Performax 16-32 Drum Sander -- Would you add the Smart Sand feature

[George Bokros]

I have a Performax 16-32 drum sander without the smart sand feature. It will cost ~$378 to add the smart sand feature. If the sander was yours would you add the smart sand feature?

It is not used heavily but the risk if the drum kicks out because of running the feed rate to high you risk damaging your stock. So I am considering adding the smart sand feature but the cost is making me think if I really need to do it. I added an ammeter but for some reason the ammeter was kicking out and stopping the drum so I did have some issues with stock be slightly burnt but it was thick enough I was able to salvage it.

Your thoughts? Would adding smart sand increase the value if I had to sell it. Right now I have about $500 invested including the infeed/outfeed extensions.

Thanks

[chase standifer]

Even with the intellisand or whatever its called I have to be careful to not put divets into the wood. Knowing what I know now I probably wouldn't choose it if it saved me $400.

[Anthony Whitesell]

That's a tough one. A new 16-32 with smart sand and tables cost $1258. I found two used locally, an older one for $800 and another newer for $600; neither with infeed tables. I don't know if I would try to sell as is for and put the money towards a pre-installed smart sand or if I would add it myself. Almost looks like a wash. I would say that I do like the smartsand feature and I'm sure it has saved some sandpaper, if not workpieces. With that said, I don't think I would buy one without it.

[John C Bush]

I added a Smartsand to my Supermax 25 and it was well worth it for me. The alternative to not blowing the motor overload is to stand there with your hand on the belt speed control and react to the "feel" of the drum. It's hard not to be greedy with time and try to remove too much material per pass, usually resulting in spending more time resetting the motor and hoping you don't leave a burn on your stock. It's an easy install and makes using the sander lot's more fun.

[roger wiegand]

I have it, but if I ever take a cut heavy enough for it to kick in I'll already be having issues with the board stalling as it goes through, making big divots. I have to take much lighter cuts than that to have any hope of success with these machines.

[Wayne Jolly]

I have a 16-32 and looked into adding that feature. It wasn't worth the $400 price to me. If it was half that I think I might do it.

To me, it looks like it would be more helpful to people who use their machines as thicknessers, or people that are in a hurry. These machines aren't really the ideal machine for either of these two uses. I am a hobbyist and use mine to finish making all of my components that have already been planned to just short of final thickness, to the final thickness and are ready for final sanding with a ROS or whatever.

Wayne

[glenn bradley]

I enjoy having the Intellisand on my Supermax 19-38 but, now that I have used a drum sander for some time I could really do without it if it saved me that kind of cash. It will compensate for smaller anomalies but, you can still divot/burn your work if you are careless.

[Alan Heffernan]

No, I would not add it.

I recently researched the replacement of the conveyor belt on mine and as part of that effort I read that this smart sand feature is problematic and doesn't work that well. My research did suggest that you want to change the dust cover to the updated Jet cover with a 4" diameter dust connection, which I did. The 4" cover improve the dust collection and equally important, the cooling.

By the way, I bought the replacement conveyor belt from Klingspor and it appears to be okay. I have used it with the new conveyor and the larger dust collector port. I am really pleased with the dust port and a connect to a larger dust collector vs. a vacuum.

[John Cole]

I too have a Performax 16-32 without the sand smart feature. I also looked into adding it, but the silly $400 price for a couple of printed circuit boards turned me off. If it was priced at $100 I might consider it. Then again I'm so used to controlling the speed now I rarely trip the breaker so it doesn't bother me much.

[ed vitanovec]

I had 2 different brand of drum sander without this feature and I was okay, just take small passes.

[Steve Peterson]

I have a 22/44 with SmartSand on the conveyor motor. It is fairly handy to see the little red light start to blink and watch the conveyor speed slow down. Usually, I raise the head or help push the board through. There is no way I would pay $400 for that feature.

Do you see the board slow down without the SmartSand?

Steve

[Chris Padilla]

It is a sander...not a planer. Treat it as such. Never ever take more than a 1/64" off in one pass and you should be fine. Well, at least I've been fine doing it that way with my Delta 18/36 for many years now. Also, I never sand with anything finer than 100. The finer grit you go, the more careful you need to be with how much you hog off per pass. However, I've never considered my drum sander as a finish sander as I used it to level things and then ROS it or hand sand it after that to get the machine marks off of it.

[David Kumm]

I had it on a 37x2 and although handy once in a while, I found you get a feel for the machine so it's only when you know better but get impatient that you need it. I tried to avoid having it kick in as I felt the change in speed also changed the scratch pattern and I could tell which area had been affected. Dave

[Wade Lippman]

I have it on my 19/38, but didn't on my old 16/32. It makes using the sander much pleasanter. But if you don't use it much, it is hard to justify $400.

I doubt you will get much of that $400 back if you ever want to upgrade.