Anyone have one of these?

[Pappy]

Thanks for the notes on DC.

General statement, Rod. You will find a way to collect the 5% the DC port misses! maybe a contoured MDF hood mounted just below the outfeed end of the conveyor belt...

[RodKirby]

Thanks Pappy.

Well, had a look - it's on order - "about a week"

Took measurements - starting the mobile base today...

[betacrash]

Has anyone seen the latest Shopnotes (Vol 15 Issue 86) there are plans for building one. I have been thinking of building/buying one for the past couple of months for thicknessing ukulele tops. This is the best plan I have seen for making one. Their plan calls for using your table saw as a power source. I was just going to build a base and use a 1hp motor.

[jziegler]

Thanks Pappy.

Well, had a look - it's on order - "about a week"

Took measurements - starting the mobile base today...

Rod,

You are way too efficient with your mobile bases. I wish that I had time to work on some good bases. I sure could use a few.

-Jim

[Tundra_Man]

I bought the Performax 10-20 back in January when Amazon was letting them go for $445 including shipping. Finally unboxed it and set it up.

The instructions weren't very good (although a little better than HF's.) Things aren't written in the order you need to do them. I was scratching my head looking for the "belt guide kit" that the instructions said came in a separate box and I should install. After a few minutes of searching I finally figured out that it came pre-installed. A couple of the adjustment knobs turn backwards from what it states, which really hindered the adjustment process until I figured that out.

The instructions said the unit was "pre-adjusted" at the factory. On mine, the belt tracking was way off and the drum alignment was 1/4" higher on one end. Terrible.

All that being said, once I got it adjusted and dialed in, it's a sweet running machine. I ran some figured bubinga through it and it worked great, although I quickly realized one of those rubber belt cleaning sticks is mandatory unless you want to go through sandpaper by the boat load. It was real nice not having to worry about tear-out like what happens with a planer. I also made a 3/32" piece of figured bubinga veneer, something I could never do with my planer as even if I could get the planer to go that thin (probably not) the tearout would have been deeper than the 3/32".

I like the separate belt and drum motors, and the variable speed. The dust collection works very well. Sanding belt changes are easier than I had envisioned.

Overall I'm pretty happy with the machine once I got past the initial setup. Those are my comments.