15 vs 20" planer?

[Cliff Addy]

This may be (and probably is) a silly question, but why would you choose a 20" planer over a 15" ? I'm having trouble conceiving of a job that would require a planer that wide.

Cliff

[Steve Nouis]

Door panels, small table tops for starters. Steve

[Cliff Addy]

But wouldn't you have jointed/planed the wood before glueup?

[John Keeton]

When I do a glue up on a panel, I face joint (join?) the wood to get a flat face, then plane to flatten the other face, but leaving the board thicker than finished dimension. Then I glue up the panel, trying to get all boards flush on one side. Then if I can get the whole panel through my 15" planer, I plane to final thickness in a couple/three days after the glue has completely dried. Would be nice at times to have a 20" planer!!

[John Thompson]

Ditto John K... by leaving the thickness a little proud you come off the planer with no ridge lines if your glue creeped, etc. I have a 20" and some days I could use one even larger. The majority of my chest of drawer sides average 20"-21" and tops even wider. So....

Comes in handy with work-bench tops also. If you have a 36" wide you build two 18" sides and plane them. Then make the final glue-up of the two sections where a few passes with a card scraper or low angle smoothing plane with account for any slight ridge or glue line left in the center. Saves a bunch of time with the hand plane.

Good luck...

Sarge..

[Paul Atkins]

I have a 20" Griz and rarely plane 20" stuff, but I have a 'sharp' side and a 'duller'. I rough out most stuff on one side and finish pass on the other.

[Peter Quinn]

Oh, I can think of plenty of uses for a 20" planer. I use a 24" daily at work and sometimes I wish it were bigger. You can certainly get by nicely with a 15" in a small shop or hobby shop, but that extra width can be very convenient. Its a rare panel that glues up PERFECTLY flush, and one pass through a planer is a whole lot quicker than hand tools or belt sanders. Many millwork items need not be perfectly flat, just flush, and some things like small counters would be hard to flatten over their length in any event so chances are they won't glue up perfectly flush.

The real jump up is not from 15" to 20", its from small shop planer to industrial planer regardless of width. Small shop planers have solid serrated in feed rollers, rubber out feed rollers, and a chip breaker. Bare bones really, thats what I have in the home shop. Real industrial planers have segmented in feed rollers and segmented chip breakers that allow stock of more varied thickness to be passed simultaneously. They typically also have a pressure bar on the out feed to reduce snipe which small shop planers lack, which helps with long boards that are not flattened. Not so important for small parts in short lengths.

[travis howe]

All I can say is this... if you can afford it and you have the room for it...go for it.

It'll come in handy...sometime, somewhere...

[Cliff Addy]

Well, I can certainly afford it. I could afford to spend $4-5K on a planer if I wanted. I just don't want to spend money without a good reason. Maybe I'd be better off going with a 15" and use the extra money towards a good 24 sander.

[Jim Foster]

This is what I'm doing. I have a Performax 22-44 Pro and I'm upgrading planers to a 15." I pretty much have the room I need in the shop and I think it gives me the opportunity for more flexibility and less sanding.


Well, I can certainly afford it. I could afford to spend $4-5K on a planer if I wanted. I just don't want to spend money without a good reason. Maybe I'd be better off going with a 15" and use the extra money towards a good 24 sander.

[Matt Benton]

I worried about this as well, debating between a 10 year old Grizzly 20" from 2000 and a practically new 15" Powermatic. Each was around $800.

I ended up with the Powermatic. If I had a production shop, it would probably save time to do rough dimensioning, glue up, and then run the whole panel through the planer to get to final dimension, but as a hobbiest, it shouldn't be much harder to spend the extra time getting the glue up right the first time...

[Jeffrey Makiel]

I've found that planing a glue up can result in terrible tear out in one of the glued up boards in the panel. Often, my primary concern with a glue up is to match grain pattern, and sometimes this results in boards with opposite flowing grain on their surface.

Perhaps this is why many commercial shops use large oscillating belt sanders to even the surfaces to final thickness. From what I've read, helical indexed cutterheads may solve this problem for the home shop. But, a 20" helical head ain't cheap.

-Jeff :)

[Mike Cruz]

I have found that it is not only about being able to plane something as wide as 20", but two other things: I have always liked to feed boards in diagonally so you get less tear out and less snipe; also, 20 inch blades give you much more surface area, keeping your blades sharper longer by staying cooler and just plain old giving you more edge to dull. Think of it this way, if you had 6 inch boards, you could put one on the left and one on the right in a 15" planer, but in a 20"planer, you could feed 3 in. Personally, I hate changing the blades. The less I have to do it the better.

[Rod Sheridan]

Hi Cliff, I actually downsized my planer from 14" to 12" last year when I went from a General to a Hammer jointer/planer combo.

I guess because I never plane completed panels, 12" is more than adequate for me.

Now going from an 8" General to a 12" Hammer jointer, now that's sweet!

Regards, Rod.

[GERALD HARGROVE]

I was in the market for a new planner a few months ago. A freind had a nice 15" and he liked it, but as soon as he got it home and started working with it, he ran into needing a wider planer. For just a couple hundered more than what he paid, I got the 20". Just remember, a 20" planer weighs quite a lot.

[Craig D Peltier]

I have a 20" . If I had a 15 I wouldnt be happy. I like it for panels an small tabletops, or half of a dining room table then glue up and not have much more work only one joint.

[Don Abele]

I too debated this several years ago. I had (actually, I still have them both) a 12" Ridgid planer and a 6" Jet Jointer and wanted to upgrade them both. Ultimately, I wound up with a Hammer A3-31 (12" jointer/planer). Here's what sold me on the size issue:

For me, planning is prep work - not finishing work. So I plane all my rough boards to thickness then glue them up. So I would never have a need for anything wider than 12".

