I Need, Benchtop Planer Recommendation.

[woodshop]

OK......I'm like a goose, I wake up in a new world every day started looking a used, heaver planer's. Kind of eying an, 15" Makita Planer Model 2040 Gary

Roger that. Lunchbox planers have universal motors, and a universal just ain't meant to run balls out all day long. They're not production machines. Stay within their limits and they do a real fine job.

Exactly... if you're going to be planing lots of wood, you just can't ask a boy to do a man's job. Those lunchbox planers are great... I've owned several different models over the years, but they are just not built for serous heavy duty planing for hours at a time. You'll burn up a motor, shred a belt or beat out a bearing. I can tell you from experience many don't have the power to pull a large heavy roughsawn board through them for the first couple passes. Once you get one semi-smooth side on the board then things go a little better. As woodie says, make sure you stay within their limits. btw... whey won't always tell you those limits, they want to sell you a $3-400 planer.

 

[Neubauer6]

If you want to spend $500, the Dewalt is a great planer for the money. The two speed option is very handy for dimensioning or finishing. However, the Ridgid planer at $360 has three knives and does a heck of a job for the money. Plus if you burn it up it has a lifetime service agreement. I've had the new model for several months planing mostly black walnut and birch with no problems.

 

[woodshop]

If you want to spend $500, the Dewalt is a great planer for the money. The two speed option is very handy for dimensioning or finishing. However, the Ridgid planer at $360 has three knives and does a heck of a job for the money. Plus if you burn it up it has a lifetime service agreement. I've had the new model for several months planing mostly black walnut and birch with no problems.

so... just to get this strait... you buy the Rigid, but then run the &#%$ out of it like it was a larger production planer, and when you burn up that universal motor or beat out a bearing or two, they fix it for you? ...how many times?

 

[Trigger-Time]

Found an used, Woodmaster model 718 planner.

From his ad. "moulder,drum sander,gang rip saw,thickness planner,1 1/2 years old,like new,5hp,separate varible speed control"

He told me on the phone that it may have four hours on it.
Priced at $1400 and dose come with drum sander, moulder and 2 gang
rip saw.

So anyone have, used or know anything good or bad about Woodmaster planers?

Link to Woodmaster http://www.woodmastertools.com/s/planers.cfm


Thanks,
Gary the Goose

 

[Sawyer Rob]

Good planers, and probably what i would buy if i replaced my planers...

Rob

 

[woodshop]

Found an used, Woodmaster model 718 planner.

Just had to chime in here. I've been told by other woodworkers that Woodmaster does make good machines, with more guts and with motors that will last much longer than the lunchbox types. Just keep in mind that you are buying lots of extra capabilities that even most woodworkers, unless they have specific dedicated tasks, don't use or use very infrequently. For that same money you want to plunk down for that used Woodmaster, you could get a standard 15 inch planer like the Grizzly G0453Z with a spiral cutterhead. For half that money, under $800, a standard G0453 15 inch. Jet, Powermatic etc all sell this same planer, coming from the same factory on the other side of the world. Many colors, same planer. The basic internal parts and gears even interchange from brand to brand. I can tell you from personal experience having one in my woodshop for over 20 years that they will run ALL day long, day after day and keep asking for more. The advantage of the Woodmaster is more versatility... gang saws... sanding drum I think... the works. I can also tell you though from listening to other woodworkers over the years, that the set-up time to go between these tools on that planer gets old real quick. 99% of the time, you're going to want to use it as a planer to thickness a board, period. The standard 15" planers like that G0453 (or the larger 20 inch versions) have been around for many many years and are workhorses. They thickness boards, do it well and do it hour after hour, day after day for years in production shops all around the world. Most woodshops that do more than just weekend putzing around or an occasional large project, have one of these standard 15" planers, either with knives or the newer spiral cutterheads which plane figured wood better, which I recently upgraded to. Not knocking the lunchbox planers... I've owned several over the years, and for many woodshops they are fine and all you need. I've actually read in some of the journals that some are being made more robust to last longer than they used to. Just don't confuse apples and oranges here though... they were never meant to plane thousands of bd ft of lumber or do it all day long. No more than an F 16 was built to carry the bomb load of a B-52. You'll wear one out in a few months if you try and use it like a larger beefier thickness planer. From what I've read and heard from woodworkers, the Woodmaster 718 is a step way above the lunchbox, and is a good machine, built to last. However, I have also heard that they try and do too many things and thus don't do any one necessarily really well. For example, they don't have the amount of mass, cast iron the standard 15" planers have, and thus don't absorb as much vibration planing. (I know, now I'm going to get flak from satisfied Woodmaster owners... sheeesh... ). Again... unless you have a specific setup for a product or production process, 99% of the time all you want to do is thickness a board... take something right off the drying pile from milling it months or years earlier, and turn it into S4S lumber. Period. (actually you will also need a jointer to do that, but that's another post). If you want a machine that will thickness wood day after day for years on end... you're going to have to plop down $800 for a beefier standard 15" planer. I understand many guys can't justify that kind of money in their woodshops, and that's fine. All I'm saying is call apples apples and oranges oranges, and understand they taste different. opcorn:

