Replies

1. 
   PnCbWshp | Sep 06, 2004 03:34am | #1

   I've used mine for 3 years now. Its great for some things. Finish sanding is not one of them.

   You will not be want to take anything off of the sander and go directly into the paint/finish room. Even with 220 grit, you will want to finish with a random orbit or by hand.

   Flattening table tops, finetuning thickness, sanding curly grain, and ultra-thin sanding are some things this machine is good at.

   Be aware that getting the drum parallel to the sanding table in very difficult due to the poor design of the adjustment system, but it can be done. The drive belt tracking system is similarily poor.

   Watch out when sanding gummy wood such as cherry, pitch woods such as pine, and most oily woods. You will loadup the belt which will result in friction burned streaks in your wood surface. Often the belt will be rendered useless (belts are expense).

   You will want/need the table extensions.

   After all that, I would not be without my 16-32 and wish I would have bought the 22-44.

2. 
   nikkiwood | Sep 06, 2004 07:52am | #2

   You're not getting many responses here, because this whole issue was discussed pretty thoroughly about 2 weeks ago.

   Try doing a search, and if you can't turn up the thread, post here again, and I will look too. The Prospero search function is pretty crappy and confusing.

3. 
   Julmer | Sep 07, 2004 12:45am | #3

   I didn't post to the past discussion, but here is some additional information.  I've had my performax for about 5 years. I use it on almost everyproject I build.

   I second the warning about woods with pitch. Also when sanding a glued up panel (yellow glue) you can minimize the chance for gumming up your board by running it thru at an angle.

   I've lowered my sandpaper costs by buying rolls off the internet/ebay and cutting/wrapping the drum. They are working well.

   A trick for aligning the drum is to have two gage blocks (exactly the same thickness). Place one at each end to the drum to support it while adjusting/bolting the drum in place. I added a very thin (1/100) shim to the block on the outside/open end to help me sand wider panels +16" 

   I also random orbit sand after using either 180 or 220 grit on the performax. But the time savings come by being able to often go right from my planer or saw to a 180/220 grit pass without have to work up thru rougher gits.

4. 
   johnhardy | Sep 08, 2004 06:22pm | #4

   I'll add one other tidbit. If you're going to sand wide pieces, you need to take extremely light passes. This puppy is underpowered and will overheat and trip the internal breaker if you're too aggressive on wide stock.

   Ditto on everything else.

   John