Replies

1. 
   john_c2 | Feb 22, 2023 08:39am | #1

   I have the Jet 16-32, open ended. It's indispensable for what I do. And it drives me bananas. It's mostly just about the paper getting burnt strips at random.

   The open ended is fussy, but isn't a big problem once it's dialed in. Most of my work is under 5 inches, so if it's tilted a few thousandths over 16 inches, it doesn't matter at all.

   But, I've only once used it to sand a panel wider than 16 inches. Or tried to. These machines are slow. SLOW. And on wider pieces, you need to go even slower! You cannot, cannot use it to thickness wide stock. You can remove a little, but if you are trying to take 1/4" off a 24 inch board, you'll end up in the nut house.

   If I were doing it again, I'd look harder at closed-end machines. I really pretty much ignored them before, and I don't really know what's out there.

1. 
   rob_ss | Feb 23, 2023 02:43pm | #13

   Oh yes. Tried that thicknessing thing once. Placed an order for an A3 441 the next day!

2. 
   paulbeeman21 | Feb 22, 2023 10:25am | #2

   Thanks @john_c2! I would definitely just be using this to clean up bandsaw surfaces for the most part, and if I did use it for a panel it would just be for cleaning up a surface, not doing serious dimensioning so perhaps open ended is where I will go. Also has the added benefit of a smaller footprint.

3. 
   Pete99353 | Feb 22, 2023 11:03am | #3

   I have a Performax 22-44 drum sander. Bought it over 20 years ago before they were absorbed by Jet. I really like it and have it on wheels so it’s easy to move when necessary. Almost always use 80 grit paper for faster sanding. I primarily use it to sand stock to uniform thickness and sometimes width. You can’t remove a lot of material in one pass but time is not a big deal for me. I can sneak up on thickness more accurately than I can with my planer. Per the manual the Performax can sand material to 1/16” thick and I’ve done thinner without a problem. I can also sand material only 4” long compared to the planer which has a minimum 8” length. Don’t need that capability very often, but it’s there if I need it. I’ve only used the open end feature once for a table top and it worked well.
   I did a little research before purchasing. One thing I remember was some drum sanders have a rubberized, soft material for the conveyor which could compress more or less, resulting in uneven thickness on each pass. Not sure if this is a big deal, since many professionals use those. The Performax uses a hard, thin sandpaper material to convey the material. There is no “give” to it.

1. 
   paulbeeman21 | Feb 22, 2023 12:18pm | #4

   Thanks Pete - super helpful! Dimensioning short stock is definitely another appeal. And the conveyer material is not something that was on my radar so I will look into that.

4. 
   pantalones868 | Feb 22, 2023 02:11pm | #5

   I have a old Delta...my experience is much like Johnc's and if you were to go used I wouldn't recommend a Delta , which you might find cheap, it sands stuff fine but because parts are almost an impossibility. Stationary drumsanders are not common on Craigslist I've noticed, by the way.
   I have a friend that has a large and wide closed end belt sander and on big stuff or critical stuff I have done it there. It's better and infinitely faster and the result is dead flat but the cost of a machine like that is much ,much more than your budget. If you were into production,which he is, it's well worth the price.
   One thing I've noticed on some of the brands of open sided drum sanders is how they fall just short in width of where you might want to be forcing you to purchase the next size up. A 10" / 20" leaves you short for 24". Someone mentioned their 22" /44" for example... why not 24"/48" ? Want to sand full sheets of plywood? Buy a bigger machine!
   I just tuned mine up because it was pissing me off and the tracking sucked. I think on the sandpaper conveyors ,if over time they get stretched and maybe unevenly tracking becomes a nightmare. I put a new conveyor belt on and it is so much better ! I had been cursing the sander for a long while! These are slow is everyone's complaint but my thought is " compared to what?" Dust collection is essential for operating these machines.

1. 
   paulbeeman21 | Feb 22, 2023 02:24pm | #6

   @pantalones868 That is a funny observation re the size. Def not an accident there. Yea I think my use case is going to be 90% shop made ply and bent lams so I think similarly to you I will likely just find a makerspace or something if I ever need to go larger scale or possibly upgrade down the road. Usually I am a fan of the "buy once, cry once" approach, but the extra cost of going industrial on this seems sort of crazy given my use case for it.

   I was looking to buy new on this for the reasons you laid out. Thinking about the Laguna supermax 16-32 or the Jet 16-32.

   Appreciate all the feedback!

