Drum Sander

I have the opportunity to get a performax 22/44 sander (same as Jet 22/44 now I think?) in a trade this weekend. The feed belt needs replacing on it, but otherwise it is suposed to be fine.

Any thoughts on wether I should do this or not?

Also has anyone had any experience with the terribly named Sand Flee product?

http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=22301

Or has anyone built a drum sander?

I have the opportunity to get a performax 22/44 sander (same as Jet 22/44 now I think?) in a trade this weekend. The feed belt needs replacing on it, but otherwise it is suposed to be fine.

Any thoughts on wether I should do this or not?

Also has anyone had any experience with the terribly named Sand Flee product?

http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=22301

I guess it depends on what you're trading for it. Also depends on how you want to use it. Just looking, it might be fine for finish sanding where consistant thickness isn't the goal. But I can see a problem with thickness sanding...probably not meant for this.

Peace,
Mark

I've heard feed belts can be a real pita to replace and even buy on a lot of models. Check it out before you settle on the trade.

I have the opportunity to get a performax 22/44 sander (same as Jet 22/44 now I think?) in a trade this weekend. The feed belt needs replacing on it, but otherwise it is suposed to be fine.

Any thoughts on wether I should do this or not?

Also has anyone had any experience with the terribly named Sand Flee product?

http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=22301

I have built one. It took about a half day. I bought the drum from Grizzly telling them that mine broke. Got some pillow blocks and built a box to hold it and a platform that rises on a screw. Works great! the good thing about homemade is you can do alterations to suit.

I built one and purchased 3 ( Ross industries, Ryobi, and finally Delta). I've replaced the belt on my current Delta. It's not that big a deal, but the tracking isn't as easy as it looks. Having a conveyor is a nice feature that most homebuilts don't have. You can search for a thread last year that talked about the hand cranked plans from ShopNotes.

http://www.shopnotes.com/issues/086/extras/thickness-sander/

I have no experience with the sandflea but I can't imagine spending that kind of money for something that only contacts the wood at one point, is hand fed, and has no hold down rollers.

I built a drum sander about 10-12 years ago, and it served me pretty well for three or five years. I eventually wore through the laminate surface I had on it. I suppose I had maybe $250 into it total including the motor and plywood to build it. I used a 3/4" metal rod and made a drum out of plywood all glued together, for a total of about 30 inches wide usable drum.

It was fun to build and it did work OK. Not perfect, by any means, but certainly serviceable. It took quite a bit of fussing with it to get it to balance out.

I've since bought a 22-44 plus and ain't looking back... It's a great machine.

I'm currently in the process of converting the parts from the home-made sander into a buffer....