Greetings,
I have been looking at the Performax 16-32″ drum sander and the Delta 18-36″ drum sander. I do not do any production work but I do build quite a lot of Mission style tables. I have read many reviews for both and seem to be leaning towards the performax model.
I will thank you in advance for your comments, and please don’t be shy. This is one reason why I like raeding the post and threads. I am looking to buy in the very near future. (BTW, it’s 8 degrees F. in Madison Wisconsin, brrrrrr)
Joe
Is it really saw dust or wood dust?
Replies
Well, I can't address the Delta, but I got a 16-32 about six months ago and wish I had bought it 6 years ago!
It's been tremendous in my work. Like you, not production but I find myself using it for all sorts of stuff now. It was easy to set up, align, and get working quickly. The paper change is simple and very quick (I can change between grits in about two minutes).
I was moving it around the shop a few weeks ago using a handtruck and it came unbalanced, rolled off and hit the floor. Checked it out and it was still perfectly aligned. Pretty robust. The one drawback is I sometimes seem to want to take off too much at once and the thermal breaker trips. Other than that, I've had no problems at all.
Needless to say, I love the thing. They have one wider too. YOu might look at that one as well.
Dave
Thanks Dave,
That's the kind of info I'm looking for. Knowledge is the key to success. Yes, I have looked at the larger Performax (I think it's the 22-44). But if I brought one of those home the lovely Mrs. would want a new sewing machine! You ever price them? Wow. Plus it is easier for the Mrs to sneak in a hundred dollars of fabrick, vise me with a pile of lumber in the garage, hehehehehe. Women, got to love em.
Joe
Is it really saw dust or wood dust?
I to have the performax. I looked at both when purchasing and ended up with performax only because of a deal at my local tool vendors shop. That said it is an terrific machine. I always had problems getting large panels flat after a glue up. With the performax just glue em up and run them through.
dave what are some examples that you use your drum sander for?
I often laminate many different species together to make table tops (entry tables, not feed the family tables). I used to rely on scrapers, planes, axes (not really) etc. to get it down to where you couldn't feel the joints. Now the DS does it for me in about a tenth the time. I also smooth out resaws a lot.
A couple weeks ago, I needed four boards about 6 inches wide to be beveled. I could have tried the bandsaw, but instead put a spacer along one edge of the board, and fed it through the DS spacer side down. After about a dozen passes, I had a perfectly beveled wide board.
It's not a solution for everythings, but trust me when I say again, I wish I had bought this thing years ago! Great for small parts, thin parts, long parts, whew! I can send you a few pics if you're interested.
Dave
send some pictures that would be great,
Ok, for example...
that looks very cool, i like the big wooden screws and the shelf holder and the shelf for that matter, pictures do say athousand words, you just gave me a little inspiration, now if it would only warm up here in chicago, its like january already,
Kenney66
Dave,
What a wonderful design and execution. Simple, elegant and contemporary. Thanks for sharing it with us.
Doug
Drum sanders are nice. Here's my home made jobbie.
http://pages.sbcglobal.net/mike_in_katy/ds1.jpg
Change ds1 to ds2 thru ds6
PlaneWood by Mike_in_Katy (maker of fine sawdust!)
PlaneWood
Very cool!!! I have seen plans for making a homemade drum sander but never one that looks quite as good as yours.
My needs are limited to short narrow boards so it works out well for me. I got the idea from some Woodmaster planers I had seen that have the 4 support rods and chain drive. The thick mahogany really dampens any vibration. Note the grain orientation for the sides and base. Drum was made by sandwiching MDF circles together using poly glue cause it does not make the MDF swell. Drum has about a dozen coats of poly varnish. Wish I would have used 3/4 or 1" shaft instead of 5/8".
PlaneWood by Mike_in_Katy (maker of fine sawdust!)PlaneWood
Joe
Speaking from experience, the performax is a better unit. I bought mine about 5 years ago, and use it extensively for presanding, as well as for thicknessing resawn veneer. It's easier to adjust than the Delta, and works better. A buddy actually got so frustrated with his Delta that he took it back, and got the 16-32. I really enjoyed the "I told you SO!!". My only regret is that they didn't have the 22-44 at the time, or I would have gotten it instead. At the time, the 22-44 was in it's infancy stages, and not very desireable. Now, it looks just like the 16-32.
Jeff
Just got the Performax 22-44, but I haven't used it yet. I had asked the folks at our Woodcraft for their opinion and they recommended the Performax over the Delta. I didn't end up getting it there as I found a better price on line at the time. The current Woodcraft Nov. special deal on the 22-44 with tables is a good price.
The only DS I've ever used is the Performax Shop Pro25. I've been holding out for years hoping to run across a used Shop Pro 25, 37 or even a Woodmaster locally to no avail. My resolve is softening and I'm starting to entertain the idea of the Performax 22/44 figuring that a machine, even with the short-comings of the open type is better than no machine at all. Are there any users of both types that have an opinion?John O'Connell - JKO Handcrafted Woodworking
The more things change ...
We trained hard, but it seemed that every time we were beginning to form up into teams, we would be reorganized. I was to learn later in life that we tend to meet any new situation by reorganizing; and a wonderful method it can be for creating the illusion of progress while producing confusion, inefficiency, and demoralization.
Petronious Arbiter, 210 BC
John
I've been using a Performax 22-44 (in Inca livery with a ) since 1996 & the machine does have some short comings typical of drum sanders compared with wide belt. A couple of the short comings I sorted out early on, others were evolutionary. These machines are now selling at half the price they were when I bought mine (made in US) but I don't think they have changed much, just where they are made.
