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Over the weekend I was trying to get some tops and backs sanded and my Delta 16-32 bit the dust.
The conveyor motor burnt up and the all at the same time the gears started slipping that raise and lower the table.
I have had it for 10 years and it has had its issues so I am ready to get a new one.

I was looking and Supermax and was wondering if anyone thinks its worth bumping up to the 19-38 over the 16-32 for
$500 extra dollars. Its looks like the smaller one has a digital readout which seams cool and the bigger one does not.
It would be nice to feed most tops and backs one pass at a time without turning around to get the other side.
I did read the Supermax have a much easier parallel adjustment to the old Delta nightmare that I have dealt with so maybe
the 16-32 would be all I need. Any Thoughts?

I also was looking at the Powermatic drum sander which looks pretty sweet but is still around 1400 more than the Supermax 19-38
so not really sure that would be worth the extra cost.

I’ve got the 19-38 having moved up from an old Jet 16-32. The extra capacity is nice and it’s got a lot more power comparatively. It’s also a lot stouter. Don’t bother with the DRO - it’s got a resolution of .005”, so pretty much worthless. Keep a set of calipers next to the machine instead.

M

Thanks Micheal,

I was wondering about how useful that might be. It s really does seem like the extra width would be good especially since I will be using it hopefully
for a very long time.

I currently use an old Performax Shop Pro 25, having moved up from a Jet 10-20 a number of years ago. As handy as the Jet 10-20 was, the difference in efficiency for tops and backs was/is substantial. It is definitely worth it to go with the wider machine, so as to avoid the whole flip around, run each piece twice routine. You can make the smaller machines work, but if you can afford the larger one, you won’t regret the purchase.

Thanks Don!

Ok You and Micheal have convinced me. Thank You for the advice. Im dropping in!

I have a Performax 18-36 that I got in 2005. I would definitely go with the wider. It’s really nice to sand tops and backs in one pass.

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It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

I'm still running my old Delta 260X 18-36. Still works flawlessly but not supported for many parts anymore so hopefully keeps on working. I agree with others that wider is very nice to have.

I was really lucky and jumped on a Jet 22-44 OSC that was on Craigslist one morning, $1000 . What a great difference over the old Performax 16-32 that I'd been struggling with for years. Wider is better and the oscillation is really cool.

I have the 19-38, my first thickness sander, with folding in/ out feed tables and I'm glad I got the tables. I recently bought the LAGUNA Wixley DRO for it, but haven't used it yet. Was not pleasant to install, I modified the install method by disassembling it to attach supplied hardware,

I bought a $50 I beam trolly, and hoist (finally found a good use for the steel I-beam in the basement) to raise the 19-38's cast part up onto the stand. It's VERY heavy, VERY bulky (all the weight is on one end) and two of us (grey beards) couldn't safely lift it high enough to get it on the stand.

Please be careful not to get injured when you lift it, and congrats on your decision!

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Measure Twice,

Karl Borum

Thanks for the additional recommendations for the wider one. Im feeling real good about it.

Darrel, thats great yours is still running I know the motor for the conveyor is discontinued I couldn't find it anyplace.
But when it was running it did the trick!

Carl I was looking at the Jet OSC that looks pretty sweet I only saw two people talking about it and one hated it the other said it was ok.
Also 1k more than the Supermax new. Sounds like you got a sweet deal on yours thats great!. Im kind off out in the middle of nowhere
so its hard the find good deals on used tools near by.

Kbore, Thanks for the heads up! I will get a couple of friends to come over for dinner and Oh! can you help me lift this real quick?

Check out the 16-32 with additional random orbit sanding it leaves a lot less sanding marks. It's a bit of an upgrade but totally worth it. Im fine with the 16-32 don't need a 18-36 for guitars.

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When I was in the market for my first drum sander a few years ago, I spent weeks doing research. Besides the size and motor, I really wanted something that was easy to change the paper on.That's why my choice was the Supermax 19-38. I thickness with 80gr and then go to 120gr and it only takes a minute or two to change the paper.

Thanks Dofthesea thats good to know.


bftobin, Im feeling good about that, ease of changing the paper is key. It was pretty easy to do on the old delta with the spring clips at each end. I wonder is it the same on the Supermax?

Also where do you get your rolls at for the Supermax? Are you using the laguna ones or sourcing it someplace else?

I consider Klingspor bulk rolls, which have different colored stripes on the back of the abrasive to signify where to cut to make strips for your sander, to be the best deal for me. Mine come labeled as a Jet product.

When looking for a thickness sander I puzzled over options. Only prior experience was with a friends Delta I found frustratingly slow and difficult. So just throwing this out there for folks in the market.

