The Super Max 16-32 Surface Sander

George Vondriska

Duration: 7 mins

Description
Discussions

Description

Surface sanders, also called drum sanders, have really come a long way. It’s not that long ago that you’d only find surface sanders in large, commercial shops. Today, sanders have become way more prevalent in small shops, and way more accessible to woodworkers.

SuperMax has been a name in the surface sander world for a long time. I saw the SuperMax 16-32 at a woodworking show, and couldn’t wait to check it out up close. I finally got that chance. Here’s your look at the machine.

In general, I like having a surface sander because it speeds up my woodworking, and does a great job on dust collection. It’s lots faster to feed project parts through a sander than it is to run a random orbit sander over every piece. To be fair you’ll still have to do some random orbit work, but very little is required following a surface sander. And, with a good dust collector, you’ll see very little airborne wood dust.

With regards to the 16-32 in particular, here’s some stuff I really like:

Quick advance on height changes. No need to spin the handwheel a million times. Just use the quick move lever when you’re going from thin to thick to thin.
Folding infeed and outfeed tables. Don’t need ‘em? Fold them out of the way.
IntelliSand. The machine automatically reduces the feed rate on the conveyor if you’re trying to take off too much material per pass.
Easy to sand wide parts. This machine handles material up to 32” wide. It’s very easy to do a reset on the sanding head to allow this.

For more info

Want to know more about SuperMax Tools and the 16-32? Visit supermaxtools.com, or call (888) 454-3401.

Sanding

Sanding is a necessary part of woodworking. And there’s more to it than just rubbing sandpaper back and forth on your projects. Learn more by watching more videos on sanding.

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5 Responses to “The Super Max 16-32 Surface Sander”

frank_soranno May 26th, 2019

I am looking at table fed belt sanders, 24"-36" What is the benefit/difference between having a belt vice a drum sander of this capacity? I notice that the drum sanders tend to be a little easier on the wallet but how well do they hold up? Also, a large belt I can clean several times before having to replace. How does the drum measure up in this regards?
Michael Kratky June 27th, 2018

George agree 100%, if only Super Max had an oscillating version like Jet does that I absolutely love. The oscillating feature extends the sanding belt life considerably, sands much better and minimizes burning especially in woods like cherry.
Eric June 22nd, 2018

<strong>Ticket 16963 George, great video! Do you think the new features on the 16-32 outweigh the additional capacity of the 19-38?
J Smith February 2nd, 2018

I would think any review of this type of machine would have to include the changing of the sanding grit, no?
Rick Redfield February 2nd, 2018

Good video but severely lacking in key information. What are the advantages of a drum sander? Why would a home shop need one? They seem to be an expensive luxury. Also, this video failed to discuss my biggest concern: how hard is it to change the sanding drum. This question has multiple aspects: how long does a typical sanding drum last, and how expensive are the drums? During regular sanding, one often works from coarse to fine grit. Changing a sanding pad on a ROS is easy. It would seem like on a machine like this it would be much harder on a given job to work down to finer grits. A follow up video addressing these questions would be crucial to decide whether to spend the money or not.

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