? jointer & planer to choose? Portable?
woodensplinter
| Posted in Power Tools and Machinery on
I have an older version of your planer and am happy with it. It does tend to have more snipe than the newer models, if I’m not careful.
A test of 6″ jointers in FWW a while ago gave the nod to the Powermatic as first choice. Out of my league $$$. I’ve seen and played with the Ridgid. I think its great value for the money. Everything on it was very smooth.
Have a look around and try the controls on a bunch. You want something that’s easy to operate and repeatable. Tables must be flat and coplanar. I like the longest fence I can get. My shop is small so I can’t have the longest tables available.
The Yorkcraft has had good reviews, on the lower budget side of things.
Like most tools, ultimately the budget decides. Good luck.
Edited 3/24/2005 5:02 pm ET by wooden splinter
Replies
Most of the main players in the 6" jointer and portable planer market are pretty well respected.
In planers, the Delta you mentioned, as well as the two DeWalts, Ridgid, and Makita get the most attention.
The PM is a nice jointer but is expensive. That price range puts you close to some good 8" machines. Grizzly, Jet, Bridgewood, Sunhill, Woodtek and other 6 inchers come from the same factory (Gee Tec). The Ridgid has a similar design to those machines. The Sunhill has 52" beds. All seem to be good machines. GI offers a 6" jointer with 55" beds that's similar to the Jet. If you've got the space and money, bigger is better when it comes to jointers.
I've had my Makita Planer for about 2 months now. I'm quite happy with it. Quite, smooth, little snipe.
Mark
Measure it with a micrometer, mark it with chalk, cut it with an ax.
After a lot of research I purchased the 22-580 a few months ago, I probably have ran 500 board feet of mostly walnut over it and I am extremely happy with it. I don't think you could be disappointed especially for the money.
I've chosen the 280, also, but haven't taken delivery, yet. I've heard complaints about the dust/chip extraction. What has your experience been? How about blade changing? Any other problems or thoughts?
I had been vacillating between the 280 and the Dewalt 735, but negative comments on the 735 put me off ( failed sprockets, blades, etc.). These may have been corrected. A friend has one & loves it. The chip extraction is awesome!
I appreciate your comments and time. Thanks.
Morty
The chip extraction is also the problem I heard about it, it was not a issue to me for two reasons. First and most importantly from all the reviews I had read It had a lot less mechanical issues then then the dewalt and that when ran on the finishing speed I had heard you hardly would need to sand your boards when through planing. Both items I have found to be true and I feel for a planer these are the most important issues, blade change is simple. As far as chip extraction goes, for me it was not an issue as I had said. I like to keep my chips seperate from dust so I do not run my planer into any kind of collection system, I just put a garbage can behind it and let em fly. I spent a lot of time reading and asking questions before buying and have not regret my decision at all. Hope this helps kind of a huried reply. Shane
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