 

[Sawyer Rob]

Just had to chime in here. I've been told by other woodworkers that Woodmaster does make good machines, with more guts and with motors that will last much longer than the lunchbox types. Just keep in mind that you are buying lots of extra capabilities that even most woodworkers, unless they have specific dedicated tasks, don't use or use very infrequently. For that same money you want to plunk down for that used Woodmaster, you could get a standard 15 inch planer like the Grizzly G0453Z with a spiral cutterhead. For half that money, under $800, a standard G0453 15 inch. Jet, Powermatic etc all sell this same planer, coming from the same factory on the other side of the world. Many colors, same planer. The basic internal parts and gears even interchange from brand to brand. I can tell you from personal experience having one in my woodshop for over 20 years that they will run ALL day long, day after day and keep asking for more.

I know of more than one owner of a Grizz planer, (and the clones) that haven't had the luck you have had. Several have had motor problem, and two others have had soft gear problems with Grizz planers. My brother has a 20" Grizz planer and says it came with junk knives, and doesn't plane wood right off his mill worth a beans.

Make mine the Woodmaster please... It comes with an "quality" industrial motor and the planer is American made. I keep hearing over and over how good they are made, and that they are very long lasting.

Rob

 

[woodshop]

I know of more than one owner of a Grizz planer, (and the clones) that haven't had the luck you have had. Several have had motor problem, and two others have had soft gear problems with Grizz planers. My brother has a 20" Grizz planer and says it came with junk knives, and doesn't plane wood right off his mill worth a beans.

Make mine the Woodmaster please... It comes with an "quality" industrial motor and the planer is American made. I keep hearing over and over how good they are made, and that they are very long lasting.

Rob

When it comes to woodworking equipment, I've found that there are just so many different scenarios of how shops are set up and more important, how equipment is specifically used, that you're always going to get different opinions and experiences for any particular piece of equipment or brand. Jump on any woodworker forum and you can find Taiwan hardware problems up the gazoo. With the number of oriental machines out there, I'm surprised there isn't more than there is. On the other hand, here is an example of Woodmaster problems... easily fixed apparently, but relates to the less mass problem I've heard about them from some woodworker forums.

http://www.woodweb.com/knowledge_base/Modifications_Cure_Woodmaster_718_Chatter.html

On the other hand, yes I have also heard how well the Woodmaster is built. I also know that in general, oriental motors just arn't as durable as a good Baldor counterpart. Not as much insulating coating on the wiring for example. Problem is the Baldor is often triple or more the price of the equivalent Taiwan motor. In a perfect world I'd buy top of the line everything, and replace all my motors with Baldor American made if the equipment didn't already have it... but alas I have to buy shoes and cereal as well as planers. So as with the vast majority of woodworkers who built their shops in the last 10-15 years, about 3/4 of my woodshop speaks Chinese (and a little Italian) along with a few early Rockwell Delta and older Craftsman machines that do indeed speak English.

Bottom line is, unless we're all working wood the exact same way in the same shop space, you're going to get different opinions on equipment. Kinda like chainsaws and bandmills opcorn:

 

[Trigger-Time]

Used Woodmaster was spoken for by the time I got there.
But did get to make a few passes on oak board. It looks
brand new, sander and gang saws are still sealed new in package.

I really like the separate variable speed motor for feed rollers.
As woodshop said, it could use some more weight (cast). Looks
as if it would take some time to change from planer to gang saws.

After planing board, pulled cover and noticed planer pulley was
warmer than I thought it should have been, v-belts seemed
tight enough. Motor and planer pulley's maybe out alignment.

Woodshop, your post are very much apperished and are leaning
me very much to the Grizzly. Are the Spiral-Cutterhead's worth
the extra money. In this case $500 or $600?


$500 head

$600 head

Thanks,
Gary

 

[scryan]

I have the 12" Delta and I love it. The guy I bought it from sold it to buy the 13" Dewalt and he wishes he had kept the Delta. Bear in mind, I'm a huge Dewalt guy. :greenchainsaw:

 

[woodshop]

Woodshop, your post are very much apperished and are leaning
me very much to the Grizzly. Are the Spiral-Cutterhead's worth
the extra money. In this case $500 or $600?

