Customer Reviews
Worth every penny 
2006-05-21
I purchased this drum sander a week ago.
I am rating the Performax 22x44 Plus Drum Sander with Closed Stand.
The stand is completely assembled in the box. This is the first machine that I have assembled and didn't have any extra bolts or washers. Assembly was exactly as it was supposed to be with everything lining up perfectly. All allen wrenches were provided for assembly.
I only had to tighten the brake pedal. The paint job is wonderful.
The motor assembly is extremely heavy, however, I was able to assemble the entire machine in 20 minutes.
I purchased the optional infeed/outfeed tables and think they are great but should cost less than $100, more like $50. No, they should be included, but are not necessary.
Performance: The motor is unbelievable quiet. No vibration at all. It is hard to tell sometimes if the motor is running it is so quiet. I sanded a 14 inch wide board and the results were amazing. Dust collection is a must and my Delta 1200 CFM pulls 99% of the dust.
I use a 30 AMP service for the drum sander.
Drum alignment was spot on. It was only off by .002 of an inch. No adjustment needed at all!
I give it 4 stars because the mobile base moves inline and does not allow you to easily steer the machine. I also wished the conveyor motor was a little beefier. No problems. I just would like the assurance. The motor adjusts from 0 to 10 fpm.
(Update 12-1-06: I received the "handy" tool to assist with sanding belt changes. I COMPLETELY disagree with the instructions for changing the sandpaper on the drum. It is not necessary to use this tool. I and my family think this way is much better: Attach the paper to both sides, but do NOT tighten it on the motor side as instructed. Simply tighten it by hand on the left side where you have much more room and can do it with your fingers. If you own this tool you will see exactly what I am talking about. It is so easy this way.
I am so happy I received this machine. It was given as an early Father's Day gift.
Look Elsewhere 
2006-03-29
When this thing is tuned and working properly, it's a great machine. Alas, those moments are rare. I spend more time adjusting it than actually using it.
First, setting the sanding drum parallel to the table is a pain in the ass. The owner's manual says that parallelism is set at the factory and should not hafta be set by the owner. When I received mine, it was out by 3/8"! This is a huge amount. Obviously, the quality control department was at lunch when my machine was assembled.
To set the parallelism, four bolts are loosed and a knob is turned. The problem arises from the fact that there is so much play in these components, that by the time everything is re-tightened, it is out of parallel again. So, to set it is very much a hit-or-miss process.
Second, attaching the sandpaper belt to the drum is another pain in the ass. There are two clips that hold the sandpaper, one on either end. The first one is easy to set because it is on the outboard and you can see it and reach it. But the in-board clip cannot be seen. The clearance between the drum and the frame is really tight. Performax supplies a wire thingamajig to open the clip and keep the sandpaper taut. This works kinda. But if you have bear paws for hands, forget it.
Third, it's tough to keep the sandpaper taut. Pulling the sandpaper taut, working the thingamajig and pulling the tab into the clip is an exercise in frustration. Then the belts will stretch and need to be re-tightened. And the belts will always rise away from the drum by about 1 mm where they turn into clip. The clip is at 90 degrees to the drum, so, you could crease the sandpaper so it fits better but when you do that, it weakens the sandpaper and it will break. So, with this bump, you really don't have a full 22" because it doesn't sand correctly at the bump in the sandpaper. And forget trying to sand something 44" wide-I'd rather use 36 grit as toilet paper than sand a wide face frame.
Fourth, wood burns for no apparent reason. I get these areas, usually 3/8" wide where something attaches itself to the belt and boom, there is a band of pitch that is burned onto the sandpaper and will never come off. This pitch immediately starts gouging the wood. I use a dust collector rated at 1100 CFM and I clean the belt often with a crepe rubber stick. Also, whenever I sand something greater than 6" wide I increase the depth of cut only 1/8 of a revolution at a time (1/128"). So, I've come to the conclusion that this is underpowered.
The automatic feed limiter doesn't solve this problem. In fact, if the feed limiter kicks in, at least 50% of the time, I'll get a wide swath of burn marks. So, I always feed so slow the feed limiter doesn't kick in.
Fifth, the belts break long before the abrasive is gone. And given the cost of these belts, it makes using this machine too expensive.
So, unless you like fiddling with your machines more than you like working wood, stay away from this.
Oh, there are a few good points. The stand is nice and sturdy. The casters are great. And the stand has a nice shelf to store sandpaper. Nice paint job too.
UPDATE A friend reccommended that I not use the crepe rubber to clean my belts. This has helped reduce burning a lot. So, I would now give this machine 3 stars and strongly reccommend that you do not use the crepe rubber pad sold by Grizzly for cleaning drum sanders.
Great Sander! 
2008-05-01
This is a great little sander. It surprising how often I find myself using it for various projects here and there that I would not have initially imagined. Works ok for sanding wide, heavy table-top projects, but if this is your primary interest, you'd probably be better off going with something larger. I find it ideal for sanding and finishing face-frames, raised-panel doors, stiles, and rails, and the like. I strongly suggest you get the in-feed and out-feed table.