5. 
   chelor | Feb 22, 2023 05:37pm | #7

   I have a Performax 16-32. Does anyone have some advice for minimizing the burnt stripes that I (like john_c2) am plagued with? It seems that no matter how careful I am in not taking off too much stock at one time, a few of these burnt stripes will appear, well before the grit is worn down elsewhere. This wastes a lot of sandpaper, as once the burnt stripes appear, there's no easy way to remove them; gum/crepe rubber sticks won't do it, and using anything metallic removes the grit as well. I have had a bit of success at times by removing the sandpaper and rolling it up inside out, which will rack and sometimes break off the hard burnt stripes. Also, 80 grit has less tendency to do it than finer grits.

   I'm guessing not...but is there any liquid that someone has used to dissolve these burnt stripes? This might be a product that would sell quite well.

   Also, far too often my circuit breaker starts to repeatedly kick out after about 15 minutes of sanding, even when taking fine cuts. This can be very aggravating as well, since it takes a long time for the motor to cool down sufficiently to allow you to start sanding efficiently again.

   This tool is by far my most aggravating tool and I never look forward to using it. However, for some things, like flattening a chess board glue-up, it is indispensable.

1. 
   john_c2 | Feb 22, 2023 09:16pm | #9

   I haven't found a solution. I do mostly cherry, and wonder if it's pitch pockets? But I don't think so. Taking heavy cuts definitely makes it worse. But it still happens on light cuts.

2. 
   Pete99353 | Feb 23, 2023 01:26pm | #12

   In a different shop my Performax would occasionally trip the circuit breaker on a 20 amp circuit. It was because I was using the same circuit as my industrial-size fluorescent shop lights and taking too heavy a cut. I've only experienced burning when taking too heavy a cut, especially on hardwoods. The sandpaper isn't expensive and is easy to replace.
   It doesn't trip in my current shop because it's the only thing on a 20 amp circuit.

6. 
   Deleted | Feb 22, 2023 06:09pm | #8

   “[Deleted]”

7. 
   jovogtmd | Feb 23, 2023 07:45am | #10

   I use a Stanley Bedrock Handplane #605. Works great!!

1. 
   john_c2 | Feb 23, 2023 05:05pm | #14

   Great! Can you get parts down to 8" long with a consistent thickness of .055"?

8. 
   jim_hall | Feb 23, 2023 11:12am | #11

   I have a SuperMax 16-32 and use it primarily to flatten glued up panels and remove bandsaw marks on re-sawn boards. The widest glued up panel I've flattened so far is 24". It is finicky but worth it to me, especially if you have a fair number of pieces the same thickness to sand. I adjust for the first sanding pass using a test piece of equal thickness before running the actual work through. I continue to run the test piece first on every pass until the thickness I want is achieved. I buy sandpaper rolls and cut the length and ends using a precut one as a pattern. I use 180 grit almost exclusively. The specs say you can cut as thin as 1/32" and as short as 2 1/4" with a guaranteed flatness within .010 inches. Haven't put those sizes to a test, but that's what the manufacturer says. You do need a decent dust collector. I think minimum spec is 600 cfm. Otherwise, the dust will escape and be a problem.

1. 
   paulbeeman21 | Feb 23, 2023 05:22pm | #15

   Thanks! Very helpful.

9. 
   pleasantvillewood | Feb 23, 2023 07:37pm | #16

   I bought a grizzly baby drum sander (closed end) a few months back. Even on small pieces one can only take off a few thousandths at a time and the overload button has a habit of shutting the machine off which, of course, leaves a mark on the piece and one has to start all over again.
   I bypassed the reset button and the machine works somewhat better but I would not buy it again.

10. 
    geedubbee | Feb 23, 2023 09:02pm | #17

    I have what used to be the usual answer from 2012 through a few years ago: Supermax 19-38. I had wanted a drum sander for years but was not willing to pay the money or give up the space for all the woes I read from Performax / Jet owners.

    The 19-38 came along and started killing it in the bake offs. Like the Bosch Colt, when it came along it was praised to the sky. Other similar format tools are now probably comparable. The 19-38 has been everything they said. I use it on nearly every project and have for a nearly a decade.

    The Supermax/Laguna 16-32 is a similar but different format machine. They had tracking, breaking feed belt mechanisms, and alignment issues when they first came out but I am pretty sure those have all been taken care of now. I do not know if Laguna has made any changes to the 19-38 but, I hope not.

    A heavyweight in the home shop I think an open ended machine may be out of place in a pro shop. The only way they could make the 19-38 better IMHO would be to make it oscillate.

1. 
   paulbeeman21 | Feb 24, 2023 07:40am | #18

   Super helpful. Much appreciated!