Opinions on Sunhill Machinery? (TS)

[Tom LaRussa]

I just received an email notice of discounts on Oliver & Sunhill machines. I can't find these on the Sunhill website.

Two items catch my eye in particular, the 10" Oliver jointer for $1695, and the Sunhill cabinet saw for $695. The jointer is way out of my price range at the moment, but the saw is not. Does anybody know anything about the quality etc of Sunhill machinery? It's $130 cheaper than the Grizzly G1023S, but with a wider rip capacity and a built-in mobile base. (The latter, in the form of a Shop Fox unit, will cost an extra $69.95 from Grizz.)

Any opinions???

TIA,

augie

[JayStPeter]

Well, the jointer is probably real nice. But, I wonder if the difference between 10" and 8" is as significant as the difference between 6" and 8". Seems like I either find boards that are 7+", or greater than 10". Don't know why it is that 9" boards seem rare? But, if I was comparing with a DJ-20, the price on this one looks pretty good. I'm guessing the Oliver quality is good as well.

The table saw doesn't look so great.
Compared to the Grizzly,
- 2HP instead of 3
- that fence looks pretty poor. Sort of like the ones on the cheaper craftsman saws.
- I wonder if it is a hybrid. Don't know the answer.

For an additional $200, I'd go with the Grizzly. It's less than the cost of a fence upgrade.

Jay

[Dan Stuewe]

I haven't looked into this saw till now, but I have two observations. First, the 2800 rpm blade speed seems a bit slow (a quick look at amazon.com shows the Delta and Jet offerings with a speed of 4000 rpm). Second, I didn't get a good description of how the trunion is attached. Jet makes a "cabinet" saw that has the guts of a contractors saw. While the dust collection and footprint have the benifits of a cabinet saw, the trunion is still attached to the underside of the table, not to the cabinet. This is one of the significant (in my mind) benifits of a cabinet saw.

I don't know what if any affect the speed will have on cut quality. And I think it would be worth it to find out about the trunion.

Good luck.

[Ken Garlock]

HI. As a company, I haven't heard any bad words about them or their products. I have read several posts from people praising the 8" Sunhill jointer.

Recently their website has been reworked, and in the process they dropped the pricing information. When the site was new, a couple months a go, I filled out the "send me a catalog" form. On 7/9 it sent them an Email asking where my catalog was. I also asked if they had raised their prices so much that they were ashamed to print them on the new website. I got an Email back the same day assuring me that they had not raised their prices and that a catalog was in the mail. They had removed the prices so as to make more personal contact with the customer. As of today, 7/21, I haven't seen hide nor hair of the catalog. Do you suppose the USPS got lost between Washington and Texas? :confused:

Based upon the good reviews of their 8" jointer, I had placed it at the top of my wish list. But, with the latest web changes and my inability to get a catalog, they are running a tacit advertisement for Bridgewood/Wilke, IMO.

As of this point in time, I have not bought anything from Sunhill.

[John Weber]

Sunhill has some very nicely spec'd equipment in general, and the Oliver stuff looks great! I seldom hear anything negative, and as a pure importer, they have been responsive to any questions I've had. The table saw looks ok - nothing special, Sunhill's shapers are a fair bit better then other imports, but the Oliver equipment looks very sweet!

John

[Frank Townend]

Can't say anything about the quality as I don't own anything of their's but I received an E-mail detailing some nice prices:

Sunhill Machine Products Line of Home Specialty Equipment (http://sunhillmachinery.com/Hot%20Deals.htm)

[Douglas Brummett]

This question comes up periodically. I have dealt with Sunhill a bit over the last 6 months. They have been very helpful, so far excellent customer service.

I have purchased 2 cutterheads, a planer, and some small stuff. I had some issue with blades coming in with knicks, in both instances replacements were issued. One cutterhead I decided I just didn't like and they actually let me exchange for a byrd upgrade well after the trial period. That was above and beyond what was expected.

The planer is the only item actually branded as Sunhill. It is nice quality. I have seen the same unit branded Jet and General for a fair upcharge. So obviously they have connections to the same factory overseas. I can't give any indication of longevity, but I would imagine it inline with the other imports.

[Frank Townend]

Thank you for the feedback Douglas. The sale has a significant savings.

[John Thompson]

I had a 6" Sunhill jointer at one time. Excellent value and basically the same as the 6" Jet. Most Sunhill machinery is made by Geetech in Taiwan which is the same manufacturer that builds the Sawstop. The jointer worked well for 5 years and still is humming away down the road at the shop of the person I sold it too.

But.. I have seen the TS.. 2 HP and IMO if you are going to pay that much you should go 3 HP. The bevel is somewhat rough and needed to be filed down on the machine I saw. And frankly I felt the fence was not top quality as it was difficult to set and hold alignment.

So... the jointers I can reccomend but the TS was a miss on their part. Probably worth what they ask but far a few dollars more.... ;)

Sarge..

[Don Morris]

Several years ago I bought a previous model 8" Sunhill jointer. It's the CT-204L. I didn't see it on the recent site. It's 72" but to get that you add one 3" segment at each end. That was accomplished rather easily and pretty smoothly. I liked the specs: motor, twin belt, weight, length etc. It's worked fine. A little touchy keeping the fence solidly at 90degrees for long spells (tends to drift a little, but I just tap it back). I checked the flatness of the tables with a 3' machinists bar which I bought for $$$ and they were right on. I paid the extra for the spiral head and does that work like a charm. If you can swing it, that's really helpfull on some woods that I normally would have had to spend a lot of time sanding and lost a lot of surface doing that. Infeed and outfeed are easy to adjust with a wheel but I don't need to do that much. The customer service when I bought it was very helpful as one of the plastic handles to adjust the fence was missing, no questions asked, they had another in the mail within days. It's a jointer, not many moving parts, and not much to go wrong. It's heavier than the 6" Jet I replaced which almost tipped over on long pieces which is why I replace it with the 8".