What is the shortest stock you can sand on the Performax 16-32 Drum Sander

[George Bokros]

I have looked in the manual but am probably missing it. What is the shortest stock you can safely sand on this sander?

Thanks

George

[Andrew Kertesz]

This is from Amazon for the Jet 16/32:
Handles a Wide Range of Material Sizes
The 16-32 Plus handles a wide range of material sizes quickly and easily. It can sand materials as thick as three inches, as thin as 1/32 inch, and anywhere in-between. Unlike planers--which often have a minimum length requirement of a foot or more--the 16-32 Plus can safely handle pieces as short as 2-1/4 inches.

[George Bokros]

Thanks Andrew.

[Ty Williams]

I learned the hard way that the answer to that depends on both length AND thickness. I've sanded 1/4" thick things as short as 3.5-4" and it went perfectly. However, when trying to sand a miniature end grain cutting block that was about 4.5" long and 1.75" thick, it kept trying to tiddlywink the cutting board which resulted in severe sanding gouges. Rotating the cutting board 45* so it went through on the long-axis diagonal stabilized it enough to get the job done but it was obvious I was pushing the limits of the machine. The only difference between the cutting board that barely worked and the scroll saw cutouts that ran just fine is thickness.

[Bradley Gray]

I have a friend that makes puzzles. He uses a sled to sand the saw fuzz off the cut puzzle parts, so sanding tiny parts is possible with a sled.

[glenn bradley]

This may help. I take a scrap of stock of the same thickness but a greater length and tape the two pieces together. I have done this frequently with good result.

small part solution.JPG

Sand with the tape side down, of course.

[Kyle Iwamoto]

I have a friend that makes puzzles. He uses a sled to sand the saw fuzz off the cut puzzle parts, so sanding tiny parts is possible with a sled.

+1 on a sled. You can sand real short things up against the stopper stick on the sled. I've sanded 1" square inlay material.

[Bill Huber]

I have a 10-20 and have sanded things that were only 1" square, I did use a sled. My sled was just a plywood board and used double back tape to hold the parts on the sled, then took very light passes with the sander.

[George Bokros]

The sled method sounds like a good approach. I am going to try to sand some stock that is ~5" square and just over 3/4" thick down to 3/4" thick in light passes.

George