Assembling the (Performax) JET 22-44 PRO 22-Inch 3-HP Drum sander.

A big box was delivered today I don’t remember the last time I was this excited; it was a very big box at that.
I have to say it was packed very well so I started by doing an inventory of all the parts and to my surprise everything was there, in tact, and well documented. Did I say it was packed very well?
Here are the assembly steps right out of the manual with out all the stuff that you say “what the heck are they trying to say” ??? and a few things that I found that could cause a problem during assembly.

It comes as two major assemblies, the feed table and the drum sander. The rest is individually wrapped in its own plastic bags so don’t just open all the bags and dump them into a box or you will be sorting through it every time you preform another assembly step. I usually do not read the manual first and only refer to it if I need to see something that I don’t quite understand. Do not do this with this machine There are very important steps that you need to follow or you will cause damage to the machine. In the photo below there are two set screws that must be loosened, first back the nut off the set screw, then back out the set screw (there are four total), two on each vertical post
after the set screws are backed out turn them back in until you just feel it touch very light, then tighten the nut on the set screw. The reason for this is the set screw has a small brass or bronze piece pressed into the set screw which rides against the polished surface of the column. The set screws are there to stabilize the table support from movement during shipping.
One think I did not like was in the photo below
These are called “Assembly Fixtures” they are cast iron collars that are mounted on 1/2” plywood Don’t bother using them. If you set them into the columns as told, when you lower the unit in drops to low to put the legs on and you will have to raise it up again to get the bolts to line up.
AND BY ALL MEANS DO NOT DISCONNECT WHAT EVER YOU ARE USING TO HOLD THE DRUM SANDER UP BY THE CARRIAGE ARM (TOP SUPPORT) until the legs are tightened and checked, I also checked a set screw on the bottom casting where the legs attach and got another half turn. The legs seem to be sturdy, I think they changed the casters and legs from earlier models

I used an engine dolly hoist to pick this up because it is 394 LBS net weight and I was alone so safety first. Even after I had the legs mounted I left the strap attached with a little tension on it until I had the feed table mounted

I noticed that when I mounted the feed table one corner was higher then the others
This gives me concern in that the table may be racked so I will make note of this when l do my final set up and testing the piece that I sand by measuring along all the surface of all four sides for true-ness. I had to go buy an plug so I could turn it on and see if it worked and found that the digital read out gauge requires a battery which I will have to go and find tomorrow when I make a trip to Wood Crafts to buy some finer grit paper. I also added some wire ties to secure the wires out of the way so far so good I like the machine. The feed is a little slow but I am not in a hurry and I feel the slower speed will give a better and more uniform finish. So here are some more pictures I took for posting. I will add a Part 2 for all the fine adjustment and how easy or hard it was. OH this was the only thing I broke, it came with the machine

Enjoy