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https://woodworker.com/cgi-bin/FULLPRES.exe?PARTNUM=154-154&LARGEVIEW=ON
Anyone seen it work?
Edit--Found this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgCEumRu6hY

Looks cool. I wonder if it works as well as they say. Youtube videos are terrible.
I would love to run raised panels through with out having to go back and remove cross-grain scratches. Maybe I could modify my performax…Hmmm…

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Rich S

"The inconvenience of poor quality will linger long after the thrill of a bargain has been forgotten"

I got that add the other day too. I don't see how it matters if it's oscillating on a wide piece like top or back plates. The middle is always in full contact.

It matters when you have a glue line, like a guitar top or back.

The oscillation is pretty cool, but i dont like the cantilevered sanders, they seem too dinky for me. If you have the floor space, a used supermax 25/2 is a pretty ideal sander for guitar building. It is wide enough that you can skew just about anything you will be putting through there, which gives you some of the advantages of oscillation.

I think oscillation is going to add up to more maintenance also, parts and bearings to replace.

Maybe its great though, we probably need to hear from someone who has one to know.

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Jordan Aceto
Ithaca, NY

Can you explain why more?

It may be in full contact with the wood either way but the oscillation will eliminate any straight line scratches and leave a flatter surface. IMO the biggest draw back to a drum sander is dust building up on the drum to the point in which it doesn’t clear and you end up with a burnish line right down the board. The side to side motion cuts down on this buildup by shedding the dust to the side of the individual grits on the paper instead of carrying them around the drum to the wood again.

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Rich S

"The inconvenience of poor quality will linger long after the thrill of a bargain has been forgotten"

If you send a top or back straight through a drum sander again and again, the sandpaper right in the middle of the drum will load up with glue and start to burn the wood. Skewing the wood to the side means that the glue line travels across the sanding drum, so no one spot gets loaded down. It is good to skew anything you can, it keeps from overheating and wearing out the paper too much in any one area.

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Jordan Aceto
Ithaca, NY

Thanks

It looks like a promising product but I would want to hear from users how it does once it gets out in the shops. I agree that the added oscillating ability is very attractive and these things certainly can use some help with the paper lasting longer......

I used my 10-20 for 4 hours straight yesterday and it worked, as always, very well. I only sanded tops with 120 and one belt lasted the entire time and is still in decent shape.

It's been my impression from reading the posts of Performax/Jet users that the bigger machines seem to have more issues with alignment. My 10-20 was aligned properly right out of the box and other than checking it once in a while it has been rock solid.

I would be concerned however as pointed out above that the added complexity and based on what I have read about the larger machines from Performax/jet that the tolerances that we use might be tough to maintain with this machine and all that is going on when it operates. It will be interesting a year from now after some of us have used it to hear how well it works.

After switching from using a drum on a drill press to a proper oscillating spindle sander I am sold on the benefits of oscillation and how much longer the paper lasts. Great idea - who's going to be the guinea pig?

The machine looks very tempting. I haven't picked up a thickness sander yet (I face mill everything), but I'm trying to minimize what I use the Fadal for lately to stave off needing a second (or third) machine and this looks like an attractive option. I might buy or build something similar over the next year...so I'll be that guinea pig if nobody beats me to it (I'd consider building not because of the price, which I think is reasonable for such a tool, but because I don't like the cantilevered design)

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Bob Garrish
Former Canonized Purveyor of Fine CNC Luthier Services

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OloA9gsReEU
I'm wondering how well their "SandSmart" system works. I would LIKE to think that it would be handy when several passes would normally be required to take a board down to final thickness. Is is "Smart" enough to take, say, 1/16" off in one pass by controlling the feedrate along with the oscillation feature. This would be a timesaver for sure.
Nelson