Now, to solve the glue creep, uneven glue-up, need to get large panel to same thickness issues, I bought a Jet 22-44 wide-belt sander. This is a finishing tool, used to bring the workpiece to it's final, consistent thickness. I bought the widest available as most of my projects are under 22" and require only a single pass.

This process worked very well for me during my kitchen and two bathroom remodels (read...a lot of cabinets!).

Be well,

Doc

[Peter Quinn]

Now, to solve the glue creep, uneven glue-up, need to get large panel to same thickness issues, I bought a Jet 22-44 wide-belt sander. This is a finishing tool, used to bring the workpiece to it's final, consistent thickness. I bought the widest available as most of my projects are under 22" and require only a single pass.

This process worked very well for me during my kitchen and two bathroom remodels (read...a lot of cabinets!).

Be well,

Doc

That has been my strategy in the home shop. 15" cast iron planer, performax 22-44 pro drum sander, handles pretty much everything I need except full size passage doors, which I bring into work. Two board panel glue ups are a no brainer, easy to glue up flush or flush quickly if creep occurs by hand. Its those 3-5 board glue ups using strips or making up wider/longer panels that get interesting. Add glue and clamps, now and then the boards develop a mind of their own.

My earlier comments were based on the OP's general question, is their a need for a 20" planer. It seems for some, the answer is no, for others, its hard to live without. I will say for the hardcore tool junkies willing or able to spend money beyond reason, that once you have used a 24" industrial planer with digital readout, infinite variable speed on the fly, power table lift, segmented in feed rollers and chip breakers and spiral head that will take off 3/16" per pass, that everything less feels like a toy. Try one, you will like it I'd bet. Of course I like playing with toys and am more than happy with mine, but now and then I am working at home and wish I had the planer from work in my shop.

Anyone want to help me lift 2200# of iron into my basement?:eek:

[Jeff Duncan]

One of the key advantages of bigger industrial planers is often overlooked, as it seems to have been here. With a 20" or larger planer with segmented infeed you can run multiple pieces at a time. So for instance if your running parts for doors you can run more pieces side by side thereby decreasing the amount of time spent planing. The wider the planer the more time saved. Although smaller machines will also run multiple parts, the industrial machines do it better.....of course;)
For a hobby shop this isn't nearly as important. Plus the downsides of 3 phase, and the power required (my 20" is a 9 hp motor), with the additional cost of the machine make them less attractive. Then of course there's the quality question....is it better to get a cheapy new Asian 20", or an older industrial 16"???:confused:
good luck,
JeffD

[Steve Clardy]

I jumper from a 12" to a 20" in 1998.

I've never regretted it. I do a lot of panel glueups, then surface to final thickness.

[Chip Lindley]

Suffer the heartbreak of *chip-out* while running a panel glue-up through the planer to final thickness, and you will go buy the first wide drum sander you can get your hands on!! Remember that panel glue-ups consist of boards with grain running both directions (for most pleasing grain matching!) Not Nice to run through a conventional knife planer!!

I joint and then plane each board just over-thickness for a panel. Then after the panel is out of the glue clamps, I drum-sand it to final *smooth* thickness!

Knife planers are not good panel dimensioning machines. But, I will admit, with a Shelix head, they come closer than ever. A 20" Chinese planer adds knife length (and longevity) between sharpenings. Industrial planers with segmented feed rolls can take stock of varying thickness, and allow feeding several pieces in at a time.

Unless you go 20" Industrial, I had rather have a 15" planer and put the difference toward a good wide drum sander!

[Steve Clardy]

Sharp blades is the key ;)

I went the dual drum sander route for several years.
Sold the sander. Not for me.

[Paul Greathouse]

I also jumped from a 12" to a 20" last year. I agree with all the reasons others have given for going with the 20" instead of the 15". One other advantage of the 20" that no one has touched on yet is, depending on the brand you go with, the 20" will usually have a 5hp motor and the 15" will have a 3hp. If your going to be running panels or wide hardwood boards the extra horsepower will be a big benefit.

If you want to ask any specific questions about the 20" Grizzly with Grizzly's version of the shelix head, PM me and I will give you a quick review of mine.

[Chip Lindley]

Steve, I grind and hone my own planer blades. Each will shave your arm when I install them in the planer.

BUTTTT, in trying to *finish plane* glued-up panels with grain running both directions, one must BE PREPARED for mininal chipout! It's just the nature of the beast! Even *minimal* chipout must be filled with putty (Ackkk!!), OR sanded out--with some type of sander (At least to my standards) Choose your weapon! Belt sander (Ackkk! again!) ROS (Whewww!), or an efficient drum sander! (Mmmm!)

You did not indicate which drum sander you were unhappy with, but if you had experienced something like a Woodmaster, I prophesy you would be much more drum-sander-positive.

[Steve Clardy]

Chip. I seldom have chip out in finished panels. I do spend the time to run the grain in the same directions, and plane in the proper direction.
Maple. More so than others, but not much.

Drum sanders are a waste of time to me.
Making 4-5 passes at removing 1/64th takes to much time, and still need to ROS after sanding.

Glue up panel, surface to 7/8", then 13/16", then start taking off 1/32" at a time till the magic 3/4 has arrived. Doesn't take long with 20 or so panels, standing there running them butted together.
Then simply ROS with 120 and I'm done.


IF I ever change my ways, it will be a wide belt sander next time, not a dual drum sander.

I highly doubt that I will invest 10 grand in a decent wide belt.