JET JWDS-2550 review: 50 inches, two passes

Fifty inches is the headline figure, and the JET JWDS-2550 earns it in two passes. Sand half the panel, turn it end for end, sand the other half. Every board over 25 inches therefore crosses the drum's open end twice, and whether a ridge appears where the passes meet tells you whether this machine was worth the floor it takes.

It is the overall pick on our drum sander picks, because nothing else there is as wide on 115 volt. The owner evidence is thin and specific: six people who verifiably own one, including a five year owner, and no instrumented test of this model anywhere we could find.

JWDS-2550 sanding width, and the ridge on the second pass

JET's manual has the fix, a table setting.

For anything wider than the drum, the conveyor must sit exactly level or slightly lower at the outboard end. Run a 6 by 30 to 40 inch scrap through with its end hanging past the drum, turn it 180 degrees, sand the same face, and lower the outboard end until the ridge goes. Then return the table to parallel for stock under 16 inches.

What owners describe is the ridge without the procedure. One could not find it in their copy of the instructions, which the current edition now carries, and another keeps getting "a sanding line where the drum ends" and cannot adjust it out. WOOD Magazine, testing five older machines including two JETs, warns that over time too aggressive a cut can spread an open end and crown a panel.

Then ask how often you need it. "After about 5 years I have only needed full 50 inches twice", writes the longest standing owner, who would buy the 16 inch JWDS-1632 next time.

Thickness, feed and SandSmart

Stock up to 4 inches thick, on a conveyor running 0 to 10 FPM. SandSmart watches the drum motor's load and slows the conveyor, or stops it, before the cut stalls. The manual's own advice is that the best finish comes when the speed does not change, so treat the red light as a sign the cut is too deep or the feed too fast. Snipe is a roller setting: adjust the outfeed tension roller for the leading end and the infeed one for the trailing end. One owner's walnut desk top tracked at an angle with the belt slipping on one side, while a pine top came out "dead flat".

Motor and circuit: 115 volt, but 20 amps

A JWDS-2550 drum sander on a 15 amp plug is still a 20 amp machine.

The 1-3/4 HP motor draws 15 amps at full load and the cord ends in a 15 amp plug. JET still asks for a dedicated 20 amp circuit. A shared 15 amp outlet takes the plug. JET does not mean that.

Dust port: 4 inches, 550 CFM

The port is molded into the hood, and the 550 CFM is the minimum extraction the manual asks of your collector, not anything the sander moves itself. One owner on a ducted Powermatic PM1300 calls the collection very good. Another, whose unit arrived "true and straight", reports a lot of dust.

Powermatic vs JET drum sander

The Powermatic DDS-225 is the hub's dual drum pick, a different machine: two 6 inch drums across 25 inches, one pass only, 5 HP on 230 volt, wanting 1200 CFM. It does a coarse and a finer grit in one pass and cannot do the 50 inch panel at all.

JET drum sander sizes

The JWDS-1632 takes 16 inches a pass, 32 in two, and 3 inches thick on 115 volt. The JWDS-1020 is a 10 inch benchtop. If your widest work is cabinet doors, the 1632 is the better buy, and the five year owner above reached the same conclusion. Our drum sander sizing page works the choice from your widest panel down.

What the open stand kit includes

This listing is kit 723550OSK: sander, conveyor and the open stand, at 183 pounds for the machine alone with the conveyor at 34 inches. The depth stop is included. The infeed and outfeed tables are optional (723551), and so are locking casters (98-0130); the stand sits on leveling feet. It ships wrapped in 80 grit, 3 inches wide, so order your finer grits with it.