Performax / Delta production sander

[marty]

Does anyone have a 16"x32" surface sander? What is the difference betwen the Delta and the Performax? What are some of the pros and cons of such a sander?

Thanks in advance!!

Marty

 

[oombala]

go to wood magazine .com, they did a comparison test on alll the differant sanders such as this, last year. very informative. for what its worth im going to get the delta, probably next year.

 

[centex]

I don't have one of these but one of my friends does. He bought it for thickness sanding guitar backs which are very thing and hard. He has the Performax unit and likes it. I prefer to use hand planes or a thickness planer to thickness the material and hand sand. The thickness planer does not work well or at all for thin material so that is why my friend went for the thickness sander. These machines create copious amounts of dust and I would not use them without a dust collector. The belts are also expensive. I have bought almost every power woodworking tool made and end the end I found that I prefer to do most things with hand tools so I don't use the machinery as much as I thoght I would. Power sanding is one thing I have never liked to do because of the dust. I have lots of power sanders but I still sand mostly by hand. These thickness sanders are pretty expensive so you should be sure you really want it before you buy. I have found over the years that repair parts availability is one of the most important criteria to consider if you plan use at tool much. I expect that both of these suppliers should be around for the long haul. I can say from experience that Delta is very, very, very slow at supplying parts. I probably left out a few verys here. It has taken as long as 6 months to get a part and they may increase the price a few times while you are waiting. But they do make decent equipment and they will eventually supply the parts.

 

[JTD]

I have the Performax model 22-44 PRO w/ casters. Overall the machine fits my needs. I use my thickness planer (after jointing one side flat) to get within approx. 1/8" of final thickness, then use the sander to complete the job. (Remember, like with a planer you cannot really flatten boards on the sanders.) The amount to sand varies depending upon how much chip-out I may be seeing with the particular lumber. Sometimes, sanding is not necessary. Keeping the planer blades in good condition can minimize it. I also use the sander to rough sand to remove any dirt/etc before using the jointer/planer. Keeps the blades sharper longer. I have had mixed results when sanding panels wider than 22". Typically after sanding, I'll scrape the surface since I like the appearance better than from sanding. The paper is expensive and you can burn spots if sanding too much thickness/too high a speed. Testing a section of your wood first will minimize this problem. You will also get some sniping near the ends if your board support is not perfect. This can be agravating if it's your final sanding. I'd suggest that you use nothing finer than 180 grit since it's easy to burn wth finer paper. I like to finish sand with an eliptical sander (then scrape as mentioned). Don't know the Delta machine, but the Performax seems well built for a small shop machine. Dust collection is a must.

 

[webbmeister]

Marty:

I have the Performax 16/32 - don't know what I' do without it. Many of my pieces are made of stock that is very susceptible to tearout on a planer. The Performax works great for this thickness sanding chore. My one complaint is that the drum does not cool well enough, and the heat buildup allows dust particles to fuse and create bands of burned material which in turn mars the surface of the stock. This happens despite speed of feed and depth of cut, and in nice dry pitch-free hardwood stock. It leads to premature paper wear, and to having to resand the burnished stock. Happens most often when feeding narrow pieces through - where there isn't enough stock to help the drum absorb the heat over a large surface.

Performax is now owned by Jet, and some of the stuff that used to be optional (infeed/outfeed?, stand?) seem now to be standard. Be sure to get the ceramic belt guide to keep the feed belt on track.

Regards,

Jim