Replies

1. 
   forestgirl | Mar 02, 2005 09:44pm | #1

   Phillip, I see you're not having much luck getting info on that machine -- saw your post on 2/12/05 also.  Go to Advanced Search and put in Yorkcraft planer and you'll find some feedback, mostly on the smaller planers, but still......

   forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
   Another proud member of the  "I Rocked With ToolDoc Club" .... :>) 

1. 
   philip | Mar 09, 2005 07:50pm | #6

   Thank you for responding to my second cry of distress.  I discovered a real treasure trove of information and am indebted to you.  Thank you so much.

2. 
   hammer1 | Mar 03, 2005 05:50am | #2

   I considered the Yorkcraft 20" a few years ago. Many of the Taiwan imports seem to be the same machine with different paint. I own a Reliant jointer and it has been a good tool. After thinking things out, I decided I really don't have any use for a 20" planer. I don't plane panels after glue up. It's too much work for many planers and you need to orient the grain the same way to prevent tearout. I get better results planing pieces first, then using cauls to keep alignment. The less expensive planers don't have segmented infeed rollers like a heavy commercial planer would. You can't just stuff them the whole width with multiple boards. Dust collection on planers is a must. I questioned the capacity of the Yorkcraft extraction hood. After owning and working with a great many different machines, both light and commercial, I decided to stay with the brand that has never disappointed me. I bought a 15" Delta and it has been excellent. On the rare occasion I need to plane a 30" slab of Mahogany, I take it to a large shop and have them sand it too.

   Beat it to fit / Paint it to match

1. 
   philip | Mar 09, 2005 07:51pm | #7

   Thanks you so much for sharing your experience. It has been a big help.

3. 
   toolpoor | Mar 03, 2005 06:26am | #3

   I bought that beast last year in August but didn't really have time to run it until this winter. Now I have run pine and oak through it and now have some basis to write about it. For starters, it's heavy, 900+ Lbs in shipment, 700+ ready to go. It comes very well crated, no shipping damage at all. Assembly of the machine consisted of bolting on the tables and dust hood, placing the handwheel, and wiring a plug to the motor starter. Here, I replaced the supplied short length of 12 wire J-cord with a length of 10 wire j-cord. The motor is 5 HP, rated at 22 amps at 220, currently running fine on a 30 amp circuit wired with #10 wire. I have not made any adjustments yet to the factory settings on either the knives or the rollers, nor have I needed to. Planing at the slower feed has given a good finish so far on the oak and pine and a short piece of mahogany that I have tried, a test piece of curly maple looked good, but I haven't run enough of the maple to consider it a true test.  Initial run gave an area of snipe about 3" long on the starting end, that was traced to the infeed table being out of adjustment slightly, realigning it took care of it. Fit and finish are acceptable, and all parts were present and accounted for on delivery. I have looked at a 20" Jet that is this same machine at a higher price, the owner's manual was identical in all places except where Jet had changed the machine slightly, 3 HP instead of 5, straight dust chute, not angled. By the way, the dust chute is 5". I consider this to be a good planer for the price, which is the lowest of the machines that appear to be identical except for the logo. Safe to say, I'm satisfied with planer so far. Wilke was a good place to deal with too, no problems or surprises.

    

1. 
   philip | Mar 09, 2005 07:53pm | #8

   Thanks for your extensive review.  You have been a great help.

4. 
   DougF | Mar 03, 2005 05:11pm | #4

   Phillip,

   I have the 15" planer and I have been very pleased with its performance and the service I received from Wilke Machinery.  Interestingly, I found that I have never needed the full 15" planing capacity and had I been able to find the same features in a 13" stationary unit, I would have purchased that instead.

   Doug

   
   

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   Edited 3/3/2005 9:12 am ET by Doug

1. 
   philip | Mar 09, 2005 07:57pm | #9

   Thanks so much for sharing your experience and thoughts.

5. 
   RandMCapozzi | Mar 03, 2005 08:37pm | #5

   Philip,

   Check out this web site. http://www.just4fun.org/  He does a pretty good write up for his tool reviews. He just recently purchased the 20" Yorkcraft.

   --Rob

1. 
   philip | Mar 09, 2005 07:59pm | #10

   Thanks so much for the referral.  You have been a great help.