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Abe
 
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Default General Int'l 25" double drum sander #15-250 -- opinions?

Dear all,

I'm contemplating purchasing a General #15-250 sander. I have checked
with Uncle Google, but haven't found many accounts of extended real-
world experience with this beast. Can anybody comment on
quality/reliability, ease of adjustment and use, ease of replacing
paper, effectiveness of dust collection, etc. of the machine?

Also, anybody know where "General International" tools are actually
made? I didn't see it on General's site, nor on the google cites I
checked.

Any comments about the likelihood of satisfaction with this purchase
welcomed. Pointers to where it can be found at the lowest price also
gratefully welcomed.

Cheers,
Abe


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Bob S.
 
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Default General Int'l 25" double drum sander #15-250 -- opinions?

Can't comment on their sander (I have the Performax) but I did buy the
General International mortise. Chiwanese but supposedly under General's QC.
I found it to have a couple of minor problems which were easily solved and
it was a fair value.

I doubt I would purchase another General International product because of
the lack of support from General. Took over a two months to get a
replacement part since they don't stock any spares in Canada for the product
line (at least not last year).

Bob S.


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GeeDubb
 
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Default General Int'l 25" double drum sander #15-250 -- opinions?


"Abe" wrote in message
. net...
Dear all,

I'm contemplating purchasing a General #15-250 sander. I have checked
with Uncle Google, but haven't found many accounts of extended real-
world experience with this beast. Can anybody comment on
quality/reliability, ease of adjustment and use, ease of replacing
paper, effectiveness of dust collection, etc. of the machine?

Also, anybody know where "General International" tools are actually
made? I didn't see it on General's site, nor on the google cites I
checked.

Any comments about the likelihood of satisfaction with this purchase
welcomed. Pointers to where it can be found at the lowest price also
gratefully welcomed.

Cheers,
Abe


I've got one. There is a learning curve to properly installing the sanding
strips and figuring out the correct grit to use. I managed to destroy
several belts within the first couple of uses due to my stupidity more than
anything. I didn't have the belts tight enough and they shred very easily.

It's under powered so it's necessary to take very shallow passes. I believe
the thinnest stock you can sand is 3/16" inch which in my experience is
fine.

Any knots or areas of soft grain may gum up sections of the sand paper
leaving burn marks in the wood or even digging a trough in the wood (mostly
seen with the knotty alder I was making cabinet doors out of). This is
where the advantage of a wide belt sander (e.g., Timesaver) has an advantage

The front drum is fixed an not adjustable as far as I can tell so if it's
out of parallel with the table you're screwed. The rear drum can be
adjusted for parallel or depth of cut which comes in handy as you go to
finer papers.

But my biggest complaint about the machine is that it's not the 37" model!
This machine is really on good to about 23" and that's pushing the limit.
Any larger surface and the stress on the sand paper increases where the
paper is the narrowest, where it attaches to the spring clamps. One learns
to put wide sections together in two pieces, sanding each then assembling
them.

Dust collection is good but then I have a 3 hp Oneida with a 6" feeder
supplying the two 4" pick-ups. MDF causes some problems but then most
people won't be sanding MDF (I needed some 3/8" MDF and only had 1/2").

Once you figure out how to properly set up and use this machine I think you
will like it.
I just wish I would have sprung for the wider model because inevitably I
always seem to need the extra width.

Gary


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Abe
 
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Default General Int'l 25" double drum sander #15-250 -- opinions?

In article ,
says...
Can't comment on their sander (I have the Performax) but I did buy the
General International mortise. Chiwanese but supposedly under General's QC.
I found it to have a couple of minor problems which were easily solved and
it was a fair value.

I doubt I would purchase another General International product because of
the lack of support from General. Took over a two months to get a
replacement part since they don't stock any spares in Canada for the product
line (at least not last year).

Bob S.


Bob -- thanks. Support matters to me, too; should have included it in
the list of criteria that are important. Which Performax do you have?
Looking at their product line, the size that makes most sense to me is
one of the 22/44s, or something similar. As I mentioned in another
response, I'm worried the non-cantilevered 25" size of the General is
going to be too restrictive in the long run.

One thing that has put me off so far about Performax is the reviews on
Amazon's site. Though few complain about the quality of the machines,
an amazing number of people complain about shipping problems, in
particular about receiving damaged units or boxes with missing parts. I
wonder whether this is peculiar to Amazon (which from personal
experience delivers a lot of damaged merchandise, even books, if you use
the default shipping) or whether Performax itself doesn't do shipping
well. Crappy factory packaging or something like that. I suppose I
could buy one locally, but state sales tax really adds up. Any
thoughts?

Best,
Abe

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Bob S.
 
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Default General Int'l 25" double drum sander #15-250 -- opinions?

Abe,

Buy locally and support your local suppliers. The difference in cost is
neglible compared to the alternatives.

