Thinking of changing to a 220 volt sander.

We don't do many floors. I own a DU8, clarke edger, and randmeister edger, for around 30 years, I guess. UP to recently,..I've never really cared that I didn't have a 220 drum sander. But the last couple times I did a floor...I really got convinced I should see if I could find one I could afford.. I no longer have the patience to run 120..it's a pain in the rear to keep everything nice,.. and takes a lot longer.And I'm not getting any younger.

I am not in a position to go buy a shiny new hummel. We only do a few floors each year....if that. Our floors are usually part of larger jobs where the customer would rather have us deal with the floors so they don't have anybody else on the job.

Which 220 volt drum sander would you recommend.? Or should I still put up with my DU8?

Do you know of a distributor in your area? A used machine would be your best buy. Floor sanders usually get serviced for new bearings and recovered drums. The repair shop may know of a professional machine that can be your ticket. Post on a message board that you are interested in a used drum or belt sander. Have the repair shop check it out or have the seller demonstrate on a job before you buy. You may need a new disc for your edger, too. A floor polisher/buffer helps, too.

A big machine may need a hold-back belt along with 100 foot 10 gauge extension cord and adaptors to hook into the 30 amp electric supply. A new dust bag may be needed.
Take a class if you can find one in your area. Become friends with a contractor who specializes in wood floors.

The supplier here is national wood supply.
This is really "small town" if you know what I mean. I did the beverly hills area in so cal. for about 20 or 25 years,.. and at that time I knew a lot of guys and suppliers there was a lot of knowledge you could get. Been too long, don't even remember names and phone numbers.

To give you an idea about the way it is here. The supplier in town is the official primatech dealer. My main nailer is an old original primatech. I wanted to get a new driver blade and they couldn't even come up with that so I had to deal with it myself... If fact,. over that deal, I'll never buy primatech again even though I like it more than anything else I've tried or seen.

The supplier just wants you to pick what you want and order it new. They are basically a broker. I did see an ez8 for sale a while back. (in the want ads). Judging from the name I assume it is the "current" version of the DU8 and probably 110.

By the way, I've got all kinds of 10 guage cable,..I'm covered there.

A long time ago I knew the clark rep..I think he was in Denver but can't remember for sure. That was when I was doing beverly hills. I had an old clark american 5" edger I called him about. I remember he told me that was about the first one they made, and they have never made anything that durable since. I finally sold it because it was easier to get 7" floor paper...and I was buying 7" for the randmeister anyway.

Are you still in the LA area?

No,
I'm only in L.A. once or twice a year now. I was there for a few weeks 3 years ago doing a job for someone...But usually I just go there for a few days with the youngins (disneyland, etc.,) and then come back to Utah. It appears to have been a mistake to move to Utah (financially). Very few people (or near zero) here want quality in a skilled trade and sometimes they think price shopping and quality shopping are the same thing. I really miss that about SoCal. If you weren't the best in So.Cal...you just never got calls from people worth working for. If you were....you always had a waiting list.