Performax thickness sander

[John Bertotti]

For those of you that bought the little thickness sander do you still like it? Is there something you would of did different instead of purchasing it? I am considering one again and am curious if they worked out now that they have been out awhile.

[billhay4]

A friend of mine, who let's me use his shop to dimension wook, has one of these. I fine it a great tool. You have to watch certain woods, especially ebony, that will load up the drum with dust and mess up your stock, but otherwise it beats dealing with tear out hands down. You also have to make sure you install the sandpaper just right so you don't get gaps in the drum, etc.
A good tool if you ask me.
Bill

[Jim Hilburn]

If you took mine away I'd just quit building.

[amowry]

I bought one a few months ago after shopping around and receiving advice here, and I love it. The belt tends to buckle a little, meaning that I need to use a slave board for thin parts like ribs so the belt won't touch the drum, but that's a minor annoyance. I'm finding more and more uses for it.

[sunburst]

I have the old Ryobi knock-off that looks identical to the Performax 16-32.
It's a tool, and like any tool you have to learn to use it, but if you use it for the sort of things it's meant for, it works very well. It doesn't do a good job of removing a lot of stock; if I want to take off 3/8" of wood, I'm headed for the band saw first, or the planer, but up to about 1/8" is doable in multiple passes. I find I have to "trick" it into thicknessing to a uniform thickness over a wide area by using multiple passes and reversing the orientation of the wood.
For thicknessing rib stock and guitar tops and backs, and for surfacing extremely figured wood, it would be hard to do without it, unless I had room and $ for a bigger thickness sander. I like mine.

[mando andy]

Can you tell me more about this machine---I tried thicknessing some curly maple binding strips on a drum sander (with a fence) on a drill press and had mixed results. It seems the uneven places were transfered to the other sides..

Andy

[billhay4]

This is a thickness sander as opposed to a drum sander. It has a rotating drum on top. Sandpaper is wound over the drum in a spiral fashion. It holds with clamps on each end. No adhesive. You can use different grits for the sandpaper.
The drum rotates and material is fed into the drum using a rotating bed on the bottom. It holds the material using a rough, sandpaper like belt. Drum speed is constant, I think, but feed speed is variable. The drum is raised and lowered to control the amount of cut and to account for thickness of wood.
About $2500 or so depending on size of machine.
Because of the way it's built, it gives very consistent cuts with no cupping, etc. IF the sandpaper is clean and the feeding belt free of extraneous material. However, it will not flatten a warped board like you can do using a jointer and planer.
Bill

[John Gardinsky]

I have owned a Performax 16-32 for about a year now, I think I payed around 850 or 900 bucks for it. Worth every penny so far. I heard that the same sander will soon only be offered under the Jet name. John

[John Bertotti]

Funny I just searched under performax and found nothing on their site relatinbg to thickness sander. I didn't see them under jet Either. Figures now that I decided to buy one instead of build. Thanks for the replies every one.

[Bill Snyder]

Performax 16-32 at Woodcraft. If you read down the page you will notice that you can download the pdf file containing JET's warranty on this machine.

[TNMANDO]

I bought one of these a year ago and after some tinkering to get the drum perfectly level I love it. Thicknessing sides, veneers whatever. I took a piece of ebony down to .025 inches for the back of the peghead. I have also put finished peghead veneers through it to sand down the binding and inlay flush. It's great.

[Keith Newell]

I love mine! It's extremely handy.
Keith

[John Bertotti]

See how foggy the mind gets after a 20 hour day. I try the WHM/ performax site and didn't even think of a store site like Woodcraft. Thanks Bill.

[Jim Hilburn]

I thickness my binding with it. The spring loaded hold-down bars will hold the strip upright and I run the feed table at high speed so the binding doesn't make contact with the drum long enough to ignite and it does a very nice clean job. You get some plastic build-up on the drum that has to be cleaned up but it's worth it.

[TNMANDO]

Awesome Jim! Less scraping
Thanks

[thistle3585]

If buying one shop around. There is a reconditioned 18x36 Delta at Tool King for $799. Also, try commercial woodworker suppliers. Much different than a Rockler or Woodcraft. I also always look for reconditioned tools first because it can save several hundred dollars and you still get the warranty. I'd also look for online coupons. I bought a 3/4 HP 14" Delta bandsaw last week from Lowes using a 20% off coupon.

[John Bertotti]

Here is the one I was thinking of but everyone seems more inclined towards the 16-32. This is a table top one at 10 inches.

10 inch performax

[Hans]

Sure like my 15 year old Porter Cable 3 x 24!

[Gail Hester]

I've been using the Performax Model 10-20 for about three years and I think it's great for the price. I've had to replace the feed belt once but I've used mine fairly hard. I can also thin rosette strips, ebony, holly and maple, down to .015" by mounting them on another board.

[John Bertotti]

Thanks Gail. Now the dilemma is it worth the extra money to go for the 16-32 instead? Tough call. I do, do bigger woodworking projects and it may have more uses but takes a bit more room, something that is hard to come by.


Pardon the pun but the do, do didn't come out just right. Sounds good spoken but written it is odd. I'll leave it for comic relief.

[Jim Hilburn]

If that 10" model had been around I bet I would have gotten that instead of the 16". But then I just made that octave that was 14" wide and was able to send the whole thing through to level the sides and blocks while in the mold.
It looks to be built just as well, but at 10" it's barely wide enough for leveling the sides of a mandolin. The 16" is much more versatile.

[sunburst]

Tops and backs for flat top guitars go through in one pass.

[Dennis Russell]

Hello All: I have plans on making my own,, a couple hundred bucks for one of those is too pricey for me, I have several plans one is a straight frame where the motor is suspended below the table and you can adjust the feed table with a adjuster knob.
The other is more sophisticated but you can attach it to your table saw, to a pulley instead of a saw blade
Now all I have to do is make a decision. I sure have a hard time making decisions with all these projects.....Dennis in Arizona

[nelson_luthier]

I built a little 10" wide one years ago and use it more than my Delta.

It's great for small pieces like bridges, saddles, peg head veneers, etc. that will get eaten up in a larger machine.

There was mention of a reconditioned Delta above. I have to say that I do enjoy mine but they do have one problem that has supposedly been resolved. Where the Performax head moves to adjust the thickness, the delta moves the table. Mine began to cease up within a year of use and sending it in to the "authorized" service center turned in to a nightmare. It's hard to be without this tool for even a week after you have one and after two months of wrangling with them they finally gave up and sent me a new unit. In the end they did back up their warranty, but it was not a pleasant experience. Anyone with this unit who is experiencing a really stiff adjustment should make sure to have it fixed before the warranty is up. I am told this was an issue with early models and that the problem has been fixed. Time will tell.

Greg N

[Gibson A5]

I have an 18/36 Sears that I paid around $800 new a year ago and it works just great, no adjustment problems what so ever. The table moves up and down and the drum is stationary (other than itself rotating) . I have taken wood down to eighty thousands with no problem and it might even go lower but I haven't tried.
Bill P.