I have the 16/32 and it's a great hobbyist, light duty shop sander. The
22/44 is more commercial grade and thats the reason for the price
difference. Bigger, better motor, bearings etc. Not trying to make the
16/32 sound like a wimp, it does what its supposed to do and does it well
but it sounds like you're looking for something better like the 22/44.

All the reviews I've read have favored the Performax models for this size
sander.

Bob S.


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klaatu
 
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Default General Int'l 25" double drum sander #15-250 -- opinions?

On Sat, 25 Oct 2003 20:59:27 GMT, Abe wrote:

In article ,
says...

Once you figure out how to properly set up and use this machine I think you will like it.
I just wish I would have sprung for the wider model because inevitably I always seem to
need the extra width.



Gary -- thanks much for the detailed reply. Whether the width will be
adequate for the long haul is also a big worry for me, so your comment
leads me back to wondering whether I should opt instead for a
cantilevered Performax or something similar that can at least do wider
panels in two passes. Tough choices...

Best,
Abe

Did you check out the Delta 18x36 X drum sander? Looks like they
improved on last years model. More $ but may be worth it.
  #10   Report Post  
David F. Eisan
 
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Default General Int'l 25" double drum sander #15-250 -- opinions?

Dear Abe,

snip of, looking for info on General International 15-250

Almost without question, I am sure I have the most experience with that
machine than anyone else on here. The company I work for is in the top 5
dealers for General and General International worldwide. I have sold *many*
of these machines and I know them very well.

The few small problems I have had with them are,

- A couple had a snipe problem that required a service call, and one that
could not be fixed in the field that we replaced with a new machine and
returned the defective one to General.
- Table levelling problems. This seemed to stem more from shipping than
anything else. Only the most mechanically uninclined users were unable to
fix this themselves when the procedure was explained to them.


The biggest problem I have had with the machine is pilot error. It is not a
planer and as such, like any drum sander, it can only remove so much
material in each pass. One client that we delivered a machine to said it was
a total POS and insisted that I go back and pick it up. When I sent the
service person to visit, the client was trying to run the machine without
dust collection. Duh, no wonder it didn't work. The machine has two 4" dust
ports on it, dust evacuation is very important on a drum sander. Some people
have tried to run a single 4" pipe to the machine and then split it into the
two fours that the machine required. While this will work, barely, it is not
how it is supposed to be run and your results will not be as good as they
should be due to lack of CFM. You need to run a 6" to the machine and just
before the hood, break it off into two 4" lines. From users who cannot get
the machines to work for them, the major complaints is burning. Ninety nine
percent of the time this is, again, due to pilot error trying to take off
too much with too fine and grit. Mix that with not enough CFM at the machine
and of course the results were not very good.

I sell these machines all the time and I like them. For a 3 hp dual drum 25"
sander it is a very good value. There are no known issues with this machine
that would make me suggest you not buy it. What I do strongly suggest
though, is that you buy it from your local dealer. If and when you need
support, your local dealer is the best person to provide this. If you do
find a substantially lower price somewhere else, at lease give your local
guy the opportunity to get as close to that price. A good dealer who stands
behind the products they sell is worth much more than saving a few bucks by
internet shopping.

If you have any specific questions about the machine, please ask.

Oh, and the machine is made by this company,

http://www.maoshan.com/

and this is the specific link to the sander,

http://www.maoshan.com/p4_ds-25.htm

Thanks,

David.

Every neighbourhood has one, in mine, I'm him.

Remove the "splinter" from my email address to email me.

Newbies, please read this newsgroups FAQ.

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David F. Eisan
 
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Default General Int'l 25" double drum sander #15-250 -- opinions?

Hello there,

snip of, I am having problems with my General International 15-250

With regard to paper choice, the best paper I have found is Klingspore
CS-311 paper. Most of the cheap sandpaper has too thin a backing material,
or worse a cloth backing material that causes it to stretch *way* to much
causing the paper to bunch up, cause burning and/or tear. Klingspore CS-311
is the sandpaper Performax relabels and sells as it's own to go with their
machines.

About the front drum, you are right, it is fixed, but the table isn't. Like
the larger Performax models it was based on, you adjust the table to the
front drum, not the other way around. What you need to do is take off the
side panels and disengage the "mitre" gear on one side of the rod across the
bottom of the machine that connects the height adjustment wheel to the
raise/lower screws on both sides. With the two screws no longer "tied" to
each other, you can raise and lower one side of the table without moving the
other. It is very easy to do.

Thanks,

David.

Every neighbourhood has one, in mine, I'm him.

Remove the "splinter" from my email address to email me.

Newbies, please read this newsgroups FAQ.

rec.ww FAQ http://www.robson.org/woodfaq/
Archives http://groups.google.com/advanced_group_search
Crowbar FAQ http://www.klownhammer.org/crowbar



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