My new workhorse 2008-04-13
I purchase quite a bit of tools from Amazon, but I decided to buy this sander locally. There was a sale and mini show going on, so I got 10% off, plus a rep from Jet was there and threw in some free goodies, and I still received the current rebate. That was in January. I've used it on several projects now and can offer an honest review of my experience with it.
First, I'd like to start by saying my shop has become more than just a hobby shop and is quickly approaching a full time business. I felt I needed to reduce the amount of time I spend sanding. Since I already own numerous Jet machines and have been happy with their quality and service, I researched their sanders first and came to appreciate the 22-44 Plus. Out of the box(s) the machine went together pretty easily and needed only minor adjustments to be perfect. Although it did have some minor hidden shipping damage, Jet corrected that promptly.
Next came the learning curve. This is my first "real" sander so a couple sanding belts got ruined by trying to remove too much material at one time. Light cuts are the key. The crank to lower the sanding head moves down 1/64" per 1/4 turn and this is a pretty good reference to use when sanding. Sometimes I take a little more or less depending on the size and specie, but usually 1/4 turn per pass is just right for average size boards.
I've not had any trouble changing belts. After doing it a few times, it takes about 2 minutes and I don't need to use the tuff tool.
The tracking for the conveyor was a little fussy at first. I just dialed it in close and occasionally have to make a minor adjustment. This is real easy to do as Jet has put small wrenches on the adjustment bolts on either side of the conveyor. It takes about 3 seconds to make an adjustment and it can be done on the fly. Usually 1/4 turn on one of the bolts does the trick and it'll be fine for a couple more weeks.
This sander will not totally eliminate the need to hand sand with a random orbital sander, however, it will greatly reduce it. Plus it'll flatten any unevenness. T
The sander will leave a linear scratch pattern similar to a belt sander, even with 220 grit, that will need removed before final finishing. I've found loading up my random orbit sander with a slightly courser grit, the linear lines will remove with a good once-over. For example, if I drum sand to 220 grit, I can remove the scratch marks easily with a light pass of 180 grit in the random orbital sander. Also, a sharp card scraper will remove the scratch lines from 220 grit pretty easily if you prefer scraping over sanding for final finish work. Additionally, I'd recommend sending the boards through the sander 2 or 3 times on the final pass without changing the depth of cut. It'll reduce the depth of the scratch pattern and make sanding/scraping easier.
Note- although I suppose boards could be thickness sanded, it would take a looong time, so keep the planer for getting lumber close, and then drum sand to final dimension.
I took the rebate check from Jet and bought the extension infeed/outfeed tables for the sander. They are real nice for longer boards, easy to install and very stout. When installing, keep them just slightly below (mine are .04", or the thickness of a piece of 80 grit sandpaper folded in half) the height of the conveyor or else it will not feed right. I highly recommend the tables.
The fit and finish of the machine is on par with the rest of the Jet tools I own. They do a nice job finishing their tools. This is probably the least important to me when purchasing a tool as I buy them to work, not to sit and be pretty. But still, I do take care of them and it's nice they look so good year after year.
The machine comes with casters built in to the base. The casters are fixed, so they do not swivel. Nice for moving the machine back and fourth but not so nice for moving around. I'm tall and need to raise the machine up a few inches to be comfortable anyway, so a custom mobile base is in the works.
The sander saves me an untold amount of time and produces smooth parts of equal thickness. It is connected to a Jet 1100 dust collector and sanding is nearly a dust free operation.
The machine is a joy to use. Plus, it's pretty quiet. I'd purchase it again without reservation. --dave
8 out of 10 2008-01-04
This is my first drum sander and it does a good job. The only problem is that the drum head was not parallel to the base. It was frustrating to align properly.
Jet (Performax) 22-44 2007-10-12
Just assembled my 22-44. Assembly was easy, It would have been even easier if I would have had some help, the drum head is HEAVY. When you are stupid you have got to be tough...
The unit was spot on and required no adjustments. Hooked up the dust collector and went to work. I am amazed, this machine is something I will never be without, and wish I would have bought one earlir. It takes the cupping of the wood out and NO snipe at either end. Couldn't be happier...
Very pleased. R.S. Goines maker of fine furniture 2006-11-28
After looking at the units offered by Delta and Grizzly and reading the reviews I opted for the performax. The machine arrived very well packed (it came in 4 separate boxes and was delivered by two different carriers on two different days AHHH!!!). I spent maybe an hour putting things together and tuning it up. The sander was out of parallel but this was an easy fix. After assembly I noticed the depth gage was missing. A quick call to WMH customer service and I had the parts in two days(they could not have been nicer).
My only complaint is the casters are inline and do not allow for turning the machine when you move it. As for tracking the conveyer belt it took about two minutes and has not moved since. All the complaints I have read about these machines lead me to conclude that the buyers were trying to cut too deeply and to fast. I will also say that abrasive planning is definitely possible if you go slow and take shallow cuts. I surfaced a 33"X48" butcher block counter top with this sander and the results were very impressive. Like very machine in a shop, you just have to take time to learn it and its limitations. I highly recommend this tool for any small pro shop or the very serious hobbyist.
