A little drum sander help, please

[Brian Tillinghast]

I've been looking for a used drum sander for quite awhile. All of the ones I find ( ~16/32) are asking, IMO, way too much- $800 +. I see all these gloats of picking them up for ~ $300-400 , doesn't happen around here -No. Il.
I am also very cramped for extra space. I am trying to find the actual footprint ( without ext. tables ) size of the Jet 10/20 vs 16/32 , if anyone knows. I may just buy a new 10/20, as it would "probably" suffice for my needs. I would love to get a SM 19/38, but something would have to go

[George Bokros]

Performax 16-32 including the motor hanging out the side ~31" x 32"

[Brian Tillinghast]

Thanks George. That's without the tables?

[Ernie Miller]

Jet 10/20 footprint is 24" x 16" without tables. I have one and like it, but if I had to do it again I would have bought a bigger unit.

[Brian Tillinghast]

Thanks Ernie. I'm thinking the 10/20 might work best for me. I can make a mobile base for it easily enough. One concern I have is I have read on ukulele forums, they tend to like the 10/20, is the threaded portion of the body stripping out. Any problems with yours ?

[Ernie Miller]

Thanks Ernie. I'm thinking the 10/20 might work best for me. I can make a mobile base for it easily enough. One concern I have is I have read on ukulele forums, they tend to like the 10/20, is the threaded portion of the body stripping out. Any problems with yours ?

Yes, the threaded hole in the aluminum head that the height adjusting rod turns in strips out, making height adjustments impossible. It doesn't seem to happen on all 10/20's, but it happened to me a couple of months ago. In my opinion, and the opinion of many others, this is a design flaw. Fortunately, the Jet comes with a 5 year warranty and mine is 4 1/2 years old. I called Jet and they sent me a new head and new threaded rod in a few days. The head alone is listed at about $230.00, so this has been a costly error on Jet's part. However, they do stand behind their product. I'll be curious to see what happens if it strips out again after my warranty has expired. Will they continue to cover it because it has been a recurring problem? Time will tell. I'm not sure if they have corrected this problem in their newer machines. It might be worth a phone call to them and inquire.

Finally, they want you to take the unit to one of their authorized repair shops to install the new parts. The closest one to me is over two hours away. I was told this installation was difficult to do. Not wanting to make the trip, I opted to just take the replacement parts and try to install them myself, which I did. Not really difficult - just need to spend some time figuring out how much of the machine you need to take apart and how to do it. The whole installation took about 1/2 hour - and I'm not mechanically inclined. I'm sure you can handle it yourself.

Hope this was helpful.
Ernie

[George Bokros]

Thanks George. That's without the tables?

Yes without the infeed / outfeed table

[Brian Tillinghast]

Thanks George. And yes Ernie, very helpful. Glad to hear Jet is standing behind this. My understanding , IIRC, it's actually the threaded rod is undersized. Why? There was/is a gentleman in the UK that was machining beautiful cast iron inserts and new rods. You would think Jet has resolved this issue by now. Maybe I'll find out with the current 10% off deal

[Ernie Miller]

Thanks George. And yes Ernie, very helpful. Glad to hear Jet is standing behind this. My understanding , IIRC, it's actually the threaded rod is undersized. Why? There was/is a gentleman in the UK that was machining beautiful cast iron inserts and new rods. You would think Jet has resolved this issue by now. Maybe I'll find out with the current 10% off deal

According to an email I just received from Jet, the 10/20 is not included in the 10% off sale.

[Brian Tillinghast]

That's strange because Woodcraft, Amazon and Acme all have it for $688.49 ($764.99 -10%)

[Ernie Miller]

That's strange because Woodcraft, Amazon and Acme all have it for $688.49 ($764.99 -10%)

Kind of silly to buy it directly from Jet if their vendors are offering it for less.

[Wayne Jolly]

I had a 10/20 for a while, but the 16/32 started calling me. Fortunately I found one for $450. My suggestion would be to really analyze your needs, present and future, and then get the 16/32.


Wayne

[Brian Tillinghast]

I had a 10/20 for a while, but the 16/32 started calling me. Fortunately I found one for $450. My suggestion would be to really analyze your needs, present and future, and then get the 16/32.


Wayne

I like the " and then get the 16/32" I understand this and like I stated would love to get the Supermax , but I can't get 10 lbs of tools in a 5lbs shop

[Nick Decker]

Brian,

I bought the 10-20 two months ago through Amazon, during their 15% off sale. I haven't had any problems with the thread stripping, but it's new, so time will tell. I'll keep an eye on it, in fact after reading about the problem I just went out to the shop and put a drop of oil on it.

I know from a lot of the older reviews that I read before buying it that many people reported problems with tracking on the conveyor belt. I haven't seen that at all. Mine worked perfectly right out of the box. I did have to adjust it after using it for an hour or so, due to the belt breaking in and apparently loosening a bit. Very simple to adjust, though, and the "tools" to adjust it with are right there on the machine. Just keep an eye on it, the drift is very slow to happen, as is any movement after adjustment. Just make a small mark on the roller with a Sharpie for reference.

Adjusting the parallel alignment of the drum is easy, too, although it's kind of hard to see the drum cause it's blocked from view by the pressure rollers in front and back. I've used a couple of pieces of wood to prop the rollers up and out of the way. That way you can lower the drum very close to a straight edge inserted underneath it, and the gap becomes very obvious.

I haven't yet tried to do a piece of wood that's wider than ten inches, so can't tell you how well that'll work.

The little Tuf tool that they provide for sanding belt changes is nonsense, as far as I can tell. Changing the belts is easy once you get the hang of it. Just pay close attention to getting it good and tight, with no overlap. It's not impossible to miss getting the end of the belt engaged in the clip that secures it, so be careful there. You really have to squeeze that clip all the way for the teeth to open and bite onto the belt. If you happen to miss the teeth and turn on the sander, you won't like the noise it makes.

Pretty much all of my work is small scale stuff, and like you my space is very limited. Obviously not a thickness planer, but for dimensioning and flattening, this thing is a godsend. If it broke tomorrow, I'd get another one immediately.

[Nick Decker]

Oh, forgot to mention, if you get one - the manual will tell you to install these two little plastic "trackers" on the underside of the conveyor belt. Mine were already in place.