I get asked this so often. Here is the bottom line IMHO... IF you do a lot of planing, and/or have a little business maybe and can write off the cost... or if you simply have the bucks to afford it, spiral cutterheads are DEFINITELY worth the extra money. In the long run, after the initial investment, as far as maintenance and replacing blades, they actually don't cost any more than knives, and some folks in the woodworking forums actually believe they are cheaper. (I'm leaning towards that view myself). Reason... each of those little cutterheads have 4 surfaces. When they get dull, or if you accidentally run a nail through and nick up one or two, you simply unscrew and turn the individual cutterhead 90 degrees to the next surface. The real seller for me though is they are solid carbide, so they last way longer than steel knives. So not only does the sharp surface last longer, but you get essentially 4 changes of blades per set. Sure those little square carbide cutters are pricey (couple bucks a pop), but if you do the math, no more than changing out 4 sets of knives. Another advantage is they do a better job on figured wood since they kinda slice the wood instead of planing it strait on as standard knives do. Another minor advantage is they are noticeably quieter. A disadvantage I found in my jointer is that it does take a little more force to push the wood past the head. On the planer, that's not a problem of course. I've only had my 15" planer and 8" jointer configured with sprial cutterhead for about a year and a half, but I can tell you this... I will never go back to knives. As for the Grizzly or Jet or Powermatic, as with all Taiwan/Chinese machines, once in a while you get a dud. Nature of the beast.

 

[Trigger-Time]

Well, just a few min. ago found out Grizzly has one of it's
big showrooms about 100 miles away......Roadtrip!


Gary

 

[MJR]

I bought this Ridgid planer used about seven years ago $100. This is the first problem I had, a $3.47 sprocket. Some of the best money I have spent.


http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u54/MJR007/IMG_1394.jpg

 

[Neubauer6]

so... just to get this strait... you buy the Rigid, but then run the &#%$ out of it like it was a larger production planer, and when you burn up that universal motor or beat out a bearing or two, they fix it for you? ...how many times?

Reply to Woodshop:
They assign a product lifetime to the planer....somewhere in the 8-10 year range I believe. As long as they don't see any "abuse" they will continue to repair it.

 

[cjk]

Any of these a good deal?

Belsaw 12"x6" three knife heavy duty planer/moulder/gang saw, 3 hp 120/220 1ph motor, Model 9013 asking $500

Ryobi AH - 115 Planer/Jointer
12.5x7.25 self feed planer with over the top return roller.
2 blade cutter head on planer and jointer asking $600

13" Rockwell thickness planer (230V),Model 22650 asking $700

These seem a little sturdier than a bench top.

 

[woodshop]

Any of these a good deal?

Belsaw 12"x6" three knife heavy duty planer/moulder/gang saw, 3 hp 120/220 1ph motor, Model 9013 asking $500

Ryobi AH - 115 Planer/Jointer
12.5x7.25 self feed planer with over the top return roller.
2 blade cutter head on planer and jointer asking $600

13" Rockwell thickness planer (230V),Model 22650 asking $700

These seem a little sturdier than a bench top.

Without seeing the machines, hearing them plane and seeing how beat up or not the bearings are, or how true the tables are... there is no way to really giving you an opinion. Used woodworking equipment is kinda like buying a used car. There are good deals, and then there are machines people are trying to unload for whatever reason. However, before I'd pay $600 for that Rockwell 13" you mentioned, for the same money, I'd buy a standard 15" Grizzly, Jet or Delta. Just my opinion.

 

[curdy]

Without seeing the machines, hearing them plane and seeing how beat up or not the bearings are, or how true the tables are... there is no way to really giving you an opinion. Used woodworking equipment is kinda like buying a used car. There are good deals, and then there are machines people are trying to unload for whatever reason. However, before I'd pay $600 for that Rockwell 13" you mentioned, for the same money, I'd buy a standard 15" Grizzly, Jet or Delta. Just my opinion.

I'll second that.

 

[EPA]

I want to get a big 18-20" but still collecting the $ ---So I bought a cheepo-13 1/2 " 220 v. unit from Harbor Freight- I have run quite a bit thru it with no problems---Other than jamming a 12" x10' board in that had about 1/4" tapor and jammed to a stall and cooked the drive belt--new belt and all is well // the unit was about $325 as I recall // and it takes generic blades at small money Epa

 

[Rodney Sinclair]

Well, I posted 15 days ago on this thread that the DeWalt WD735 had done every thing I'd asked of it. A week later, I cooked the motor on it and may well have changed my mind. I'm finding out all kinds of good stuff about getting parts for this thing. And just how much the parts really cost. So,now I'm looking at a Woodmaster. I think it might be heavy enough to get the job done. Live and learn I guess. Just costs a lot to learn.

Rodney

 

[oldsaw]

Rodney, I've got two friends with Woodmasters and they both like them.
Good machine.

Mark