22-44 Plus Drum Sander w/Closed Stand & Casters - 649005K  Product Reviews

"After looking at the units offered by Delta and Grizzly and reading the reviews I opted for the performax. The machine arrived very well packed (it came in 4 separate boxes and was delivered by two different carriers on two different days AHHH!!!). I spent maybe an hour putting things together and tuning it up. The sander was out of parallel but this was an easy fix. After assembly I noticed the depth gage was missing. A quick call to WMH customer service and I had the parts in two days(they could not have been nicer). My only complaint is the casters are inline and do not allow for turning the machine when you move it. As for tracking the conveyer belt it took about two minutes and has not moved since. All the complaints I have read about these machines lead me to conclude that the buyers were trying to cut too deeply and to fast. I will also say that abrasive planning is definitely possible if you go slow and take shallow cuts. I surfaced a 33"X48" butcher block counter top with this sander and the results were very impressive. Like very machine in a shop, you just have to take time to learn it and its limitations. I highly recommend this tool for any small pro shop or the very serious hobbyist. "

"I purchased this drum sander a week ago. I am rating the Performax 22x44 Plus Drum Sander with Closed Stand. The stand is completely assembled in the box. This is the first machine that I have assembled and didn't have any extra bolts or washers. Assembly was exactly as it was supposed to be with everything lining up perfectly. All allen wrenches were provided for assembly. I only had to tighten the brake pedal. The paint job is wonderful. The motor assembly is extremely heavy, however, I was able to assemble the entire machine in 20 minutes. I purchased the optional infeed/outfeed tables and think they are great but should cost less than $100, more like $50. No, they should be included, but are not necessary. Performance: The motor is unbelievable quiet. No vibration at all. It is hard to tell sometimes if the motor is running it is so quiet. I sanded a 14 inch wide board and the results were amazing. Dust collection is a must and my Delta 1200 CFM pulls 99% of the dust. I use a 30 AMP service for the drum sander. Drum alignment was spot on. It was only off by .002 of an inch. No adjustment needed at all! I give it 4 stars because the mobile base moves inline and does not allow you to easily steer the machine. I also wished the conveyor motor was a little beefier. No problems. I just would like the assurance. The motor adjusts from 0 to 10 fpm. (Update 12-1-06: I received the "handy" tool to assist with sanding belt changes. I COMPLETELY disagree with the instructions for changing the sandpaper on the drum. It is not necessary to use this tool. I and my family think this way is much better: Attach the paper to both sides, but do NOT tighten it on the motor side as instructed. Simply tighten it by hand on the left side where you have much more room and can do it with your fingers. If you own this tool you will see exactly what I am talking about. It is so easy this way. I am so happy I received this machine. It was given as an early Father's Day gift."

"When this thing is tuned and working properly, it's a great machine. Alas, those moments are rare. I spend more time adjusting it than actually using it. First, setting the sanding drum parallel to the table is a pain in the ass. The owner's manual says that parallelism is set at the factory and should not hafta be set by the owner. When I received mine, it was out by 3/8"! This is a huge amount. Obviously, the quality control department was at lunch when my machine was assembled. To set the parallelism, four bolts are loosed and a knob is turned. The problem arises from the fact that there is so much play in these components, that by the time everything is re-tightened, it is out of parallel again. So, to set it is very much a hit-or-miss process. Second, attaching the sandpaper belt to the drum is another pain in the ass. There are two clips that hold the sandpaper, one on either end. The first one is easy to set because it is on the outboard and you can see it and reach it. But the in-board clip cannot be seen. The clearance between the drum and the frame is really tight. Performax supplies a wire thingamajig to open the clip and keep the sandpaper taut. This works kinda. But if you have bear paws for hands, forget it. Third, it's tough to keep the sandpaper taut. Pulling the sandpaper taut, working the thingamajig and pulling the tab into the clip is an exercise in frustration. Then the belts will stretch and need to be re-tightened. And the belts will always rise away from the drum by about 1 mm where they turn into clip. The clip is at 90 degrees to the drum, so, you could crease the sandpaper so it fits better but when you do that, it weakens the sandpaper and it will break. So, with this bump, you really don't have a full 22" because it doesn't sand correctly at the bump in the sandpaper. And forget trying to sand something 44" wide-I'd rather use 36 grit as toilet paper than sand a wide face frame. Fourth, wood burns for no apparent reason. I get these areas, usually 3/8" wide where something attaches itself to the belt and boom, there is a band of pitch that is burned onto the sandpaper and will never come off. This pitch immediately starts gouging the wood. I use a dust collector rated at 1100 CFM and I clean the belt often with a crepe rubber stick. Also, whenever I sand something greater than 6" wide I increase the depth of cut only 1/8 of a revolution at a time (1/128"). So, I've come to the conclusion that this is underpowered. The automatic feed limiter doesn't solve this problem. In fact, if the feed limiter kicks in, at least 50% of the time, I'll get a wide swath of burn marks. So, I always feed so slow the feed limiter doesn't kick in. Fifth, the belts break long before the abrasive is gone. And given the cost of these belts, it makes using this machine too expensive. So, unless you like fiddling with your machines more than you like working wood, stay away from this. Oh, there are a few good points. The stand is nice and sturdy. The casters are great. And the stand has a nice shelf to store sandpaper. Nice paint job too. UPDATE A friend reccommended that I not use the crepe rubber to clean my belts. This has helped reduce burning a lot. So, I would now give this machine 3 stars and strongly reccommend that you do not use the crepe rubber pad sold by Grizzly for cleaning drum sanders."