Replies

1. 
   BruceS | Dec 07, 2006 06:29pm | #1

   I have the Performax's baby brother,  the 10-20 and love it.  The drum tilt is easy to adjust with the aid of a set  of digital calipers to tweek it in perfectly.

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

   Bruce S. 

    

2. 
   bones | Dec 07, 2006 06:38pm | #2

   I bought a drum sander and looked at the two models you spoke of.  I ended up with the delta x5 18-36 (no different from the standard except warantee).  I researched as much as I could and read all the reviews. In the end I liked the solid base better and design just a bit more. Less to get out of adjustment. Thats just my personal opinion. I am not a pro that uses it every day, but have used it a lot. The belt will not slip out. It is spring loaded and holds tight. I did screw up my first belt and put in backwards rotation. It snapped quick and I shut it off. Learned and never had a problem  since.  Both the belt drive and drum motor is protected with a circuit breaker. If you over work it, it will pop and you have to wait a few minutes to reset. Did that once. Got in a hurry and tried to take too much off at once. It was a lot of wide boards and it was my fault. I backed off, and learned to slow it down and take lite passes, and have not had a pop since. I bought mine from woodcraft when they had the delta days 10% off. Matter of fact it is this saturday at woodcraft.  Just keep in mind it only removes wood in very small increments.  Some people wrote horrible reviews of both models, but they were looking for it to act as a thickness planer. Which ever one you get a dust collection system is a must.  I have used it on some wide panels and it worked flawlessley.  I have all the different grits that they offer up through 220. I wish they had a higher grit.  I'ts not a got to have tool, but it does make life a lot easier.  I bought 4 lockable casters and put them on mine. Makes rolling it around a lot easier.  I move it out use it and put it a way. Great tool. Good luck on the decision. 

1. 
   Gear | Dec 08, 2006 08:20am | #6

   Thanks for the comments. When you put through a panel wider than 18" do you adjust the base to put a crown in the middle to avoid a mark where the two passes cone together?I am making a set of kitchen cabinets with the shaker style door center panels made of 1/2" bookmatched walnut. My planer is only 12" so my plan was to resaw and plane the panels to slightly oversize, glue up as flat as I can and then sand to true up the panel. Because of the wood I am using it is imortant to have the panels as flat I can Thanks again fore your help!Gear

1. 
   bones | Dec 08, 2006 06:13pm | #10

   Here is how I do panels wider than 18".  The largest I have done is a top for a cedar chest that was about 22" wide and 7/8" thick red oak (it was a heavy bugger). I do not adjust the base. I overlap the the passes that evens it all out. I will put the panel through and rotate it 180 degrees and put it back through.  I make very lite passes with succeeding grit, up through 220.  You will find the panels very flat.  I do mark my panels with chalk zig-zags to get a quick judgement on my highs and lows of the panel. It will be obvious. The initial pass is made with a low grit, usually 80. You will see obvious parallel scratch marks from the low grit.  I make a single pass through, and rotate and repeat untill the whole surface has the same scratch mark pattern. I then go up to the next belt. Continue until the new smaller scratches replace the larger ones. This will vary depending on the thickness I want to obtain.  If the lower grit did the job to get it close, will go strait to 120, and then 220.  I always allow extra thickness from the thickness planer to allow for bringing it down to flat.  I finish the sanding by hand with higher final grit i.e. 400, but that is quick and painless usually a single pass by the ROS.  I did no adjustments to mine at all. I check my panels against my flatest surface I have which is my 1023 ts, and they are dead flat.  Before the drum, I use to make sure all surfaces were equal coming out of the planer and glue up had to be perfect. Now, just get it close and let the sander take care of the rest. I love it.  The biggest hurdle is accepting the fact that this will not be a fast process.  Now a friend of mine has the big Grizzly dual drum that is fast, but that's in a differnet price range than I can afford.  I think either way you go you will be ok.

3. 
   frenchy | Dec 07, 2006 08:08pm | #3

   Gear

    have you looked at Grizzly? I know one owner who swears by his.. I'm looking at it as well since I have a relatively large amount of Burl and I don't want to risk tear out on my planner..

1. 
   Gear | Dec 08, 2006 08:23am | #7

   Thanks for the note. I have not looked at Grizley. I have looked at the General 1 and 2 drum heavy enclosed machines but unfortunatly i do not have the shop space. The smaller size attracted me the the Delta and PerformaxThanks againGear

4. 
   Radio Flyer | Dec 08, 2006 12:36am | #4

   I have had the Performax 22/44 enclosed stand for a bit over one year.  I really like it, but it took some precise tuning to get it right on.

   Just remember it is not a thickness sander and you must take light passes.  As I do a substantial amount of solid lumber cabinets it comes in very handy for cleaning up wide 24" plus edge laminated pieces.  My last pass is with a 220G and it comes off just about ready for finishing.  A light hand sanding is usually all that's required.

   Keep the passes very light!   Thanks, Glenn 

1. 
   Gear | Dec 08, 2006 08:29am | #8

   Radio FlyerIf you are making cabinets from solid panels I am assuming you are using the sander to true up glued up Panels. That is what I am planning to do with solid walnut shaker style cabinet doors. My plan is to resaw plane and book match the panels to just over 1/2 " and true up with the sander. Because of the dark wood I am concerned with how flat I can make them. Thanks for you comments.Gear

1. 
   Radio Flyer | Dec 08, 2006 07:34pm | #11

   Good question, as the other reply you received, I have been able to get a thickness across a 24" wide panel of less than 6-8 thou.  Especially when taking nice light passes.

   Last night I surfaced a panel 36" wide.  Min thk: .752", Max 0.757

   Not bad.

5. 
   mrbird90 | Dec 08, 2006 04:41am | #5

   I purchased the Performax 16/32 about a year ago and since then I have sanded 1/2" thick planed wood for som e 50 plus drawers , The drawers range from 2" to 10" in depth and it has performed up to expectations. I take very light passes, usually 3 to take off .032" I plane the wood to 1/32 over size and then take to size with 150 grit, no need for further sanding. Took an hour or so to adjust it so that a 16" wide board has no more then .008" variation in thickness from side to side. This is within the accuracy of the machine. No problem with the paper coming loose. Only problem is that any glue will raise he## with the paper so I never put glued up pieces through with out first going through the planer. Would recommend the Performax 16/32 but not for a high volume production shop.

1. 
   Gear | Dec 08, 2006 08:36am | #9

   Thanks for the comments.When you had problem with he glue did you use a scraper to remove the glue before? My reason for bying the sander was to true glued up panels that are wider than my planer. Thanks again!Gear

1. 
   mrbird90 | Dec 09, 2006 02:45am | #12

   I scraped about 90 % off and left just a little at one end where there was a snipe and just a little glue about the size of a dime and probably only .005" thick ( the thickness of a human hair) and it was enough to make a band on the sanding roll. So take care to get all, I mean all the glue off.