Performax 10-20 drum sander

[Evan Stewart]

I have been wanting a drum sander for a while now and i have been watching Craigslist religiously. I have never owned or even used one but based on my research it seems like something that will be a significant time saver for me.

We will be moving next year and i will be making a new shop but for the time being my current shop is pretty full and i keep my planer, jointer, bandsaw and mortiser on moveable bases along the walls and move them into the work area as needed. I am also pretty much maxed out on my electrical service so I can't add another 220V circuit.

My plan is to upgrade a lot of my equipment after the move but for now I am pretty much confined to something that will run on 110V and can be kept on a mobile base or bench. There is currently a performax 10-20 drum sander for sale near me that looks in decent condition. I have also been looking at the grizzly 12" and 18" open ended. Does anyone have experience with the performax? Would it be a good choice for a first drum sander in a smaller shop before making the jump to a larger more expensive unit later? I can pick up this one for $300. Any thoughts or advice would be appreciated.

Thanks

[John K Jordan]

I have been wanting a drum sander for a while now ...There is currently a performax 10-20 drum sander for sale near me that looks in decent condition. I have also been looking at the grizzly 12" and 18" open ended.... Does anyone have experience with the performax? Would it be a good choice for a first drum sander in a smaller shop before making the jump to a larger more expensive unit later? I can pick up this one for $300. Any thoughts or advice would be appreciated.

Evan, In my experience and opinion a Performax is a very useful tool I've had a 22/44 for a long time and use it a lot. I recently resawed some 2" thick walnut into a little over 1/8" thick "veneer" and sanded both sides for glueups for turning blanks. The 10-20 would seem small to me but I'm sure it would work fine (and probably be more stable then the longer one). A friend has a couple of these and uses them often to prepare wood for gluing into turning blanks. If I didn't have the big one I'd probably by the 10" if it was a good deal. I have no idea if $300 is a good price for that model.

You have to take pretty light passes on these sanders or you can burn the wood and wipe out the sandpaper so it's not a fast operation like a planer. But there is no tearout! Some wood species (i.e. cherry) are a lot worse at burning than others.) It's nice to put some passes through at an angle if the pieces are not too long. I often sand even thick (2") pieces just 8" or so long. You can get snipe on a short piece but that is easily controllable. In my book, dust collection is mandatory - my Performax has a 4" DC port in the middle of the hood which I connect to a cyclone DC with a 4" flex pipe going to 6" ducts. A Dylos particle counter air quality monitor shows this very effective for picking up the fine dust. Without the DC there is super fine dust everywhere and would require a respirator.

I have never used it as advertised by turning the board and making a second pass on a wide board so I don't know how that works. (I'd need a pretty wide board to exceed the 22" width)

JKJ

[Evan Stewart]

Thanks for the reply John. What i am hoping for is to be able to run face frame stiles and rails through after everything has been jointed, planed and cut to size. I'm also hoping that I can run cabinet doors through it with the 2 pass method being that it's only 10". I definitely spend a significant amount of time sanding with my assortment of orbital and sheet sanders and i find it to be the most tedious part of the job so anything that can cut that down is worth a lot to me.

I actually hook my orbital sanders up to the dust collector using a reducer to a 2" hose and i have a shop filtration system as well I always wear a mask when sanding too. I'm hoping that the drum sander won't be too bad on dust. A DC upgrade is also on the list for the new shop. The grizzly that I use now is ok other than planing. I know it would improve significantly if I added a chip extractor but fitting one into the loop will require rearranging a lot of stuff.

Does the 22-44 run on 110v or 220v ?

An open ended 18 would be great but I'm not sure if I want to give up the money or space for that at the moment. I figure I could use this 10" for a year and sell it when i upgrade.

[Patrick Curry]

I don't have experience with performax, but want a drum sander and have been watching the used market for a year or so. $300 is a good price. If it works properly, I don't see how you couldn't get your $300 back out of it later if you go up a size or two.
I've bought quite a few used tools with this in mind. It's a good opportunity to see how much I'll use the tool, check out the features (sometimes missing features), before paying full retail. Most of the time I just end up keeping the used tool.

[Mike Henderson]

The 10-20 is a good drum sander but you may prefer a wider drum sander. They claim you can reverse your work and run it through a second time, but mine always leaves a ridge mark when I do that. I've tried and tried to adjust it to get rid of that but have not been successful. You can sand it off with a ROS.

But if you want to work faster and easier, get a wider drum sander. I think the 10-20 can be a good second drum sander to a wider one. For those things that are not too wide, the 10-20 will work fine. Then for wider work, go to your wider sander. I have a 16-32 and I want to upgrade to a 22-44. If I can get a 22-44 I might look for a 10-20 for sanding narrow work.

