I have the Performax 16/32. It is a great drum sander. But it taught me that I don't want a drum sander. I have no problem running it, even with long boards, without the infeed and outfeed tables.
The paper wrapped around the drum loves to creep, so the right end of the drum quickly gets uneven (near useless). I use mine a lot, but as soon as I hit some sap or a glue line, the heat melts the glue, creates a line on the sandpaper around the drum, and burns all future boards. I use chalk to mark where the burns are, so I feed narrow boards between the burn lines.
The velcro based drum sanders may solve the creep problem, but they add more material between the drum and the work, allowing more heat build up, and more opportuinity for unevenness.
The 1 to 1 1/2 hp of the small (Delta, Performax) sanders are powerful enough to get the drum hot and burn or melt glue, even with minimal wood removal. But they aren't large enough to level a wide board in a small number of passes.
I was admiring the 10 hp (which is considered small) wide belt sanders, but they require a) more space, b) more money, c) more dust collection capacity, d) more electricity (at least 50 amps at 240 volts), and more compressed air (makes me want a big shop air compressor too). The wide belt sanders give the belt a chance to cool down during each revolution of the belt, and presumable have less problem with burning. Since I already have a very good jointer (16 inches) and planer, I was looking at single belt, not expecting to have to run multiple grits to get the work level.
If I were starting again, I would save the $1000 until I had the space, money, dust collection, power, and air, and get a wide belt.
