Performax 10-20 vs 22-44 RAS drum sander kit

[Lance Alldrin]

Greetings,
I'm a high school woodshop teacher looking to buy a drum sander for my home shop. We have a Kuster in the school shop but have difficulty keep paper on it as the students think its a planer and "crank 'er down". Since the school shop is a 30 minute drive it makes sense to buy a unit for my home shop.

I'm looking to currently sand about 60 cherry doors/drawers for our new kitchen. I also dabble in some resawn tiger maple in 2"-10" widths. I was just about ready to click the "buy" button the Amazon Performax 10-20 for 399.00 when I saw the 22-44 that goes on a radial arm saw. 375.00 gets you the sanding unit and another 375.00 (a purchase at a later date.....?) gets the conveyor feed. Like most of us, my RAS just sits as a horizontal surface collecting stuff as its rarely used any more. Any thoughts? Overall the 10-20 has got good reviews and would suit my needs for now but then again the extra width could be handy sometime....

Thanks,

Lance Alldrin
Corning High School
Corning CA
Chico CA is home!

[Jim Dunn]

When's the next time you expect to build 44" wide anything? Just a question I ask myself when I think of the 16-32 sander vs the 10-20. My .02
Jim

[Alfred Hoffmann]

I am always amazed to read how many RAS's are sitting around not being used. I bought my Craftsman RAS in 1970 with all possible attachments and are using it all the time. If set up properly (everything aligned) it does all the things I need to do. I don't have a TS and only rarely did the need come up.
For ripping large sheets I use a modified KD sawhorse cutting grid which I also use as a clamping table. :) :)

Alfred Hoffmann

[Paul Dwight]

My 10-20 sander was delivered just after Christmas. I haven't used it much yet, but it seems to be a stout little machine. Some of the feedback on Amazon suggests the machine is underpowered, but I've experienced absolutely no problems with the few feet of cherry and walnut I've put through it. It seems to work very well. I haven't tried to change the sandpaper yet -- I need to do it because the paper that comes on the machine is (I think) 60 grit, way too coarse for most of what I need the machine to do.

It's fairly heavy, too heavy for me to lug it out of a cupboard and onto a bench every time I use it. I mounted it on a stand with a mobile base.

I haven't seen precut sandpaper for the 10-20 in any local store. I bought the Performax assortment pack for the 16/32, which as I recall includes a 36 grit, 2 80 grits and a 120 grit. I'll have to trim them to length for the shorter drum but I figure this will let me experiment with different grits. Once I figure out what I want to keep on the machine, I can get a roll of that grit.

I think it's a nice, serious tool. The 16/32 would be even nicer, though ...

Hope this helps. -- Paul

[Ray Petri]

Got a 16-32 about a week ago and I would really recommend it. Northwest Power Tools has it for $799. I looked at the 10-20 and determined that it was underpowered and saw several reviews that said it tripped the breaker quite a bit.

[Kent Cori]

Lance and Ray,

Welcome to the Creek. We're glad to have you with us. I know you're going to value the time you spend here.