Hi folks,
I'm getting ready to purchase a drum sander and wondered what the collective
wisdom of the group was.
I own a small cabinet/custom furniture shop. I plan to use it for finish
sanding, and may rarely use it for very light thickness planing (cleaning up
misalignment of large glue-ups). I've heard bad things about the delta
units, and am leaning towards the performax (either 16-32 or 22-44). I've
thought a lot about the "industrial" units - the closed frame types, but to
get into the size range that I really need, they start at about 10K.....

any thoughts?

thanks
-_JD

I own the Delta, use it, like it, haven't had any problems, serious or
otherwise, with it.

--
Mike G.

Heirloom Woods
www.heirloom-woods.net
"j.duprie" wrote in message
...
Hi folks,
I'm getting ready to purchase a drum sander and wondered what the
collective
wisdom of the group was.
I own a small cabinet/custom furniture shop. I plan to use it for finish
sanding, and may rarely use it for very light thickness planing (cleaning
up
misalignment of large glue-ups). I've heard bad things about the delta
units, and am leaning towards the performax (either 16-32 or 22-44). I've
thought a lot about the "industrial" units - the closed frame types, but
to
get into the size range that I really need, they start at about 10K.....

any thoughts?

thanks
-_JD

You wont regret the 16-32 or the 22-44. I love mine, use it everyday.

Jim


"j.duprie" wrote in message
...
Hi folks,
I'm getting ready to purchase a drum sander and wondered what the
collective
wisdom of the group was.
I own a small cabinet/custom furniture shop. I plan to use it for finish
sanding, and may rarely use it for very light thickness planing (cleaning
up
misalignment of large glue-ups). I've heard bad things about the delta
units, and am leaning towards the performax (either 16-32 or 22-44). I've
thought a lot about the "industrial" units - the closed frame types, but
to
get into the size range that I really need, they start at about 10K.....

any thoughts?

thanks
-_JD

Can't speak for the Performax, but I would avoid the Delta for a small
cabinet/furniture shop. It WILL NOT sand wide panels with paper 120
without burning unless you run the panels very, very slowly and take a
minuscule bite. Even then, it might burn. Your rework time will eat up any
other time savings. If you are really running a production shop, buy a
production piece of equipment, even used.

Bob


"j.duprie" wrote in message
...
Hi folks,
I'm getting ready to purchase a drum sander and wondered what the
collective
wisdom of the group was.
I own a small cabinet/custom furniture shop. I plan to use it for finish
sanding, and may rarely use it for very light thickness planing (cleaning
up
misalignment of large glue-ups). I've heard bad things about the delta
units, and am leaning towards the performax (either 16-32 or 22-44). I've
thought a lot about the "industrial" units - the closed frame types, but
to
get into the size range that I really need, they start at about 10K.....

any thoughts?

thanks
-_JD

In article ,
j.duprie wrote:
Hi folks,
I'm getting ready to purchase a drum sander and wondered what the collective
wisdom of the group was.
I own a small cabinet/custom furniture shop. I plan to use it for finish
sanding, and may rarely use it for very light thickness planing (cleaning up
misalignment of large glue-ups). I've heard bad things about the delta
units, and am leaning towards the performax (either 16-32 or 22-44). I've
thought a lot about the "industrial" units - the closed frame types, but to
get into the size range that I really need, they start at about 10K.....


You've probably thought it through pretty well, but are you *sure* a
24" closed end unit like the General or Grizzly won't suit your needs?
I have the Performax 16/32 which is tolerable for a hobbiest but I'd
sure want something faster if I were a pro. If 90% of what you do
is narrow stock like stiles/rails and door panels and you only
occasionally want to do larger panels like tabletops I think you'd be a
lot happier with a 24" non-cantilevered unit. The top end of their
feed rate is twice that of the 16/32 and they have higher horsepower
drum motors to handle that feed rate. You might ask for opinions on
The Oak forum (http://theoak.com/cgi-bin/tools1/tools1.pl). There are
a lot of pros participating there and they have pretty strong opinions
about drum sanders.

--
Scott Post http://home.insightbb.com/~sepost/

An interesting opinion. I own a Delta and do, on occasion and if I am not
diligent, get some build up on the sanding strip that will cause some
burning.

