Powermatic 2244 or supermax 2550


bradpotts

Recommended Posts

I am planning on buying a drum sander soon. I am going back and forth between the powermatic and supermax.

Supermax gives me 6 more inches and is $500 less. I have only heard good things about these sanders.

Powermatic is the gold standard and powermatic makes great machines. I am just worried since this is the first design, they don't have all the kinks worked out yet.

The price difference is not really an issue. I just don't want to buy the other machine a couple years down the road. Any advice is greatly appreciated

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm generally pro-PM... But my enthusiasm has been tempered in recent years -- they've stumbled on several tool launches... Both the PM2800B and PM1500 launches had to be suspended, machines recalled or retrofitted and generally had issues that took over a year to correct. It appears the PM2244 is following the same path -- it's now 'unavailable' at several prominent resellers within a few months of launch -- exactly what happened with the 2800B and 1500... There will be some inventory available -- I'd avoid it...

If you wait six months, PM will fix their issues with the 2244... If you can't wait, get the Supermax.

 

 

==>gives me 6 more inches and is $500 less

BTW: don't become enamored by capacity. Wide-cantilevered drum sanders tend to develop issues over time. It's the nature of the beast...

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

54 minutes ago, hhh said:

It appears the PM2244 is following the same path -- it's now 'unavailable' at several prominent resellers within a few months of launch

Is a problem with design a speculation on your part, or do you have concrete insight that this is why they are unavailable in some places? I wonder this because I ordered one and haven't heard of any issues. I think it has more to do with supply and demand.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

==>Trip I know you and Don have commented on this in the past, but do you think the 1.75hp motors they put on these sanders is sufficient?   I have noticed that once you step up to a closed design the motors are generally 3 or 5hp.   Seems like a big jump, which leads me to believe these open ended sanders are underpowered to appeal to a price point.  

Yes and no...

There was some good info in those old threads. If I remember correctly, Don was a bit more passionate on cantilevered drum sanders... Not quite like shapers, but not quite not... :)

On HP, it kind of depends on how you look at it... Yes, of course, the low HP is there to hit a price point AND to prevent damage to the unit... The 1.75's there to limit how deep a pass the operator can take so as not to over-torque the cantilevered head. If you put a 3 or 5HP in the unit, you could easily torque the head out of parallel (delivering a poor result) and, more importantly, damage it...

For a hobbyist, that's not the end of the world... So you need five or ten passes to accomplish what can be done with a single pass on a commercial unit... Who cares?

Now if this is a hobby-come-home-business, then it may become very annoying very quickly. Say you incorporate the sander into your workflow: you take your final pass on the planer, trace coat to raise the grain & machine marks with the goal of removing both with the panel sander -- one or two passes would be fine --- five or ten would inhibit productivity...

 

==>26" should be sufficent for case sides as well. 

There are certain magic numbers... You've got to decide on what you're going to make...

 

But to be clear, I'd take a closed-frame unit over a cantilevered-unit in a heartbeat... They are simply different animals... One is a hobby unit and the other maybe a hobby-unit or light-commercial unit depending on build-level... If Don recommended the unit, that's usually good enough for me...

 

==>Is this speculation on your part, or do you have concrete insight that this is why they are unavailable?

Pure speculation... But speculation based on PM's recent poor performance AND CPO Powermatic's removing the 22-44 from their website -- exactly like the post-launch removal of the 1500 and 2800B...  That would make three tools in a row --- one might say it's just a bit too much of a coincidence to ignore... But hay -- I don't trust tool mfg's as a matter of course... :)

BTW: you didn't hear much about the issues with the 2800B and 1500 either, except from those that experienced them... Eventually, all the customers were taken care of (kind of)... It just took some time...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was led to believe the sander is unavailable due to demand not quality control (from PM directly, not from forum chatter). Also, having actual personal experience with the sander I can wholeheartedly give it a thumbs up. Keep in mind it's still new and I've only used it on one project so far. The things I like over the Supermax are the offset tables (more conveyor in front where you need it most) and the SIMPLE table adjustment mechanism. As others have said, the cantilevered drum will eventually go out of calibration. On just about any other sander that means losing a couple of hours for calibration. On the Supermax it's a pretty quick adjustment with an allen wrench (which was a huge improvement over my past drum sanders). On the Powermatic, it's the simple turn of a dial (completely tool-less).

So far, the only real downside I've seen to the Powermatic is the paper size. Right now, you have to get the paper from them unless you want to use theirs as a template and cut your own, which isn't a terrible way to go anyway. But I'm lazy and like to buy the pre-cut material.

