotta be a bit patient but it does the job. Works great for me in my small shop.

_________________
Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

They seem to be made of unobtainium right now. Same as the Supermax 19-38 I want to add to my shop. The available dates just keep creeping on and on.

Perhaps if you live in a big enough place you can score one on the swap sheets.

Similar experience. I've had mine for at least that long and got it when it was branded by Performax. Absolutely no problems or issues with what I'd called recreational use running a handful of times per year. It takes, I don't know, half an hour to thickness a top? Longer for dense back/sides like rosewoods, but it does the job just fine. The only reason I'd personally want something larger is just to minimize time by obviously decreasing the number of passes.

I used to own a 10-20. It's a nice machine. Everyone has identified the only issues I ever had: The fact that you need to take two passes to sand a top or back, and the associated necessary tinkering with the tilt of the drum to not leave ridges in the middle of the top/back. I do prefer having a machine big enough to do a whole top/back in one pass. If you were the type of person who liked hand planing tops and backs, but not sides, a 10-20 would be perfect. You can sand sides, bridges, binding, head plates, fingerboards, bridge plates, linings, braces, blocks, neck blanks, etc., all with one pass. Of the parts of a guitar, only tops/backs are too big for it.

But they are heavier than they look. Don't count on it being something you can easily move onto and off of your bench. And as with any drum sander, dust collection is mandatory.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsmnY8dCODA

Some people have had problems with the threads stripping out on the aluminium riser mechanism, but I think that has been redesigned (don't know if it solved the problem). Some people eventually move up to a larger unit, so you might get a good price on a used one.

Guess it depends on which unit you get or maybe I just got lucky. I've never had a problem with the tilt on the drums, I set it once (open end is about 0.005" higher than the closed end) when I bought the machine and have never had to touch it again.

_________________
Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

While we had one in-shop, that was before my time there, but several former students went to the 10-20 as their primary thicknessing tool and love the size/cost/capability trade-off. If forced to source used, Performax and early production Jet-branded 10-20's suffer from a steel elevation screw/zinc-aluminum alloy elevation bracket misfit that has a rather nasty failure mode (drum drops onto feed belt/platen). Lubricating the screw goes a long way to minimizing issues with the tool.

_________________
For the times they are a changin'

- Bob Dylan

They are great- I love mine. It is the only thickness sander I have. I can thickness purfling to within a couple thousandths with it, which is so handy. Works for tops and backs too but like everyone else said, it is slow.

And yes, lubricate the screw! mine failed after 10 years or so and my hocked together repair has worked well since then.

_________________
Burton
http://www.legeytinstruments.com
Brookline, MA.

Mine worked great, but it would randomly blow my circuit.

Pat

_________________
Pat

I have the Supermax 19-38 version and it works well. It's great for thicknessing all kinds of parts. For tops, I take them down to about .130 and finish with a hand plane. It's nice to be able to run a whole top or back through.

Brent