The first issue I had was that the thickness of stock was governed by raising & lowering the feed plattern. Easy enough to remount the unit so that the table remained at a constant height by ditching the legs & fitting the column to a fabricated bench. The head rises & falls now & outfeed supports are easily set up & stay constant. An extension outfeed roller setup was also fabricated to add to the existing extensions.
The motor bogged down sometimes, especialy when using coarse (40 & 60 grit) so the pulleys got turfed & replaced by cast iron units - 6" double A for the top. The old ratio was maintained for the driven pulley. This produces a flywheel effect & bog downs don't happen anymore.
The problem with head flexing can be easliy overcome by mounting a slotted plate on the outboard end & loosing & retigtening each time the head is moved - not very awkward as we've got used to adjusting the head height & loosening/tightening at the same time.
One issue I cannot solve is belt tracking. Mine tracks to the right no matter what. We have replaced feed belts twice, had technicians pull their hair out trying to adjust it but to no avail. Seems that all that is left is to replace the drive roller.
Ok,
After a lot of reading (online and here) and looking at several units, I bought the Performax 22-44 today. Woodcraft has a $100 rebate w/ Performax and 7.5% rebate w/Woodcraft. Just couldn't pass it up and I have several panels glued up that I will test with. What a heavy machine, very cool. I will be putting it on rollers so it is easier to move aroung the shop (garage). I am off the beginnig of next week and will tune it up and give it a whirl. Can't wait (too bad I have to work this weekend).
I will keep you posted.Joe
Is it really saw dust or wood dust?
I read the reviews and selected Delta. I gave up after trying 2 machines that had out of round drums, soended up with the Performax. Wish I had went for the bigger model. Bee
I've had the 16-32 for about 7-8 years now and the Delta unit wasn't out at the time I bought mine. I haven't taken a close look at the Delta, but the one feature about it that I think would put me off is the moving table instead of the moving head. It's not all that often that I run stuff through long enough to warrant setting up roller stand supports, but I'd hate to have to continually re-adjust them as I changed the thickness setting. The only problem I've had with mine is the cheesy plastic bail handle on the lid keeps coming loose from the screws (self tapping - not threaded). One of these days I'm going to replace the handle with something better.
If you build it he will come.
Just bought the performax 16/32 drum sander today and got it running. I sanded two glue-ups after running them through the thickness planer. The glue-ups were 9" wide and 41" long. I was able to sand them to a very uniform thickness ( within .009" from side to side) Hope to improve this with some fine tuning. The machine was on display at the store so I just took it home and checked it out roughly and plugged it in and started sanding. One quarter turn of the hand crank is 1/64 of an inch and if I lowered it 1/4 turn (.0156") it would shut the motor down. It worked fine as long as I only turned it 1/8 of a turn (.0078"). I do not know what the grit is as it was already installed and I did not want to put on a new one. It looks about 80 grit. I ran pencil marks very heavy on the surface to be sanded and one pass made them very faint and the second pass removed them completely. A little disappointed at the light stock removal. I would have liked to remove .012-.015 per pass. Anybody out there got any comments??????
Edited 12/5/2005 8:05 pm ET by mrbird90
on my 22-44, I generally take very light passes. You'll find that you'll save a great deal of money in sandpaper if you go slower :)
Don't change the depth and run the board through twice for each change. Take less of a bite, you'll find it far easier to finish sand without deep sanding lines from the performax.
They are awesome machines, you'll love it.
There are a number of posts here that have comments on usage, do a search and check it out.
Oh, last thing, anything less than .01 consistently is pretty decent. Trying to get it to machine wood exactly will take you a great deal of tuning and patience... considering different woods machine differently, deflection is different, and grit of sandpaper will affect it a bit. Just take it nice and easy.
g'luck.
michael
I have run a few thousand feet of mostly QSWO and mahogany through a ShopPro 25. Even with the beefier closed frame and motor it's a 1/6 turn machine at the most. Any more and the machine bogs down or worse, the wood gets scortched and the abrasive is trashed. The key to drum sanders is lots of DC CFM, light passes, and use a crepe block early and often. Also beware of waxy woods like cocobolo and purpleheart, they'll just burn the abrasive.John O'Connell - JKO Handcrafted Woodworking
The more things change ...
We trained hard, but it seemed that every time we were beginning to form up into teams, we would be reorganized. I was to learn later in life that we tend to meet any new situation by reorganizing; and a wonderful method it can be for creating the illusion of progress while producing confusion, inefficiency, and demoralization.
Petronious Arbiter, 210 BC
beware of waxy woods like cocobolo and purpleheart, they'll just burn the abrasive
Huh. I was going to take 18" panels of purpleheart to have 'em drum sanded. Guess I better call and see if they'll do purpleheart.
Thanks for the heads-up... maybe I'll be smoothing 'em by hand.
Aloha from Hawaii,
I bought the Performax 16-32 about two years ago. I am very happy with it. I looked at both the Delta and the Performax for quite awhile before I bought and I am glad I got the Performax. The short comings I have found are if you try to take off a little too much in a pass it will trip the thermal breaker. It is more operator error then machine error. The other thing I would recommend is buy the optional roller table cover. The one that comes with the machine is crappy and curls and has too much give to it. Since I got the optional one I am very pleased with it. Take the time to set it up properlym and I am sure you will find you wish you had bought it a long time ago.
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