I’m planning to buy my first jointer and planer. My first question is which sizes to buy? I see that I can get a 6″ jointer and a 12″ planer at reasonable prices. But if I buy a 12″ planer wouldn’t I also need a 12″ jointer? With that thought in mind I naturally turned to the jointer/planer combo machines but there’s a significant jump in price. Are the combo machines really worth the money? Is there typically a great deal of switching back and forth? In the end what drives the size requirements of the machine? What types of projects truly benefit from the larger machines? What sacrifices are necessary with the smaller machines?
jm
Replies
Depends on what you're doing. Joiners are for working with individual boards whereas planers can be used for glued up panels.
I don't use really wide boards, even when I'm making panels. I prefer to rip wide pieces into more narrow ones and reglue them into panels, as I think it removes some of the tensions and warp tendancies from of the wood.
So for me, while I have an 8" joiner, I rarely run a piece over 6" across it. But, I will sometimes, after gluing up several pieces to make a panel, run that panel through my planer (15").
Personally, I would never deal with a combo machine. Both the joiner and the planer share the same cutterhead, but since they operate in different manners, each time you use it, you have to switch it over from either joining to planing or vv, and no matter how quick and easy the claim is, it's not for me.
As for joiners (jointers? sp: we've been discussing the spelling of these), you not only pay for width: you pay for length. The longer, the better, as it enables you to accurately flatten longer pieces of lumber. Back to width, 6" wide models are fairly cheap. When you go to 8", you take a big price jump. Above 8" is strictly industrial / pro stuff, very very expensive.
Planers are cheap up to around 13", but most are fairly junky up to that point, too, IMHO. Then you go to the 15" classification. Once you move into the 20-24" class, you're talking industrial level stuff, really big bucks, and sometimes 3phase electricals.
I went from a 6" jointer and 12" planer to a 12" J/P combo. Many advantages to the switch, especially in space savings. And the 12" jointer size sure is nice. As for the trouble of switching from one function to the other; I consider it a non-issue.
A combo machine forces you to do something you should do anyway; think through an operation before performing it. Sure mistakes happen; you may have to go back and plane another board after botching up a cut, but stuff happens even to the best of us. And unless you are in a production shop setting, the time involved in the switch is minimal at best. Most pro shops use seperate machines anyway.
As for the J/P. Check the new offerings from Grizzly and Jet. The Griz got a favorable review in one of the WW mags recently(Popular Woodworking I think). It may be worth a look-see. Price is reasonable too.
I share your pain.
Six months ago I bought a 12" MiniMax combo machine and haven't looked back. The ease of use of the wide and long jointer bed is wonderful. The switchover is a snap. I posted the time involved several months back. I think it was about 90 seconds - going either way.
I also bought the slot-mortiser attachment but haven't had a chance to use it yet. I'm doing non M7T projects right now.
Frosty
"I sometimes think we consider the good fortune of the early bird and overlook the bad fortune of the early worm." FDR - 1922
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