I ended up with a Supermax 2X25 dual drum. What I like most about it is the second drum can adjust independently of the front. I rarely use both drums at once but I really like being able to hog some wood and then switch to the second drum with higher grit without having to change paper. So it is usually sporting something like 60/80 on the front drum and 100-120 on the second. It would drive me nuts having to change paper back and forth to run a fingerboard or headplate....

Biggest downsize of drums is the paper is stationary on the drum and without the flex of the belt on a wide belt sander the paper clogs quickly with many guitar woods.

I've used up to 36 grit but came to the realization I had to leave a lot of thickness to have enough meat to sand out 36 grit induced grooves. So I'm still stuck with a lot of finer grit sanding.

I can't imagine doing any production sanding with a drum machine.

Looking back, I'm sure by now I'd be over the cost of a small wide belt sander and wouldn't have had to deal with cleaning drums that generally takes more time than the actual sanding. The paper on a wide belt goes from flat to being bent around a roller hundreds of times a minute and that should help shed some dust and resin. At least that would be my hope.

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Brian R, Wood Mechanic
N8ZED

I agree with this. I have the 10-20, but used a 20/40 or whatever it is at the maker space I belong to... It was like sitting down in a BMW for the first time. The amount of use my 10-20 gets can’t justify the upgrade, but every time I make that flip, I’m sure daydreaming.


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Hi Carl, is your Jet Gen 1 or 2?

I don't know. How do I tell?

The Jet 22-44 Oscillating Drum Sander was the sole thickness sander in service with Greenridge when I left, and the advantage over the previous 16-32 that was in service when I showed up was a) the automatic feed speed control, b) the two grit step advantage in surface quality (i.e., a surface sanded with 60 grit is very similar to a standard drum sanding running 120; running 80 yields a surface somewhere close to 180-200), and c) fairly quick and easy paper loading. For that $1K increase over the open frame 19-38 you get a nice enclosed stand that will take a caster base, as well as extended infeed and outfeed tables which make the tool far more useful for general carpentry.

One thing I noticed when we were running both the 16-32 DS and the 22-44 ODS was that the 60 grit belts on the 22-44 stayed cleaner for far longer, and often seemed to clean up after something like cocobolo with a few passes with a clear spruce 2x stick. After about a month of side-by-side, the 16-32 moved on to greener pastures via Craigslist. The 22-44 has been in service for at least 8 years now, and has yet to go through a drive belt or need anything in the way of maintenance beyond normal lubrication and cleaning. You can contact the Greenridge crew for more in the way of a review, given I don't get over there nearly as often as I would like given current work situation.

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As Woody says, many ++++ over the old Performax 16-32 I had. Sold it on Craigslist to somebody who came all the way over the mountain from Reno.

I believe the Supermax has the same spring clips as the Delta.
I order rolls of sandpaper from Fintech Abrasives (thanks Ed) and cut my own. Top quality products at a great price.

Happy that Fintech works for you too!

New versus old. Woodie and Carl, which one have you been using? Carl, are you experiencing the same two grit step advantage in surface quality as Woodie?

I have heard a couple reviews where people said the zigzag sanding marks were difficult to remove without going to a coarser grit, so this is intriguing.

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Pat

I've got the one on the right. Been using 80 grit for thicknessing mostly. Do finish sanding with Festool RO. No problems with wavy marks.


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We had the older style, but Jet seems to improve their products going forward, so I doubt there is any real deficit in the newer model. If nothing else, the base looks to be a bit easier to fit a set of castors to than the dogbone-shaped base (though that looked quite swank). The zig-zag marks are only seen when the paper is very loaded, and that is usually a result of something very resinous run through at too slow/too heavy a pass. We usually ran 60 grit, which was quite resistant to loading and produced surfaces that needed little in the way of further attention. Having seen long, straight sanding marks on some small shop maker's rosewood-bodied guitars, the reduction in deep scratch marks courtesy of the oscillating drum was worth the additional cost.

On stock such as like cocobolo, we still got 1/4 rotation increment (1/64"/.017") passes without issue, but I did manage to load the roll up with some pitch pine and did not really notice it until one of the boys ran something through... a bit of a mess. Despite that, any zig-zag due to worn-out or loaded paper cleans up with a single pass. My guess is that those complaining are expecting planer-like performance with 1/32"-1/16" stock removal per pass... just not what you will get from anything short of a multi-grit oscillating belt sander ($$$$) as seen in shops working those live edge slabs for tabletops, etc.

For guitar work, the 22-44 is near optimal, and we used it for a fair number of furniture projects as well, but not a replacement for a good spiral or helical cutter-head on an 18" or wider planer.

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A constellation only takes shape when one maps the whole.
- Beth Brower