# Love it! Use it all the time. Wish I bought it sooner



## longgone (May 5, 2009)

Rick,
You made an excellent choice with the Jet drum sander. I bought the Jet 22-44 sander just recently and find that I use it even more that I thought I would. Another good way to align the drum with the table is to loosed the bolts and lay a flat square object on the table. In my case I used a 24" level and then lowered the drum on top of the level. Once it touches the level all the way across I tightened the bolts and it was parallel and done.
You can buy sandpaper for you sander at a very affordable price at http://www.industrialabrasives.com/
I bought a couple of 50 yard rolls and cut to size. Much cheaper than the pre cut strips.


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## GaryK (Jun 25, 2007)

I have a 22/44 Performax that I got before Jet bought them out. I use it all the time.

Another good place to get rolls is: http://www.onlineindustrialsupply.com/
Some things are cheaper than Greg link above and some aren't.

I get ROS disks in bulk at both places also


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## GaryK (Jun 25, 2007)

Oops


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## woodplay (Aug 11, 2009)

Hey Greg. You know I tried that method of aligning the drum also, just a little different. I took a 2×4 and milled it to size. I then put a dip along the length of it by running it over the tablesaw blade diagonally. I thought that would help hold the drum in place. I also thought that this was going to be my fool proof method. I just set the drum down on it, like you did with the level, and tightened it up. But I quickly found that, while tightening the bolts, that it could adjust the drum enough to not be satisfactory. So I tried again and again and could never get it to tighten down parallel to the conveyor. I was pretty frustrated with myself. Then I noticed my digital angle gauge and had a thought.


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## CharlesNeil (Oct 21, 2007)

i have and agree drum sanders are the best machine to help your woodworking improve, love them

I set mine up by sanding two pieces , one on the left one on the right , and then gently adjusting until they are exactly the same , not going to say i havent started with a 7/8 piece and ended with a 1/8 , but it works pretty well , 
here is newsletter i wrote last month on drum sanders as well as sandpaper and cleaning , it might help ya some… been running one of these for about 25 years…got one when they first came out …best tool i own

http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs034/1102675987548/archive/1102784169386.html


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## sbryan55 (Dec 8, 2007)

This is a nice review, Rick. I have a drum sander at the top of my tool wish list. i appreicate the info that you are posting on this particular sander.


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## cpollock (Jan 19, 2009)

Thanks for the reviews and comments. I have one as well. Its slow compared to a planer, so I reserve it for final dimensioning. To reiterate Rick's "update", it does make working with crazy grain much easier. That's why I got it, the african mahogany I was trying to plane was giving me the mother of all chip-outs in my planer, even with brand new blades. The sander fixed that.

I just read Charles Neils's excellent article, and his advice will help. I guess I need to be a little more aggressive in changing the grit for the dimensioning steps.

I have been slightly frustrated iin aligning the bed to the drum. I find the adjustment mechanism to be very crude, where basically you loosen the four bolts that hold he entire head, bump the head into alignment, then hope that it all doesn't drift by the time you tighten the bolts again. There is no pivot point to work with. Did anyone find a way to overcome this? I figure there has to be a better way than the frustrating way was trying. I still, after hours of trying, have a slight wedge in the thickness of the gap.


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## a1Jim (Aug 9, 2008)

Good review Rick


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## joew (Apr 22, 2008)

You might want to try this store for the sandpaper also. 
http://www.ptreeusa.com/performaxrolls.htm
I have been in the store and real nice people to deal with.


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## paulcoyne (Nov 9, 2009)

*oh i really want one*, had some lovely maple pannels glued up and then thicknessed but they kept getting tearout a drum sander would be great…


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## TroutGuy (Mar 28, 2008)

I have the Performax version of this one, and love it! It makes sanding end-grain cutting boards a piece of cake! I use it for thicknessing too. If it tears out on the planer…

One thing I've learned, that seems somewhat counter-intuitive: If your workpiece is showing burns (oak is notorious for this), INCREASE the feed rate. Power sanding generates heat. Increasing the feed rate decreases the time the workpiece has, to absorb heat at the point of contact.


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## woodplay (Aug 11, 2009)

I just did my first multi board panel glue up since high school shop class. I got the boards glued up pretty flat with each other but not perfect. I picked the flatest side and ran each panel through the sander with that side down. I even took advantage of it being a 16-32inch sander because my panels were 18-22 inches wide. So after one pass I rotated the board and ran it through again. Then I did the opposite sides. 
I should put those pictures on here. Seriously sooo happy that I pulled the trigger on this purchase still.


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## john925 (Jun 1, 2010)

Great idea on the angle gage Rick. Just got mine and I haven't yet checked the drum alignment yet but using this simple method, I'll give it a try. Sounds good. Thanks for the tip.


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## JohnAlson (Aug 9, 2011)

Not a bad choice at all, the feedback I gathered on the 16-32 had similar praise ( drum sander reviews ).

Nice review, would you mind if I used some snippets of it on the site?


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## woodplay (Aug 11, 2009)

Thank you Jonathan. 
Yes you may use this on the web site.


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## SmithWood (May 5, 2014)

I just bought one of these Jet 16-32 and I have to say I agree with you. I should have bought this a long time ago. I have the Ridgid planer and jointer. But this Jet man! Whoa!!! I am in love with this thing as long as she brings her friend along (dust collector) man this can make a lot of dust if you're not hooked up to the collector.


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