Performax VS Delta sanders

[Jim Dunn]

A friend needs help deciding on either of these 2 sanders. Anyone with experience with either or both, please comment here. As to the different widths of the sanders, it's not much of a problem as he's undecided on that part of the equation:) The only real diffence we/he can see is that one has a movable table and the other has a movable drum.

Surely someone has experience with both of these sanders, or at the very least researched it, and made a decision based on more than the money aspect.

Jim

[Richard Wolf]

I have the Detla sander which I no longer use. It is underpowered and slow. The belt was always a problem to track correctly. I also never seemed to have much luck with the open end, flipping wide pieces around and not ending up with a line in the middle. People will say I asked to much from the machine, but it was not cheap. I have upgraded to a Shop Fox dual drum sander, 26", and have been have happy with it.

Richard

[Dennis Peacock]

I have a Performax 16/32 that I use the 'stew' out of..!!!!! It's slow and the adjustment to keep it running true is ok....but let's just say.....I'm ready to get me a Woodmaster 38" drum sander that is "serious" about sanding.

[Robert Waddell]

I have the Delta model. I've been fortunate, my belt has tracked with no problems and once the table and drum was adjusted to parallel it has worked well for me. I have run up to 30+ inch width with no line. It does take some getting use to using. Very light passes. I agree with the above posters that it is slow going. I thought it was going to save me a bunch of time, wrong. It does however save me from using the ROS as much which in turn cuts down on the tingly arm syndrome. I've not been able to use finer than 180 grit on it because of loading and burning. Part of my problem is due to the fact that most of my product line is comprised of laminated exotic woods.
My quess based on reading forums is that the Performax may have a slight edge over the Delta, but almost everyone that has one of these low end machines sooner or later wishes for a larger more powerful machine. Dual drum or even a wide belt sander. But so goes woodworking, there's always a bigger machine to buy.
Now that I have one I could not see being without one of some kind. There are several thicknessing situations that they can address that even a good finish planer can't do, such as burls, home cut veneers, smooth splintery or figured woods, end-grain cutting boards/countertops and sanding out CNC'ed cut parts just to name a few.

Rob

[Brian Hale]

I've got a Performax 10-20 that's become an important step in my machining routing; face joint, edge joint, rip, plane, performax 100 grit and finish pass at 150. The open end design is more of a novelty than anything IMHO as i've not been able to sand a 10"+ board without a ridge down the center. Yes, i've adjusted the thing but no glory. If i had to do it all over again i'd opt for a closed end machine for a bit more stability. A finish pass at 150 grit gives me a board that's flat within .005". I can also hog of a lot of material with 36 grit to flatten a board wider than my 6" jointer can handle and then feed it to the planer but this isn't something i'd want to do for a lot of boards.

Brian :)

[Brad Olson]

Delta 18/36 with no problems.

Either will fit the bill, and both do a good job if you take light passes. For the same price the delta gives you 2" single pass and 4" double pass capacity, so for just that reason, I'd go with the Delta. If capacity isn't an issue then pick a machine.

[Mike Cutler]

I have the Performax 16-32. It's a nice machine for what it does.
The first thing your friend needs to decide, is what is it's intended use? If he wants to sand 4/4 or 8/4, 8'-12' boards, that are 8"-12" wide, than this sander is not for him. Better to go with a dual drum type sander.

If he is looking to do all his sanding in one or two passes, Then this sander is not for him. It doesn't have that type of power.

I primarily use it for the initial sanding on material that I have already cut close to it's final dimension to save me time on the back end by having to sand an entire piece. I can get everything down to 150 Grit, and then handsand from there.
If he is into resawing for bookmatching, and the material size is not too too large, then the machine excels. However it is a slow process.

I have pretty much set a size limitation on mine of a max board length of 6' and a max width of ~ 12"-14". I have yet to succesfully sanded material wider than 16". Others have though, just not me.:(

[Chris Barton]

I have the Performax 22-44 and it too, takes time to pass a piece through but, any drum sander is like this. The speed is not a problem for me since I don't run a production shop. If speed were a big consideration and my time very limited, then I would consider one of the big belt sanders like a Time Saver. However, they cost several times what a drum sander costs.

[Travis Porter]

I have the Performax 22-44 and am fairly happy with it. I would recommend buying the wheels and the bed extensions. Overall it does pretty well. No major issues just some minor annoyances. It is a one arm so I have to be very careful not to touch the arm or I get a valley. Dust collection is adequate, but could be better. Has a large footprint.

Would I buy it again? Yes. Thought about just buying a 36 inch unit originally and decided one day I would want to sand 44" so hence I bought this one.

[Bruce Page]

I have the Delta 18”/36” and have been happy with it. You will find a lot of good info if you check out the “similar threads” at the bottom of this page.

[Jim Schmoll]

I had a Perform 16-32 and went to a Shopfox open end wide belt sander. The Perform 16-32 just didn't have the power that I needed. I was asking a lot and trying to use it on boards wider than 12", samller than 12" it was fine,

Jim from Idyllwild

[Brad Hammond]

delta 18-36 here..... the only probs i've had is with the table. it seems i'm always sanding something thick and then something thin. it's jumped time on the belt a couple of times at times when i've had to raise the bed along way up.
works fine for what i do with it. but i'm about to build some cabinet doors so i'll give it a workout in the coming weeks.

cya
brad