You won't be disappointed with either sander in terms of performance. But in my opinion, the Powermatic does have the edge. Anyone who's lost a day or more of work trying to calibrate a temperamental drum sander knows what I'm talking about here. Supermax does a fine job, but this new Powermatic one-ups them. For me, that feature alone is worth the extra few bucks.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

I took delivery on a PM 2244 in early December. Despite the fact that the crate and packaging were pristine, the motor housing had a huge dent in it that went in far enough to severely munge up the fan blades. Also, one of the motor housing screws had sheared off from whatever impact had caused the damage . PM customer support was very, very difficult to deal with and since I had signed off on the delivery, I was put in the middle between PM and the shipping company. Finally after dozens of phone calls and emails,PM  had the unit picked up and said I would receive a replacement in mid January. Today my replacement finally arrived. The crate was again pristine, with no marks or contusions anywhere.  I uncrated one side before accepting the delivery and to my horror, the motor housing was bashed in, fan blades badly bent and a housing screw was sheared (a different screw than the first time). Needless to say, I did not accept the delivery.  I have been issued a full refund from Woodcraft. I really, really want one of these machines but I'm wondering if fate is just dead set against that happening ?  Im looking into the Supermax line now.
 

first_sander.jpg

second_sander.jpg

second_sheared_screw.jpg

The first pic is of the first unit, the second two are from the replacement unit

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I took delivery on a PM 2244 in early December. Despite the fact that the crate and packaging were pristine, the motor housing had a huge dent in it that went in far enough to severely munge up the fan blades. Also, one of the motor housing screws had sheared off from whatever impact had caused the damage . PM customer support was very, very difficult to deal with and since I had signed off on the delivery, I was put in the middle between PM and the shipping company. Finally after dozens of phone calls and emails,PM  had the unit picked up and said I would receive a replacement in mid January. Today my replacement finally arrived. The crate was again pristine, with no marks or contusions anywhere.  I uncrated one side before accepting the delivery and to my horror, the motor housing was bashed in, fan blades badly bent and a housing screw was sheared (a different screw than the first time). Needless to say, I did not accept the delivery.  I have been issued a full refund from Woodcraft. I really, really want one of these machines but I'm wondering if fate is just dead set against that happening ?  Im looking into the Supermax line now.

 

first_sander.thumb.jpg.7f3edac0baf739064b2426f27bcc0883.jpg

second_sander.thumb.jpg.bfbd7348d7549513706ec6cfc52b7267.jpg

second_sheared_screw.thumb.jpg.ab39e1a74f161e04ef1bc03fa71cefe4.jpg

The first pic is of the first unit, the second two are from the replacement unit

You sure thats not a Laguna machine?

Sent from my SM-N910W8 using Tapatalk

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I bought the Supermax 25-50 a couple of months ago.  I'm guessing I've run it approx 15 hours so far - not a lot but no issues so far. 

I checked the parallelism of the drum and conveyor and so far it's perfect.

I considered the Powermatic but it's almost impossible to get in Canada so I gave up on that pretty quickly.

I'm happy with my decision to get the Supermax and definitely recommend it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

An update to my PM2244 snafu.  PM contacted me and they are bending over backwards to get me another machine. Eighty new machines (the second batch) arrived in mid January and they are all spoken for, however one of these went to a distributor who is willing to sell it back to PM. They said they will cover any extra costs associated with this deal. Many bows to them !

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, MorningWoodShop said:

An update to my PM2244 snafu.  PM contacted me and they are bending over backwards to get me another machine. Eighty new machines (the second batch) arrived in mid January and they are all spoken for, however one of these went to a distributor who is willing to sell it back to PM. They said they will cover any extra costs associated with this deal. Many bows to them !

Well Im rooting for you.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

My PM2244 was delivered today. It was undamaged and in an hour or so I had it uncrated, set up and sanding.  Its my first drum sander so I have nothing to compare it too, but so far I'm happy with it and I think it will do what I wanted it to do. I'm keeping the sanding cuts really shallow so I don't damage the paper. I've got some on order, but until it arrives, I only have what came installed.

Thanks to the folks at Powematic and Mark (from Marks Machinery) who gave up his floor model so I could have it.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's good to know there are companies out there that are willing to make the end user happy. I feel like a lot of times recently companies hide behind their distributors and retailers and let them figure it out. I've also learned that getting angry with them doesn't accomplish anything. Being nice and asking hard questions goes a long way.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, wdwerker said:

Keeping the abrasive clean with a crepe rubber block will make it last much longer. Check for resin building up frequently  and clean at the first signs of it building up.

bingo. glue and epoxy will destroy a belt in a heartbeat. Especially epoxy. It's incredible how those rubber cleaners extend the life of a belt.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

All crepe rubber blocks are not the same. The very hard , heavy , dense ones last longer and clean better. The softer ones you can flex with your hands will get used up faster and take more effort to do the job. When there is a sale if they have the hard ones I stock up. 

Belt sanders, osselating spindle sanders, random orbit ,drum sanders  etc. they all benefit from clean abrasive.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.