Replies

1. 
   RW | Apr 05, 2008 01:01am | #1

   I'll answer what I can:

   The fit and finish is very good. Some small percentage of people, regardless of brand or manufacturer, will experience some warp in the castings. Thats what warranties are for. In this case, 5 years.

   "worth the extra cost" is subjective but the helical head gives very smooth cuts. I am making the assumption that it is an identical setup to the 15" planer I have with individual cutters. They are super easy to change, rotate, etc. I'd never go back to a straight blade again. You know how some boards, you want to feed with the grain, but the grain is wild and changes back and forth? The individual cutters don't care, and they're all rotated about the head to make a shearing cut rather than a chopping one, so tearout is all but eliminated. Emphasis on "all but". However, I know on that planer, the "shelix" head was no small upcharge at all. I love it, but was it worth another grand? Dunno. That one is tough.

   I only know of Taiwan being the manufacture place thus far for virtually all of Powermatic / Jet. As of August of this year even the 66 tablesaw will no longer be American made.

   You can compare prices all over the internet. Most dealers don't seem to post the pricing, you'd need to call them. A lot of it has to do with what kind of incentives and rebates and whatnot are going on. Those change periodically throughout the year and can apply to just certain types of tools or the entire brand.

   All Powermatic wares are going to have a price increase on 1 May though, so if you are actually thinking about it, now wouldn't be poor timing. I don't come here to solicit business but I did change jobs at the beginning of the year and where I work now we are a PM dealer and we do drop ship. If you want me to look into what I could or couldnt do for you just send me a PM and we can discuss it off-forum.

   Real trucks dont have sparkplugs

1. 
   Syma | Apr 05, 2008 01:17am | #2

   Buy the Canadian made General 8" jointer. Don't give your money to the companies supporting China, Taiwan, etc...

2. 
   seajai | Apr 05, 2008 05:44am | #3

   I got so tired of dealing with poorly made chiwaneese made junk, I went out and bought a 32 year old powermatic model 60 jointer. A  little paint, a new set of knives and cutterhead bearings later, I got a new jointer with DEAD flat castings, the old american made stuff can't be beat.  I looked into a Canadian made general 8"er and it was double the price of the tiwaneese made one ($3200 vs. $1600).  Having gone through the process, I would highly recommend refurbing an old model 50 or 60 over taking a chance with the new stuff.

    

   
3. 
   THintz | Apr 05, 2008 12:03pm | #4

   We thrashed one of these for a few weeks for a review and could find nothing wrong with it. The helical head (Powermatic uses VERY good helical heads) cuts perfectly and nearly disregards grain direction. The beds were in  perfect alignment when we unloaded it but we did tweak the outfeed table crooked and then reset it. That turns out to be a very simple operation with the parallelgram adjusters at each corner of each table.

   The link below is to my review of the PJ-882.

   http://www.newwoodworker.com/reviews/pmpj882rvu.html

   Tom Hintz

   Because there is always more to learn!

1. 
   RW | Apr 05, 2008 09:43pm | #5

   What a great writeup. Thanks.

   One of the things I discovered with the planer early on is just how tight is tight enough on the cutters. If you man-arm them, they can shatter. At least you get some spares with the machine! Real trucks dont have sparkplugs

2. 
   putman66 | Apr 06, 2008 04:50am | #6

   Tom,

   Thanks, one of the best and most complete reviews I have read!  Do you know if it was made in China or if it was made in Tiawan?  My local Woodcraft store has a Powermatic Model 54 8" jointer in stock that has "Made in China" stamped on the nameplate.

   RW,

   I'll PM you later.

   Thanks again,

   Jim

1. 
   THintz | Apr 06, 2008 10:07am | #7

   I have given up generalizing the country of manufacture because there are fine machines coming out of China, Taiwan, whatever. There is also junk being made in those and the US. We focus on the quality of the machine in front of us, how it is built, how it works and how it is designed.

   I honestly don't have a clue if the PJ-882 (or the HH version) is made in China or not. Wherever it was made, Powermatic spece'd it out to be a very good machine and that was how it was produced.Tom Hintz

   Because there is always more to learn!