Official Luthiers Forum!

I have access to an older Performax 16/32 Plus with a fresh belt for $350. Looking on Craigslist locally, it looks like this is a good deal. I currently pay a local cabinetmaker $20 3 times a year to thin the B+S for an the few instruments I build, so the only way this works is if it is worth a bit more than I would pay.

Thanks

Ed

Ed,

$60 a year seems like a no brainer...

Ed,
You should snap it up, before someone else does. Drum sanders are useful for many more things than guitarmaking. If you do other wood working (which I'm sure you do) you will find a million other uses for it. That is cheap enough I would consider buying it just to have a spare (if you don't buy it please let me know)

I use my mostly for guitar building. You'll be surprised at the number of things you will do with it. In addition to Backs, sides, and tops, I final thickness many parts of the guitar including:

Braces, binding I cut myself, head plates, back plates, pieces of wood I plan to use for inlays, bring the newly installed rosette and back strip flush, thickness the fingerboard to my specs, and probably a few more that slip my mind.

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Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust

I was paying $100 an hour at a shop for wide belt sander and resaw, so 20 bucks is a steal. If you have room though a drum sander is quite handy. And you could always sell it for more than that if it's in decent condition. I use it to size a lot of stuff, bindings, fretboard, Bridge, scarfed neck blank, etc

New username, same ole Pat Macaluso!

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Pat

I got my Performax 16-32 for about that same price (a steal in my opinion) on Craigslist and I was lucky enough to get there first because the seller was contacted by a bunch of other buyers while I was on the way over to his house to pick it up. It's definitely one of the most important and useful tools in my shop.

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Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right - Robert Hunter

For $350, I wouldn't think twice. I use mine all the time. As mentioned above: tops, backs, sides, bridge plates, headstock plates, braces...

As everyone has already mentioned, it sounds like a great deal. If you have room for it and dust collection (they sure make a LOT of dust ) you might find yourself using it for more than just back and sides. As long as you have the cash to spare for it, I think you'd like having it conveniently at the ready to use anytime.

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jw ( o)===:::

I got one 19 years ago when they first came out.
Still works great!
Just get a good dust collector for it.
Mike

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Mike Collins

PITA fogetaboutit

I got it for $325 including unopened 50 foot rolls of 120 and 180, and a roll of 80 with just one loading off of it. On a stand, runs good. I don't have dust collection in my shop as I work mostly with hand tools and can live the small amount of dust I make. I will keep this guy in the garage next to my surface planer, and wheel them both out of the garage for use.

Thanks all for the comments

By the way, the guy was over 70, a graduate of the North Bennett St. School. and worked in woodworking his whole life. Great shop with lots of BIG machinery - 12" jointer, 16" table saw. amazing furniture - lots of Federal with the inlays. Here the idea of the day - an old shopping cart to haul around 300 pounds of clamps. Up to about 18" they hang off the sides, and wooden hand screws fit on the shelf below. Also, a Folger's coffee can is the right size to fit 4" dust collection flex hose, and easy to build into a shop-made collection box for various tools.

Ed

Nice score Ed, I payed $600 for one and that was a good deal. You absolutely need dust collection to run that tool. Without it the sand paper will load up in no time. I use a good shop vac and a Dust Deputy on mine.

Steve

I wheel mine outside, take the cover off and use a cheap plastic dust brush to "sweep" the dust off as it's running. I used to use compressed air to blow the dust off, but the dust broom is less setup and works about as well ( just mind the wind direction).

My brand new 19-38 is in transit to my house as we speak. I feel like this belongs beside the bandsaw as top tools for building flat-top guitars. I also bought the Dust Deputy for my shopvac. I'll let you know how that works out.

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Hutch

Get the heck off the couch and go build a guitar!!!!

Ed find a good filtered mask for when you run the sander. The dust is fine and you will be breathing more of it than you think. I wear a good mask and use the dust collector.

Great find. Add my voice to the chorus calling for dust collection/protection.

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George :-)

I just use a shopvac for dust on my 16/32, it's more than enough for what you should be taking off with it.

Got the machine and it works great. A question:

I put a piece of 7" wide oak through it and took down both faces so they were nice and flat. I cranked down 1/8 of turn, and passed the board through about 4-5 times to make sure everybody was happy, then I measured thickness at the two edges. The outboards side is less then .01" thicker than the inboard side. Can the machine be adjusted to tolerances tighter than that?

I have the manual on line so I know HOW to do it, just wondering if I SHOULD do it.

Thanks

Ed

I don't think you should. However, there is a method using a backer board rather than adjusting the machine. Prepare your backer board with sandpaper on one side. Put that side down on the feed belt and run the board through until it is all new wood. Then flip it end to end and use it to back any future pieces. I have read about this, but I actually never did it myself. I think your setting is close enough.

That works for me.

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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.

It's better to have the outboard edge leave the work a little thicker So if you have a piece wider than you can do in one pass it will leave the "middle" slightly thicker rather than making a ridge where the second pass overlaps.
If you sand a 16 inch wide top and use 13 inches of the width of the drum you will have very little difference in thickness from edge to edge after turning the board and making the second pass.

I had a modern version of the Jet 16-32 (same thing) and set it up for a slight taper and ran each side through. Taper was less than .01" and was actually just the beginning of my mods of the top. Worked fine as long You went through the grits and had your paper wound right.

Thanks all - good to go

Ed

I think that 10 thousandths difference over a 7" board is a bit too much because that will be about 40 thousandths on a guitar back or top. My performax only has about 5 thousandths difference on a guitar back after I adjusted it. When I flip the back around and sand it again then the middle is about 3 thousandths thicker than the edges which is ideal in my book.

Yes, you can get it better adjusted.
0.01" difference, and thicknessing a top or back plate to typically 0.1" makes that a 10% difference.
Whether you're happy with that is up to you.
I believe at least one boutique/factory maker deliberately makes the treble side thicker than the bass, supposedly to enhance the bass and treble responses, not sure how well that works...….
Personally I use the backer board idea thang.

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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.