Delta 31-250 Drum Sander?

[John Miliunas]

This is the 18"-36" drum sander. One of our local vendors has this puppy on sale for $699.00. Not a bad price, from what I've seen. However, opinions on a couple of the Internet sites swing from it's "the drum sander from Hell" to "the best thing since sliced bread". Kind of hard to make an intelligent decision. So, I go to you folks, who may have more experience with this particular piece of equipment. I note that it's a bit bigger than the comparable Performax (16-32) and quite a bit heavier, as well. This one feeds the material *to* the drum as opposed to the other way around. It seems either would have its individual advantages.

Comments are welcome, but opinions from actual users would be most valuable. Oh, and I'm not strictly brand-loyal nor does this *have* to happen right now. If the verdict is neither, the Delta or Performax, I can wait. BUT, before you guys start to chime in about the widebelt units, save it! I already *know* that's the ideal way to go, but it would be "the widebelt or the LOML"! Yeah, I know...Tough decision, but my daughter has kind of taken a liking to her Mom, so we best not entertain that choice! Appreciate any input!

[Mike Evertsen]

I have the delta 18-36 I use it alot building furniture,,
the only problem is the convyer belt tracks off as I'm sanding long runs but to me this not a big problem,,,I heard this might have been fixed on X models,,,I think it was money well spent,,,,,

[Mark Singer]

John,
A friend of mine had it and it was not powerful enough to pull long pieces through.He was using it to sand 12' long by 4" wide 4/4 mahogony. He ended upusing my General drum sander which has a rubber conveyer and is 220v , 3hp. For smaller pieces it should be ok. I used to have a Performax 16-32 and long pieces were also a problem.
Mark

[JayStPeter]

Yeah, I've heard good things about the General and its clone the Woodtek on other forums. Unfortunately, I may not be helping you much John, as the Woodtek is $1200.
There was also a good review of the new version of the Performax ?16-32 I think? in one of the mags recently. They seemed to think the upgrades were good ones and fixed some of the problems. I haven't seen a review of the new version on any forums yet though.
A drum sander is currently on my want list. It'll probably be a while though.

Jay

[John Miliunas]

Thanks for the input guys. On this one, I think it may be one of those "money vs. value" things. I've read/heard good about both, the Delta and the Performax. But, in order to almost "guarantee" high performance, we start talking real high bucks. Lots more than either of the two mentioned units.

Mike, sounds to me like you're a pretty happy camper with your unit. I think that, for the most part, the machine would be handling pieces <18" wide, though I can already envision some 18"+ uses.

Mark, I'm not sure that real long planks will be its intended use at my end. I have a good planer and, if I'm working with highly figured pieces, they're generally for smaller projects, which I'd probably rough-cut to smaller sizes before running them through the sander. Plus, the area I foresee as being "home" to the unit, doesn't lend itself to real long stock.

Jay, the General/Woodtek is at the outside of my budget, plus it's a closed-end unit, which would immediately limit me. Certainly more powerful and sounds as though it has more drive "umph". But here, we're back to the "$$ vs. value" thing. Oh, and the Performax you refer to, I believe, may have been the 22-44. That one is still a consideration that I'm mulling around.

I think that, if this vendor didn't have such a good deal going on the Delta, it would make this a whole lot simpler.... Thanks again for the info, guys!