Official Luthiers Forum!

Jet was having a 15% off and free shipping. This will be my first time using a drum sander for thickness. It is shipping with a 80 grit on the drum. I also ordered a roll of 120 grit. A few questions for those who use this model for luither work.

1.) Do you use one grit on the top the whole time? If so what grit? If not, do you have a second drop to change out?

2.) Do you have any tricks or tips for thicknessing?

That's about it. I'm really just excited by not using a smoothing plane for all my plates and sides. This will save hours.

Proud new owner of some serious jealousy - paid full price too.

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Thank You and Best To All

I have the Performax.
On Amazon it says "Jet" in the description, but they have "Performax" in the picture.

If they're the same thing, I would say definitely be careful how much you take off at a time.

Use a dedicated outlet with nothing else on the breaker, these things run the full pop out of the wall and you will notice a definite decrease in performance and power if you don't do this, and possibly end up tripping the wall breaker and shutting EVERYTHING down rather frequently.

I rewired my shop and installed new breakers and plugs and run each of my four major tools on it's own breaker, when I was running my dust collector and sander on the same breaker it was causing problems.

As far as use, 120 should only be used for the final pass or two, and I lower the sander about an eight or a quarter turn of the handle at a time, and for the final few passes I don't turn it all and let it settle out to final thickness.

I've used it as a thickness sander at 36 grit, but it's really not efficient enough for that, so I use either my planer or the bandsaw, and clean it up with the sander.

I haven't broken any of my gears, but I try to be as gentle on my tools as possible.

When I got my first oscillating spindle sander I burned it out in an hour.

I took it back and returned it, they said I was too rough on it and gave me new one. I've had it for over 15 years now no problem.

The 16-32 is not an industrial machine, so you can't treat it like one, use it at most a half hour at a time and let it cool down completely between uses and it'll last forever.

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Old growth, shmold growth!

I have the Performax 16-32, and it's more than adequate for my use. I usually run 120 or 180 grit unless I have to take off a significant amount (>1/16"), and then I'll go down to 80. It takes a few minutes to change the paper, but it's actually quicker to change the paper than make more passes with finer grit.
The key is quick, light passes. I set the belt feed at about 70% full speed, and drop the drum about 0.01" for each pass, less with hard, resinous woods. I've got mine set with about 0.008" difference across the width, that is the inside is lower than the outside by about 0.008". I had it closer to level than that, but it was lower on the outside which doesn't work well with wider pieces.
I don't doubt Stuart's word, but I haven't noticed any flex in my machine. I was suprised it doesn't flex more, but if you're using it right(very light, quick passes), there's not that much force on it. I suspect that taking heavier passes would cause flexing, or overload the motor, or some other undesireable result.

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A man hears what he wants to hear, and disreguards the rest. Paul Simon

I wish I had the space!

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

I second all the tips on the beam not being quite rigid enough. You have to be careful to switch directions - i.e., don't sand one side of work on motor side and the other on the outside all the time, or you will get a wedge.

Don't just sand to 80 grit. Take the time to change out the belts (pita) and go up to a decent final grit. Sanding out residual 80 or even 120 grit patterns when you get to hand sanding the final box is more than a total pain, particularly if you sanded at an angle. (Lesson learned the hard way.)

Given the already learned lessons, I'm happy with my JET 16-32.

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Jim Kirby
kirby@udel.edu

I never have problems with flexing on mine, but I take light passes.

If someone's flexing the beam and wearing out gears and such, probably taking too-heavy passes.

It's not meant to be an industrial tool, it's worth repeating.

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Old growth, shmold growth!

The only advice I'd give is the same as I'd give for any drum sander. Light passes (don't try to take a deep cut), faster belt speed. Easier on the sander, easier on the paper.

Good on you. Excellent machine. Search the toots forum where I posted a link that explains how to set one up. Not my original work... Joe woodworker stuff. You are going to love this thing!

Get some 80 grit for thicknessing. Fastest feed rate possible with very shallow passes. I find paper changes to be a giant PITA, so 80 grit is always on it. A few passes with a smooth plane and sanding marks are gone (I generally only clean up the inside surfaces until box is closed; sanding marks on top surfaces get sanded out when thinning the perimeter, binding install and finish sanding).

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Aaron Craig

I've had one since the fall
of 1999.
Came with a dust collection system for a total $950.00

You need to keep the brass bearings on the feed belt lubed.
Set you drum to table distance with NO belts on it.
I use a good straight edge to help here.

I use 60 grit for heavy removal of resinous woods;
followed by 80 then 100.
Then a palm sander with 120 on it.

I use 80 then 120 for spruce.
100 then 120 for cedar.
I use this machine for all my bindings ,f.b.- braces(thickness)
H.S.veneers & necks.

Never once has it failed me!
I sand allot of wood every year with it.
I buy feed belt from suppliers other than Klinspor
or other middlemen.
I but bulk sanding rolls that I cut myself .
I keep an older roll as a template.

Mike

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Mike Collins

Can't add much to what has already been said. Brought my machine (Jet 16-32) because I wasn't very good with a hand plane, especially on hard woods. I keep 80 grit on mine all the time and use my random orbital sander for finer work. I find this easier than making paper changes on the 16-32. I really like my machine; trick is to take small bites (1/4 to 1/8th turn) as everyone has said, and I like to turn the piece around and make two passes at each setting. Seems to give me pretty even thickness across the board. A shop vac hooked up to the dust collecting shroud works great.