Performax 16-32 adjustments

[Jim Barrett]

I have been "ignoring" my woodworking for the past several years due to my return to college full time....I was in my shop today and took a look at the performax 16-32 I purchased used several years ago. I have never used it so I started dinking around with it...so a few questions...I ran some twelve inch boards through it and the drum needs to be adjusted as it is off ~.010. from side to side. The manual says to loosen 4 bolts and turn a knob, etc. etc...is this pretty straight forward? Any hints or tips?
Also the unit came with infeed and outfeed tables. What is the best way to adjust them? Level with the conveyor belt? Any input on this would be appreciated as well.:p
Regards,
Jim

[David Christopher]

Jim, I have the same drum sander and it needed to be ajusted also. I got a 2" thick piece of aluminum that was super flat took off the sandpaper slid the aluminum under the drum and made the ajustments was in the manual. it took about 10 minuits and was easy as pie. now that thing sands perfect


Dave

[Brian MacDonald]

Jim,

joewoodworker.com has a good article on adjusting the drum. look under 'see all articles' and 'performax sander tips'. it's a pretty accurate adjustment.

[david kramer]

Sorry to hijack the thread but...

I have trouble getting the belt on my Performax 16-32 to track straight. It wants to track to one side. The manual says to adjust the tension on both sides (harden one side, ease the other). This helps, but with the tension on one side really cranked up, and the other quite loose, it still gradually wants to walk over. I wonder if something is bent or there's some other problem.

Has anyone seen this?

Thx
David

[Chris Padilla]

Jim,

Be sure to check the manufacturer's website to find owner's manuals and do some searching with good old Google to see what else has been printed on the topic. I found several things that helped me adjust my used Delta 18-36 drum sander....

[Chris Padilla]

Sorry to hijack the thread but...

I have trouble getting the belt on my Performax 16-32 to track straight. It wants to track to one side. The manual says to adjust the tension on both sides (harden one side, ease the other). This helps, but with the tension on one side really cranked up, and the other quite loose, it still gradually wants to walk over. I wonder if something is bent or there's some other problem.

Has anyone seen this?

Thx
David

David,

I had the same issue on my Delta 18-36 and just got used to shoving it over after a bit. On my Delta, it would walk over to the open side of the sander (to the right referencing the feed side). On a whim, I lessend the tension on the left tension bolt (set screw) one full turn less than the tension on the right tension bolt (set screw). Much to my surprise, the walking stopped! I was quite shocked but I'll be darned but it now tracks perfectly.

I think you just need to play with it and have lottsa patience. Put the belt on full speed and just keep adjusting the tension screws. Not having a Performax, I don't know all the details but if you can flip the belt around, try that as well.

[Dewey Torres]

I have that same sander and have encountered both of the issues noted here.

On the drum I just used a combination square like they show in the manual and it worked fine on the first try. Maybe I got lucky.

One the tracking issue I got so mad I almost pushed it out into traffic then lucked up and now it works fine. I have no idea how I did it but one side is still way tighter than the other which I don't care as long as it tracks for god sake! I did find it easier to see what was going on when I started looking underneath and monitoring it.

[Jim Kountz]

Hopefully you have a newer 16-32. I have the older first version and there is no adjusting bolt. You have to loosen all four bolts that hold the head in place, shim the drum into alignment then tighten the bolts. Its a VERY hit or miss solution and drives me nuts. I do however love the thing and couldnt live without it having owned one for so long.

[Jim Barrett]

Thanks for all of the helpful information! BTW I have the plus model...
I took a look at the joe woodworker site...some good info on the Performax. What I ended up doing is placing a piece of granite I had on the conveyor belt and used my rotocator to adjust the drum. So far so good!
Thanks again,
Jim

[Mark A Johnson]

On the belt tracking on my smaller 10/20, there are 2 ceramic "Trackers". They attach to the sides and keep the conveyer belt aligned. Since your was used the previous owner my have lost or never installed the "Tracker".


Mark