Performax 16-32 Plus Drum Sander

[tenbrook]

I have a chance to buy a Performax 16-32 Plus Drum Sander.

I currently use a Grizzly Baby Drum Sander and I'm looking to upgrade.

Is the Performax 16-32 Plus Drum Sander a GREAT unit? I'm looking to get something real nice, if I'm gonna upgrade I only want to do it once.

thanks    

tenbrook

[Walt Francis]

I haven't used the baby grizzly and haven't many of the manufactures, but I am happy with my Preformax (I have the 18/36).   I bought mine used and it took several hours of tinkering to get it tuned up, but once adjusted it has worked great.

[rainman]

Performax is the way to go.

[White Oak]

I am very happy with my Performax 16/32. I bought mine used also and with a little tuning it works like a champ.

[PEARL DRUMS]

I have the Performax planer and it works wonderfully for the money I paid. I have no experience with their drum sander.

[stringstretcher]

Well I got a brand new Grizzly GO459P in 2010.  Was on the phone today with them and had to get new parts for it.  One of the threaded post that raises the conveyor had thread damage and would not allow the conveyor to go up past 1".  Today was the first time I had tried to use it under 1" and the conveyor locked up.  I am not even on my second piece of sandpaper yet.  To say I am not happy is an understatement.

[Walt Francis]

If I remember correctly, the Performax is not designed to go much narrower than 1/2 inch; if you want to go narrower you need to use some type of sled to raise your stock material.  All the thickness sanders I have used had some limit to how narrow they will go.

[Buemaker]

If the SuperMax 19-38 had been available over here I would certainly have checked it out. USDollar 1399. Bue--.

[stringstretcher]

Walt, on the Grizzly, it says not to go below 1/8 in thickness.

[rainman]

I have sanded to 3/32 on the perfromax 16/32 without a sled.

[eflanders]

I thought I read somewhere that those that had used the Delta unit preferred it over the Jet and Performax units.  It had to do with consistency and rigidity across the feed belt / table.  I just got a Woodcraft flyer today and it has the Jet 16-32 @ $1100 with free casters and 3 boxes of sandpaper.  I also noticed that Amazon has the equivelent Delta for about the same price. I too am in the market for one of these machines and I am trying to decide which way to go...

[kennym]

Originally posted by stringstretcher:
Walt, on the Grizzly, it says not to go below 1/8 in thickness.

On my other griz thickness sander, I let the head down and sanded the conveyor belt a little.

The splice was .005 thicker than the rest of the belt.

It said 1/8" min. also.....

[stringstretcher]

I ran quite a few parallel lams to day down to .125, but did not try to go any lower.  But I never would try running a taper lam down that low for sure.  I probably would not have a belt left at all Kenny.....lol.

[wood carver 2]

Are the Grizzly sanders any good? I saw a smaller model for sale for $375 and I was thinking of getting one.
Dave.

[stringstretcher]

They make great tools wood carver, I just happend to get one that had problems, but they are taking care of it.  I like mine for what I use it for.  I got the G0459P, which is the same machine just in a different color.  But I see now, they are the same price and the all green one.  All of the parts for both machines are the exact same.

[White Oak]

eflanders,
         when I was looking for a sander I wasn't sure which to get.I was looking for either a Delta or Performax.I was lucky enough to find a Delta 18/36 and a Performax 16/32 both used at about the same time. I could have bought the Delta a little cheaper and the larger machine was a plus.I also have other older Delta
equipment that I have had excellant success with so I was really leaning that way.
There is a machine repair business in the area that repairs all brands and does repairs in the field on stationary machinery.I thought it might be worth talking to these guys to get a second opinion before I plunked down the cash.Now we all know what opinions are like and everyone has one. But keep  in mind that they sold neither brand.After talking with them I went and bought the Perfomax and after I got it tuned I have never regretted it. Oh it had some problems when I got it. That had nothing to do with the design or quality of the machine.The previous owner had used it very little and never bothered with any of the set up instructions.
I have read about problems with thickness variations and parellelism problems due to the open arm construction and the head moving rather than the table.I haven't seen this since getting the machine properly adjusted.If I am grinding something critical I will make another pass or two when I am close to size without lowering the drum. Similar to a sparkout pass on a precision grinder.If there is a parellelism problem it seems far easier to me to adjust the drum to the table rather than the table to the drum.I adjusted mine using an ohm meter and a pecision ground parellel.And I haven't adjusted it since.You can also use a flash light bulb, battery and some wire.  I also removed the spring under the adjusting screw on the motor side and added a couple of ny-loc nuts.In fact, if you do a search on tuning your Performax sander you will find some great info out there.
I have also found that Performax ,now Jet, has great product support. I needed their help in the beginning and the person I dealt with was not happy until I was satisfied with the machine.It took a few calls.
OK Delta guys! Don't beat me too hard. I have Delta stuff that I wouldn't part with. It has been good to me.This is just my experience with Performax.
take care,
Ed


 
 

[eflanders]

White Oak.  All great information and thanks for doing the reasearch!