Any POWERMATIC DDS225 drum sander users?

[Jaromir Svoboda]

Hi,
How do you like it?
I am looking for dual drum sander, this one is used in good condition.
I also like Supermax 25x2ES. New one is same price like used Powermatic I am looking at.
I used to have Acura 37" dual drum sander and I did't like it. It was very difficult to adjust.
Any input will be helpful.

[Tim Bueler]

I have a DDS225. I bought it used. It was the first time I'd ever been around this type of sander so wasn't sure exactly what to expect. The previous owner couldn't get it to "work right". Turns out he was trying take too much at a time. It took me a while to figure out how to get everything back into parallel (from the previous owner's "adjustments") but it was a great learning experience and I now know that machine inside and out.

I use it to sand rails/stiles to width (on edge) and cabinet doors and drawer fronts. I normally run 120 grit on the front roller and 180 grit on the back roller. I learned to take no more than about 1/64th (about 1/8th turn) at a time. Both paper life and sand quality suffer if you take more than this. If you don't get overly aggressive the paper lasts a decent amount of time (on non resinous woods) and the surface quality is excellent. Since you've already had a drum sander you know dust collection is mandatory.

IF, I had a larger unit I could also sand assembled face frames. I'm envious of wide belt sanders but have neither the space nor proper electrical feed to my shop. I'm occasionally tempted to buy the Supermax 25x2 you mentioned but, again, I don't have the space (though I bet I could find the space if I really wanted to;)). I've got a pretty good system going and I'm quite happy with my DDS225 so I guess I'll leave things as they are...for now.

Cheers!
Tim

[Jeff Duncan]

I bought one new and used it for a couple years until I moved to a wide belt. It was the best out of all the sanders I looked at. Much better quality than Performax stuff, (had one of those as well). Made in Taiwan with good build quality. Easy to adjust and enough power for it's intended use. If I had to go back to a smaller shop it would be the one I would buy again. I sold to a builder who had a bunch of problems getting it to work.... trying to take off too much stock at time. Once I explained to him that it was a sander and not a planer, he did much better with it;)

good luck,
JeffD

[Jaromir Svoboda]

Thank you.

[Joe Jensen]

I have one, bought is lightly used in 2009 for $1800 :)

I use it for sanding and not panel leveling. I typically remove .010" or less per pass. Using it this way I've only changed paper twice over those years with steady hobby use. Very good machine IMHO.

[Joey Monheit]

I’m looking at getting a new DDS-225 but my shop is in my basement and I’m concerned about it being too wide to fit through an interior door. Anyone have experience on removing any parts of the machine to make it narrower?
I’ve got a PJ-882 down there and a 15” planer so.....

[Joe Jensen]

I think you would have to take a lot of the machine apart. The feed conveyor would need to come off as the machine is over three feet wide and three feet deep with it on. Removing the conveyor, hmm. I would want to look one over pretty closely before deciding it would it. I am happy to take some measurements if you want.

[Joey Monheit]

Yeah, that’s what I’ve been thinking and seeing by looking at the manual. Seems like the whole top would have to come off, and I don’t have one to look at.
Do you like the machine? Exactly how wide is it with the conveyor, and how wide if it was off?

[Tim Bueler]

Joey, the DDS-225 is a big/bulky, heavy machine so make sure you have some extra muscle available if you try to move it down stairs. I've never taken mine completely apart though the previous owner had the adjustments so messed up I practically rebuilt it. The manual does talk about removing the conveyor ends in order to replace the belt. In addition you would have to remove the conveyor drive unit and the magnetic switch. That will get the machine down to about 26" ish wide and a bit over 3' long. To lighten you could/should remove the motor and you could also easily remove the cover. The drums could also be removed fairly easily, to lighten the load, but I think that would end up being more problematic than it's worth.

The stitch in all this is the machine then has to be reassembled and set back up. To be honest I don't know how difficult it would be to do that on a new machine. On a new machine, if you did NOT remove the drums, I suspect it wouldn't be all that difficult. On a used machine, with a clueless previous owner, and sloooowww current owner :rolleyes:, it is definitely an exorcise in patience. The conveyor needs to be perfectly parallel to the drums, the drums need to be perfectly parallel to each other and the two drums need to be in the proper offset so the rear drum adjustment works as desired/designed. The adjustments themselves aren't difficult, but getting them correct is critical. I eventually got my adjustments dialed in perfectly and recently added a Wixey DRO which is a great time saver.

Dust collection is critical with this unit. 3HP bare minimum, 5HP would be better, with a minimum 6" pipe running to the two 4" splits. And keep the duct run to the machine as short as possible. Your gonna want to be moving a lot of air!

[Joey Monheit]

I’ve gotten all my machines down stairs the toughest of which was my PJ-882 that I did not remove any parts. I wonder how light/heavy I can get it to with removing the cover, motor, switch, conveyor, anything that won’t be too difficult to get back together.
I feel like the factory calibration PM does is top notch and a good part of what we’re paying for so I definitely don’t want to mess with the drums.

Getting it down to 500# before taking it down the stairwell would be great.

[Joey Monheit]

oh, and I have a 2HP cyclone and this would be the closest machine to the collector with 6” nordfab. My unit is rated at 1500 CFM. You think that would work?

[Joe Jensen]

I just Measured it. If you removed the entire conveyor systems and the electric control it would 25.5" wide and about 40" high. You could remove the hinged lid which would shorten it a bit. I would also remove the motor as it's a 5HP single phase and quite large.

[Joey Monheit]

I just Measured it. If you removed the entire conveyor systems and the electric control it would 25.5" wide and about 40" high. You could remove the hinged lid which would shorten it a bit. I would also remove the motor as it's a 5HP single phase and quite large.

Thanks for checking that out for me. Do you think the pallet it comes on can fit in the bed of a pickup?
I pick my machines up from my supplier.....