I have a question which has no doubt been debated endlessly. However I am planning on purchasing an 8″ jointer. I have a 600 sq ft shop, I am a serious amateur and I have a budget up to about $3500.00. ( though would prefer to spend less) I am in Vancouver BC, Canada
Currently I have looked at the General, both Canadian and off shore made, the Laguna and the Powermatic.
After reading as many reviews as possible I have not found any definitive answers.
Any and all suggestions are welcome
Steven
Replies
Many potential responders may wait until you describe what size stock you wish to be able to handle. I occasionally am jointing boards up to ten feet long, and decided on the Powermatic 8" long beg for that reason.
Steven , I don't think you could go wrong with any of the mentioned machines . What type of work do you want to use the jointer for ?
The features to study are the raising and lowering systems , see if they are all the same I'm not sure . How the beds ride in the base or trunions or ways .
The fence is important , overall I would say the table length is important if you are working with longer lengths .
I just visited a friends shop that has a 20" Martin jointer , the bed must of been at least 9' if not longer , a push of a button & table goes up or down .
The cutter head systems vary as well some are helical or carbide or whatever .
regards dusty
You might shop around for a used Canadian made General, Delta or Powermatic. They are all nice machines and well made. For jointers I think used can be a good buy. Can you drive across the border and get a new Grizzly, lots of positive reviews?
Troy
No need to drive across the border any more. Busy Bee has started taking orders for Grizzly for Canadians. Probably going to be a price difference, though -- there usually is.
Jim
Jim that sure would be nice, I read that on a Canadian Woodworking site just the other day. It will be interesting to see what the prices will be by the time you get them shipped and pay the duty at the border.
As for the OPs question I have the Steel City 8" Parallelogram model # 40605 which I think is the same as the Delta DJ-20, for me in my area the price on the Steel City was the deciding factor, I like it works very well, but for the money your thinking of spending maybe you should look at some of the combo machines as other posters have already suggested.
Mike
Two words:Steel City
I saw that they are selling some little Grizzly thing on the cover of their latest flyer. I wondered if they might start selling Grizzly, but dismissed it just as quickly - too good to be true! It will be interesting how the pricing goes. Great news!Chris @ http://www.flairwoodworks.com and http://www.flairwoodwork.spaces.live.com)
- Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful. - Albert Schweitzer
I'd be more excited about the news if I hadn't already bought all the machinery my small shop can hold :^(. In case you haven't seen it already, there's a little info. about pricing on this thread: http://forum.canadianwoodworking.com/showthread.php?t=29505
Looks like BB won't be stocking anything, just freighting in orders, so you're pretty much ordering from the catalogue -- but I think that's the case for most of the USA also.
Jim
Steven,
I live in Port Moody and bought myself a 8"er a couple years back. I decide that a 6" just wasn't big enough and that anything over 8" was too pricey. My budget ruled out the General Canada (but is within yours, I do believe, but just barely!). I think my choice was between the Steel City and the Delta. I prefer the parallelogram bed design, so I went with the Delta DJ-20. I've been really happy with it and recently installed a Shelix spiral carbide head in it.
Are there any local sources for Powermatic yet?
I don't know if you've already considered this option, but if you get a jointer/planer combination, you get a size-matched pair, which usually means a 10+ jointer!
and www.flairwoodwork.spaces.live.com)
- Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful. - Albert Schweitzer
Chris,
I am looking at buying a Delta DJ20 at an auction Saturday. Was changing to the spiral cutterhead an excrutiating process?
Danny
I didn't think so. I didn't have the proper equipment to fit the bearings so I made do. You can order the Shelix with bearings installed. I documented the installation process here:
http://flairwoodwork.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!2B3CECCE825F255A!760.entryChris @ http://www.flairwoodworks.com and http://www.flairwoodwork.spaces.live.com)
- Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful. - Albert Schweitzer
Now that is what I call an answer to a question. Excellent tutorial!
Thank you. Feedback is always appreciated. It's always a good feeling knowing you've helped someone out.Chris @ http://www.flairwoodworks.com and http://www.flairwoodwork.spaces.live.com)
- Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful. - Albert Schweitzer
For a budget of $3500 I would look at the Hammer A3-31 12" jointer/planer combo machine. A lot of discussions about combo jointer/planer's have taken place here. Do a search if you want more info. Check out the link below for one on eBay, but it needs to be picked-up in southern CA.
http://cgi.ebay.com/Hammer-A3-31-Jointer-Planner-Felder_W0QQitemZ230392343740QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item35a4742cbc
Life is what happens to you when you're making other plans.
When your ship comes in... make sure you are not at the airport.
Steven,
My experiance with jointers is limited, but recently I have been using a Powermatic and it is an excellent machine. It is at a park facility where it gets pretty rough treatment and not a lot of maintenance, yet it works beautifully.
Rob Millard
http://www.americanfederalperiod.com
For a budget that size I suggest you stretch a little and look at a combo jointer-planer. You will love the 12" flight deck of the jointer. I have a MiniMax and am very satisfied with it.
I recommend getting the videos available from the various manufacturers. A prime motivator for me was the location of the chip exhaust in both modes - does it change ends?
Frosty
“If you put the federal government in charge of the Sahara Desert,
in 5 years there’d be a shortage of sand.”
Milton Friedman
As a few others have suggested, a jointer/planer combination machine is a very good idea. I have a King 8" and it works very well, but for a good part of the day it sits against the wall taking up valuable floor space. I have my planer on another cart which takes up space.
Having both tools in the same foot print would save space, hopefully one dust collection point, one set of blades. AND when you have a 10" board you can joint and plane happily.
Good luck
Don
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