Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I've been "looking" at this drum sander for the past few years, and finally bought it about 2 months ago, and the only thing I regret is that I did not buy it sooner! I can't remember how to prep lumber without this machine. The machine is very heavy, about 150 pounds shipping weight. The UPS man was kind enough to help me by unloading it into my garage shop. Set up took about 90 minutes, the instuction book was very detailed and the pictures were very helpful. The stand is very strong and steady, the casters are large enough to really move around on the concrete floor. The hardest part about the setup is the leveling of the drum to the conveyor belt. I had to do it twice before it was exact. The first time I did not use good judgment, I used a wooden board to help align the drum. In testing the first piece out, it was off quite a bit. I then followed the instuctions, and used a metal level on edge, and the results were well within the .010 inch tolererance as stated in the manual. That all said and done, and after setting up the dust collection system to the 4" overhead port, I was ready to start sanding. I do a lot of resawing for the scroll saw, and this drum sander should be a staple for resawing. Each 1/4 turn of the control handle moves the drum 1/64", making it very easy to control the depth of "cut". You control the speed of the belt from about a rate of 1 foot/minute to 100 feet per minute. So depending on the type of sandpaper grade and hardness of wood, you control the speed and depth of cut. The nice feature of the unit is it only takes about 2 minutes to change the sandpaper from the drum to another grade and you are back in business again. So it is very quick and easy to change paper as you prep the lumber. The first few passes in 80 grit (depending on how well the resawing operation went), then switch to 120 and finally a pass at 180. The only warning on the sanding process, make sure the grain is going with the sander, this is NOT a vibrating hand sander. With the measurement indicator on the side of the sander, you can consistently sand to the same thickness, time after time, board after board. I am very happy and pleased with the Performax 16-32 Drum Sander. I am now doing a lot more resawing (saving money), not just when I have to because of lumber availability. No issues, No problems. Just a nice sanding operation and quick change sandpaper. UPDATE: MARCH 7, 2007; I have been using this sander for over 5 years now, and not one performance issue. It is used about an average of 10 hours per week, sanding down the re-sawed wood from the band saw. It is still very precise and accurate in terms of measurements. It is consistent with the final quality product. One of my best buys for the shop.