Jet 2550 Drum Sander Unboxing and Review
Before all the COVID-19 madness started we placed an order for a JET 2550 Drum Sander, it happened to be on backorder until mid March, and still the folding infeed and outfeed tables that were ordered at the same time are also backordered until mid May!
Thankfully the sander arrived and was far easier to assemble that anticipated. The closed base comes fully assembled and the hardest part is lifting the 200 pound sander onto the base cabinet, you’ll see in the video that I impatiently chose to make that maneuver by myself… beyond that I checked the table for parallel to the drum, it was accurate out of the box, and started sanding, it comes preloaded with a wrap of 80 grit sandpaper.
The short end of the review is that I am happy with the sander, it does an awesome job, and after minimal assembly is ready to work out of the box.
I do have a few quibbles, they are minor and should not affect your decision to purchase the sander, but are things you’ll want to know upfront.
the lid over the sanding drum is plastic, including the latch, and the hinges. If I had more storage space I’d seriously consider ordering a replacement just to have on hand.
All the power cables run on the outside of the unit. I’m fairly certain they all do this but it’s a little weird for what feels like a big machine.
NO TURNING CASTERS… the closed cabinet, which costs 200 dollars more than the open base, has four straight casters. rolls in a straight line incredibly well… but it is a pain in the butt in a small shop like mine to maneuver it around. I’m debating buying or building a dolly for it and just removing the factory wheels.
That’s it… those are my three issues and they really aren’t deal breakers, the enclosed storage space in the cabinet is worth figuring out an alternative caster solution.
I hope that you find this helpful if you’re researching buying a drum sander.
Cheers,
Ben