However, what I find interesting is that you profess not to know anything
about the performax but would avoid the Delta because it causes burns..

Since the principles of operation are exactly the same, both have a drum,
covered with a strip of sandpaper, with adjustable feed speed, adjustable
depth of cut, and, in the case of the Delta, adjustable drum speed, I'm not
sure if the performax has and adjustable drum speed or not. Sanding by any
machine, or by hand for that matter, creates heat through friction, heat
build up, if ignored, causes a gummy build up on any sandpaper on any
machine, enough build up causes excess heat, excessive heat causes burning.
Why would you assume the problem is unique to the Delta and advise people to
avoid it for that reason? .

While I agree that a production grade machine is desirable in a high
production shop if the cost can be justified, the poster states that that
was out his price range at the moment but a wide belt sander is required. In
those circumstances and considering your ignorance of all the factors I
find the advice to avoid the Delta rather baseless. Now, if you want to warn
that caution should be used to avoid build up on the sanding medium to avoid
burning, that would be a different story.

I'll take it on faith that you have extensive experience with a production
type wide belt sander and your recommendation implies that the burning
situation would not be a factor with one of those machines whether due
caution was used or not.


--
Mike G.

Heirloom Woods
www.heirloom-woods.net
"bob" wrote in message
...
Can't speak for the Performax, but I would avoid the Delta for a small
cabinet/furniture shop. It WILL NOT sand wide panels with paper 120
without burning unless you run the panels very, very slowly and take a
minuscule bite. Even then, it might burn. Your rework time will eat up
any
other time savings. If you are really running a production shop, buy a
production piece of equipment, even used.

Bob


"j.duprie" wrote in message
...
Hi folks,
I'm getting ready to purchase a drum sander and wondered what the
collective
wisdom of the group was.
I own a small cabinet/custom furniture shop. I plan to use it for finish
sanding, and may rarely use it for very light thickness planing
(cleaning
up
misalignment of large glue-ups). I've heard bad things about the delta
units, and am leaning towards the performax (either 16-32 or 22-44).
I've
thought a lot about the "industrial" units - the closed frame types, but
to
get into the size range that I really need, they start at about 10K.....

any thoughts?

thanks
-_JD

I just got the Delta despite some of the negative reviews (which may
not have been on the so-called "new" X5 machines - not sure there are
real differences). I had planned to get the Performax 16-32, but
seeing it next to the Delta at the WWS show convinced me to go with
the Delta. I'd look at both. I felt the Delta was heavier built.
You cannot rack the arm unless you're a heck of a lot stronger than I
am. It is also belt drive, which I prefer. It has 2 drum speeds,
which I doubt I'll ever take advantage of, and has a take-off that
you can connect a pneumatic drum to if so inclined. A friend has the
older 22-44 Performax, and it is much beefier than the new one, which
is just a larger 16-32, albeit about half the price of the old one.

I have run about 100 bf through the sander on a variety of grits and
multiple times per board, of course. A mini-review given the limited
use to date:

Out of the box dead-on alignment. The drum is parallel to the table
within 0.002" measured by dial calipers on a 14" panel. This is
critical on the Delta since the table moves, not the drum like the
Performax. On the Delta the drum arm is a welded assembly - it is not
adjustable although the table can be and there may be an ability to
adjust the drum within the arm a little bit. Nonetheless, the
accuracy of the weld-up is critical - if it's off you're screwed and
should probably return the unit (this would be readily detectable).
On the other hand, you can't flex this assembly like you can the
Performax (whether that is a practical problem I do not know).

Feed belt tension and tracking is straight-forward and simple. You
will need to adjust this as the feed belt stretches in the first few
hours. The belt table is a wonderfully machined piece of heavy cast
iron.

Changing belts is a piece of cake, the design is very similar to the
Performax. Performax uses 3" belts, the Delta 2". The 3" is more
common and the price on the Delta is a little higher, but under $1 per
belt.

Fit and finish was immaculate. Not high on my list normally, I've
been pleased with all my Grizzly equipment (but unfortunately they do
not make a comparable unit), but I've got to admit this Delta machine
(my first) is a cut above. Of course, the only machine I paid more
for was the Grizzly 1023z cab saw, so it should be nice.

Best is to look at (and try if possible) both units.