Powermatic 25-Inch Drum Sander, 5 HP, 230V 1Ph (Model DDS-225)

After using Powermatic's new drum sander for about 6 months now, I have to say this is one quality machine. I upgraded from a performax 16/32 and it was a choice between the Woodmaster, performax 22", or the powermatic. Although I was concerned about quality since the buyout by WHT ( Jet ), I went with powermatic anyway. I am happy to report that the quality is top notch. Everything is built like an industrial u.s. made machine but at an import price. It's 5 h.p. motor is plenty, and the dual drums mean a lot less paper changes and passes through the sander. If your like me and don't have $8000 plus for a decent belt sander this machine is definatly worth the price. My only peave is with the sandpaper. The drums come wrapped with a 4" wide roll of Klingspor paper but you can only buy 3" paper rolls which are more difficult to wrap. And getting the first wraps requires quite a bit of trial and error since you have no template to guide you. Notice... the premarked rolls for other sanders won't work with this machine since the paper wraps the opposite direction.That mentioned I still give powermatic 5 stars for this one.

To clarify some of the previous reviews above. This machine has been around for more than 15 year's. This one and the lighter duty model all come out of the same factory in Taiwan. My previous machine was a General International but had some mechanical issues and since General International has gone out of business I couldn't get repair parts. So I parted it out and purchased this one knowing Powermatic would be around if I had to get parts. So don't be fooled that this is a Powermatic engi

I've had this machine for about 8 months now. I use this machine to surface my face frame material and the occasional glue up's that I do. The 5hp motor has plenty of power for everything I've done with it. As to the complaints about finding 4" paper for this machine. Buy it directly from Klingspor. They have the 4" paper in many different variations and grits. I run 100 on the first drum and 150 on the second. This gives a good surface that needs a little finish sanding. I am a professional cabinetmaker and I have been very pleased with this tool.

Overall, I'm pretty satisfied with the machine, the strength of construction, and the range of adjustments, which should allow for years of service. One reservation is the rubber sanding drums. When the sandpaper tears (which will happen, I learned, by trying to take more than 1/32 off even a small piece of wood), it can damage the drum in seconds.Another issue to be aware of is that there doesn't seem to be any "ready-to-cut" replacement sandpaper available for this machine. The manual tells you to order 3"-wide Jet ready-to-cut abrasive strips, which has markings on the back for different size drums. But if you follow the markings for a 25" drum, you will find that the resulting piece has the tapers running the wrong direction and winds up several feet too short for the Powermatic machine. No one I've spoken to at Powermatic seems aware of this problem or of where the 4"-inch wide sandpaper that comes installed on the machine (also made by Klingspor) comes from. Even Klingspor doesn't have any of this sandpaper available for sale.

I've had the Powermatic 25" drum sander for about a month now. It replaced a Grizzley 24" drum sander. It is a step up in quality and performance but also in price. I understand that Powermatic simply put their name on what was a Performax sander model. Both companies are owned by the same group along with Jet. The machine was accurate right out of the box. It performs nicely. I have to say though that the finish results using equivalent sandpaper grits is about the same as the Grizzly. The difference is the Powermatic is very heavy duty with nice fit and finish. It weighs in at about twice that of the Grizzly and doesn't complain when you inadvertantly try and sand a little too much in one pass, though that isn't recommended. I do recommend this machine highly but if you are a little more wealthy and have 3 phase electrical, go to a large belt sander. I don't have 3 phase or the other part right now so I am getting along quite well with the drum sander.