Drum sander opinions

[Mark L.]

Greetings All, I am looking to buy either the Delta 31-255X or the Powermax 16-32 Plus unit. Both are available at Amazon, $900(US) for the Delta and $1000 for the Performax (not including a $100 rebate). I think the Delta has a rebate program going (again) for the X5 line of $100 for a single machine, dropping the Delta price to $800. Reading the reviews at Amazon doesn't help much, both machines have people who hate and love their respective machines. Do any of you out there in Wreckland have any opinions? Many TIA, Mark

[bob]

Mark,

Do a Google search in this forum. This topic has been discussed ad nauseum over the years.

Bob

[Rick Samuel]

How does one do a Google search within the NG?

[Upscale]

Click on groups. Type in rec.woodworking. In the box just left to "search this group" type in your search parameters.

[Tyke]

Go to

and click on "Groups" then select the rec.woodoworking and type in a search string or just go directly to of drum sanders has been asked many times.

[dadiOH]

Fact #1 - with either, you will need to extend the table if you ever intend to sand boards of any length.

Fact #2 - Performax table is fixed, head goes up and down

Fact #3 - Delta table goes up and down, head is fixed.

Question - which do you think is easier to fit with table extensions?

-- dadiOH ____________________________

dadiOH's dandies v3.06... ...a help file of info about MP3s, recording from LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that. Get it at

[Larry Jaques]

On Sun, 4 Sep 2005 07:37:00 -0500, the blithe spirit "Rick Samuel" clearly indicated:

Goto

"Groups" Select "Advanced Group Search" Put "rec.woodworking" in the group field. Select any other limiters you want in the rest of the fields.

Voilá!

.-. Better Living Through Denial ---

Wondrous Website Design

[Frank Boettcher]

Fact#4 Delta table which raises and lowers is heavy cast iron supported by four posts. drum head is a fixed welded steel assembly.

Fact#5 Performax table is sheet metal and the drum head is in a cast aluminum slide mechanism.

Question - which do you think will deflect the most and which do you think will provide the closest thickness tolerance near to far side of the board.

I already know the answer.

Frank

[David]

Hey Frank, I've heard reports that the next larger Performax is more ridgid that the 16-22. Any comments?

Dave

[Frank Boettcher]

You mean than the 16-32?

No comment on the larger unit. I'm not familiar with it. I witnessed deflection tests comparing the 16-32 Performax and the 18-36 Delta at introduction of the Delta unit. Delta won with inside edge to outside edge thickness differential much lower than Performax. And the Delta unit held that tolerance all through the thickness adjustment and regardless of the width of the board, while the Performax unit had to be tweaked as you changed the width of the board.

This was a few years ago and I can't comment on any improvements that might have been made to Performax.

Frank

[dadiOH]

I have no problem keeping the edges of 16" panels the same thickness. And I can run any length panel too since I have loooooong in/out feed tables. :)

-- dadiOH ____________________________

dadiOH's dandies v3.06... ...a help file of info about MP3s, recording from LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that. Get it at

[David]

oops, yeah I meant 16-32! I'd read somewhere that the larger performax units were beefier and therefore maintained parallelism better.

Dave

[Scott Lurndal]

You can get the 22-44 without a stand for about $1000 (or you could 12 months ago, when I got mine - I had no floorspace, but available bench space).

They're a bit tricky to get exactly parallel to the table, but once set, they work pretty good.

[Luigi Zanasi]

On Sun, 04 Sep 2005 07:48:03 -0700, Larry Jaques scribbled:

That's "voilà", with a grave accent! The acute accent is only used on "e" in French. Sheesh, what they teach kids these days.

Luigi Replace "nonet" with "yukonomics" for real email address