Replies

1. 
   DonC | Apr 02, 2008 05:27pm | #1

   For a few dollars more you can buy a superior wide belt sander. Steel City and Sunhill have models that are affordable.

2. 
   Wingdoctor | Apr 02, 2008 05:42pm | #2

   I have a Performax 22/44 and love it. As long as you do not think of it as a thicknessing machine, and use it as a finishing machine, it will do a great job. The dealer I bought it from is also a large Delta dealer. There are a couple of Delta machines that he will not stock and sell and the drum sander is one of them. He says it has many problems with getting ouf of adjustment and it is not as reliable as the Performax line. He has never steered me wrong so I take his advise at face value.

   Bruce

   "A man's got to know his limitations." Dirty Harry Calahan
3. 
   Y1RET | Apr 02, 2008 10:03pm | #3

   I agree with Bruce. I have the Performax 22/44 and am very happy with it. I first used one in a class I took at Woodcraft. The master cabinetmaker teaching the class told us he had an older one in his shop that gets a ton of use. I bought mine for a project I had to make a couple hundred oak panels for.  It works great for me and I have had Zero problems with it. The only thing to remember is to make small (very small, just a bump will do) depth adjustments as you make multiple passes.  

    

   I have never used a wide built so I can’t say if a drum or wide belt is better. Just that my Performax works well for me.

    

   Just my $0.02

    

   Bob T.

4. 
   JeffHeath | Apr 03, 2008 02:30am | #4

   I had the Delta, and returned it, as it was a piece of junk.  I got the 16/32 from performax, and have been using it for about 10 years.  3 months ago, I finally had to change the drive belt, as it was well worn (and well used, too!!).

   A wide belt is definately better, but more money, too.  Once you have licked to short learning curve on tuning the cantilevered drum, which is pretty easy to do, you will like it.

   I use it for all my face frames, and all my glue-up door panels.  With 80 grit paper, it flattens em' up nice, and I use it to remove tear out on all stock.  Then, I hand plane for finish, but you can ROS if you wish, also.

   Jeff

1. 
   rsaunders | Apr 03, 2008 03:09am | #5

   I take issue with your contention that the Delta is junk, although I will be the first to admit it does not come ready to use from the factory. With an hours investment in setup the Delta is a fine machine capable of matching the performance and ease of use of the Performax."There are men in all ages who mean to govern well, but they mean to govern. They promise to be good masters, but they mean to be masters."
   -- Daniel Webster

1. 
   northhouguy | Apr 03, 2008 05:37am | #7

   R,

   You must be a delta dealer or stock holder.

   If one purchases anything delta they should be ready to get out their tools and spend WAY more than an hour assembling their "kit".  Not to worry, the parts that were missing, broken or so poorly manufactured the can't be modified to fit, will arrive factory fresh from China in ten days. 

   Then they should plan on spending lots of time repairing/modifying the piece of Chinese junk.  Of course if your hobby is machine repair, not woodworking, by all means, by delta. 

   Delta:  The Edsel of woodworking.

1. 
   rsaunders | Apr 03, 2008 06:04am | #8

   I used to be a Delta dealer before they sold out to Black and Pecker tool wrecker. I was specifically talking about the drum sander which I have had much experience with. I have no doubt Delta, Porter Cable, Devilbiss and the rest of the Pentair tool group will cease to exist as viable tools as has been the case with every other tool that B&D has got their greedy thieving mitts on. Parts are already a major problem and customer service is damn near nonexistent. All americans can take pride in another quality line that has been sacrificed to the altar of corporate greed and the wal-mart mentality. Welcome to the third world, we all collectively made it happen, live with it.
   That particular sander needs about an hour of setup to adjust the table, after that it works flawlessly and is worth the asking price. If it takes you more than an hour perhaps you had better pick a different field of endeavor. I can do it in 20 minutes. If you are going to buy a higher quality brand you had better do it soon before it takes a truckload of devalued dollars to do so.
   Do you have any experience with this tool or are you just bitching because you can't run a dial indicator and a wrench?"There are men in all ages who mean to govern well, but they mean to govern. They promise to be good masters, but they mean to be masters."
   -- Daniel Webster

2. 
   JeffHeath | Apr 04, 2008 02:40am | #9

   Take issue all you like, sir.  I'm giving my well versed opinion of it, and all Delta tools that I have had to replace over a 20 year professional career.  Every Delta power tool that I purchased new (10 years ago was the last) required to be returned do to malfunctions.  Sorry, but I don't believe that a tool purchase should require the purchaser to jump through extraordinary hoops to get the machine operating the way it is supposed to at the onset.

   Here's my list of Delta tools replaced, and why:

   Unisaw-table top was so wavy that feeler guages were laughable, more like wooden shims to measure how deep the valleys were.

   Drum sander-wouldn't stay tuned for more than 20 minutes.  Constantly had to adjust it.  Delta themselves told me to return it after many phone calls to customer service.  Bought and used the Performax immediately with initial setup.  Only requires occasional re-calibration of drum-to-bed adjustment.  10 years of happy service.

   DJ-30 jointer-supposed to be a commercial tool.  Infeed and outfeed tables not in the same plane.  Couldn't flatten a board.  Returned, and purchased used Northfield 12" HD that I still own today.

   Delta Drill Press-floor model-don't remember model #.  Runout was so bad it couldn't drill a hole of chosen drill bit diameter.  Returned it to Delta dealer (at the time was Rockler)  they had it tested by Delta rep, who offered to replace it with another.  No thanks, bought a Jet, and have been happy since.

   Shall I continue?  I can if you'd like. 

   I'll never buy anything with Delta scribed on it again..........Junk.......in my opinion.

   I'm a professional with no time for tools that don't work as designed.  How the hell can a weekend warrior improve if they buy tools like the ones I got, and not have enough experience to know that it is the tool at fault, and not them.  I would guess that most would just give up the hobby.

   Just my opinion, and it's worth what you paid for it.

   Jeff

    

5. 
   BruceS | Apr 03, 2008 05:25am | #6

   I've got the "baby" of the Performax line 10-20 and it extremely usefull.  If $$ permitted I would have the 22-44 which a friend of mine has.  I wouldn't be without a drum sander now.

   Work Safe,  Count to 10 when your done for the day !!

   Bruce S. 

    

6. 
   RickL | Apr 04, 2008 06:58pm | #10

   Personally I'd go with a stroke sander over a drum sander for general purpose sanding. Mosty folks don't even know what they are or can do which is a shame.  Years ago FWW used to have a few articles on the subject but it seems the drum sander has eclipsed the stroke sander and unfairly so.  There's thing. it can do that a widebelt can't. In shops where we had a widebelt we also had a stroke sander as well. The stroke sander is far superior to a drum sander. A drum sander still needs hand or random orbit sanding before finishing but wood off a stroke sander is ready to go right into finishing. Lots ofcompanies like Minimax, Grizzly, Woodworkers Supply, etc, have them in their catalog but very few people know how to use them it appears. One of the top marquetry guys in the country has a Minimax stroke sander in his shop, Silas Kopf.