Mike

[Nick Decker]

I have the Jet 10-20, which I believe used to be the Performax, and couldn't be happier with it. Most of my work, though, is small scale, so the size suits me fine.

You'll still need a few brief passes with the ROS to take care of the sanding grooves from the drum, but very brief. I've never had the need to flip the work to get 20" width, but I trust what Mike H. says about it. Adjusting the drum so that there is no line might just make you crazy.

Dust collection is a must, not only for your health but for the machine itself.

[John K Jordan]

Does the 22-44 run on 110v or 220v ?

The 22-44 is 110v. Two motors and two switches, one for the drum and one with variable speed for the belt drive.

The sander produces nothing but very fine dust. I have no idea if a shop vac would move enough air to pick it up but I would not be surprised if it didn't. I'd worry that the fine dust would go through the cloth bags on a bag type DC. I use a 5hp ClearVue cyclone it separates the dust just like chips from another tool so maybe a cyclone separator added to a DC would do the same, don't know. It would probably be worth the effort to try since it should help with other tools as well.

JKJ

[Evan Stewart]

I have the Jet 10-20, which I believe used to be the Performax, and couldn't be happier with it. Most of my work, though, is small scale, so the size suits me fine.

You'll still need a few brief passes with the ROS to take care of the sanding grooves from the drum, but very brief. I've never had the need to flip the work to get 20" width, but I trust what Mike H. says about it. Adjusting the drum so that there is no line might just make you crazy.

Dust collection is a must, not only for your health but for the machine itself.

From what I have read it is the same machine. Thanks for the review, I think I'll go ahead and grab it.

[Evan Stewart]

John, I hear you on the cyclone. I definitely dont have the space now to add one of the large units. I wonder if one of the small Oneida dust deputy ones would work just for sanding? I know it would be full after one pass with the planer but if it would work with the sander I could just hook it up when I need it. I do use after market small micron bags on the DC which help for sure but I know they don't catch everything since the air filtration system still grabs a lot of dust

[Robert Parent]

I have owned a 10-20 for several years and find it to be a nice machine. It took a little messing around to get the feed belt to track correctly but beyond that it has been a workhorse. Aligning the drum for wide work was no problem ( I used 1-2-3 blocks and feeler gauges to align). The machine was adjusted when doing the initial feed belt alignment and it has remained unchanged. Note, if you plan to do wide panels I found that installing a new sanding belt gives the best results for even thickness across the panel. If you run lots of narrow pieces then attempt to run a wide panel the sanding belt will be worn in places giving an uneven finish.

Robert

[Nick Decker]

Evan, as long as you're using a DC as opposed to a shop vac, you should be fine. My DC is a small one (1 hp, 650 CFM) and it keeps up with the sander just fine. But I only use the DC for one tool at a time, hooked up direct.

[Steve Peterson]

Note, if you plan to do wide panels I found that installing a new sanding belt gives the best results for even thickness across the panel. If you run lots of narrow pieces then attempt to run a wide panel the sanding belt will be worn in places giving an uneven finish.

Robert

I have the 22/44 picked up from CL for less than the best sale price of the 10/20 at the time. I really like it. It runs on 110V, but probably comes close to the limit of a 15A breaker. I use 12ga wiring and a 20A breaker.

I try to move the pieces from side to side for even sandpaper wear. Also run longer pieces diagonally until the final pass.

$300 is a good price for the 10/20. Even better would be if it comes with a few extra rolls of paper.

Steve

[Evan Stewart]

I picked up the sander today and it is in great condition. It turns out it belonged to an older woman who had been using it for picture frames and small projects. She has arthritis really bad now and is no longer able to do woodworking anymore. Her son sold it to me and threw in 3 new boxes of belts all different grits, a belt cleaning stick, a tool to facilitate wrapping the drum, and the original instruction manual.

It seems to track well and probably needs to be cleaned and lubricated from sitting so long, but all in all it looks like one of my best Craigslist finds. I probably won't have time to really play with it for a coup of days, I can't wait.

It is a little bittersweet since this will definitely be the last new shop tool I will have room for until we move and get a larger shop.

[Nick Decker]

Sounds good. If you're like me, you'll spend a while scratching your head about how that "drum tool" is supposed to work, then forget about it. Changing the paper isn't hard, once you get the hang of it. Just keep it tight against the drum and don't let the winding overlap.

[Evan Stewart]

Sounds good. If you're like me, you'll spend a while scratching your head about how that "drum tool" is supposed to work, then forget about it. Changing the paper isn't hard, once you get the hang of it. Just keep it tight against the drum and don't let the winding overlap.

Haha, I was looking through the manual last night and the way it explains how to use that thing makes it sound like open heart surgery. I was starting to get a little concerned, if changing the paper with this special tool designed to make that task easier is so complicated that's probably not a good sign.