Anyone Wixie a 22-44

[Reed Wells]

I have a 22-44 Performax Pro that I bought new about 7-8 years ago. It does well for what I bought it for. But who ever designed that depth gauge should be taken out and shot. You have to get on your knees to read the darn thing and I just turned 60, so that's getting a little much. So has enyone tried to adapt a Wixie digital to one. If so could you maybe post a closeup of it and some installation hints.
Thanks Reed

[Peter Quinn]

I have a 22-44 pro and have never used, set up or even considered that silly depth gauge for a second. Not even once. I was taught to lower the head with a test board under the drum (on an old wide belt w/o digital height index) until enough friction was created to make moving the board just a bit difficult. Check the first pass with calipers, possibly drop the head a few thousands and go for it.

With the drum sander I am usually concerned about actual wood thickness or surface quality. Knowing the distance between the table and drum on a sander will not help with either of these things so I'm not sure what information a digital gauge will give you.

For instance, at work we have a 38" wide belt with a 15HP motor. Set it to .750", install 120 grit belt, feed a piece of poplar that measures .765", it comes out .750". Feed a piece of hard maple that measures .765", it comes out .758" inches. A cutter based machine like a planer is different, but a sanders removal rate varies considerably over its working range with feed rate, paper grit and species hardness. A test piece and a pair of calipers quickly and accurately lets me tune in my work without bending over. I'd ignore that gauge, skip the Wixley gauge, and move to a results oriented approach.

[james gerus]

Check this thread with pictures Wixey DRO on Jet 22-44 Drum Sander Good Luck Jim

[Phil Harding]

I've had the Accurate Technologies' DigiFence (http://www.digi-kit.com/) on my tablesaw for more than five years now and I absolutely love it. I put a DigiScale on my 15" planer and have I also love the way that has worked for me. So, when I decided to put a digital scale on my 22-44 Pro sander I used a DigiScale for that also. I actually got a great deal on ebay - 5 used DigiScales for less than the price of one new unit.

Installation was easy, the biggest issue is to make sure the track is parallel to the sander uprights in all planes (I believe this is also the case with the Wixey. Here a few photos of my installation.

-- Phil