20" planer

[Mark Boyette]

Looking to replace a planer here at work with a 20". I was looking into the powermatic 5HP. Just curious the thoughts here on what planer you might recommend.
thanks, Mark.

[John Harden]

Depending on your budget, you'd be hard pressed to get better than the Format from Felder. I've used one with the electronic, power drive controls and they are very sweet. You can even get rubber feed rollers for taking off whisper thin (.005") amounts of wood.

Regards,

John

[Paul Johnstone]

Looking to replace a planer here at work with a 20". I was looking into the powermatic 5HP. Just curious the the thoughts here on what planer you might recommend.
thanks, Mark.

If you are looking that way, you may want to hurry .. There's a Jet/Powermatic sale that ends today (15% off).

I ordered a 20" Jet from Tools Plus.

[Leo Vogel]

Order thru Bing, get another 10% off. Doesn't get much better than that.

[guy knight]

love my pm209

[Mark Boyette]

This will be a spring time purchase since that's when are captial budgets gets approved. I put in for $5,600 so if there is extra left over we can pick up some batteries for our cordless drills or power tools.

[Dana Vogel]

I am happy with the Shop Fox 20" with add on Shelix cutter head and rubber out feed roller (pre Chinese). This SF model along with Steel City's and PM's come out of the same Taiwanese factory.

[William Addison]

I looked at the PM and bought Shop Fox. Why pay more for the same machine? The manuals and parts are interchangeable and I couldn't see any difference in fit and finish. About all you get with the PM is more prestige.

[Dino Drosas]

Take a look at the Northstate brand at www.leneavesupply.com 20 inch with the spiral head. I have their open end belt sander and couldn,t be happier. All is very high quality and made in Taiwan, not China! Dino

[John Stan]

Looking to replace a planer here at work with a 20". I was looking into the powermatic 5HP. Just curious the thoughts here on what planer you might recommend.
thanks, Mark.

Hi Mark -
I have the PM15HH and have been very disappointed with it. When I can get a board to go through it the snipe is three plus inches on both front in back. The worse part is that a fair amount of time the board will not make it past the first bed roller. It gets stuck and will not go through the planner. Hence for me, this plan has been unusable. What has been most frustrating is the Powermatic tech support folks have offered no additional advice other than "make sure it is within specs of the manual". I have spent eight hours of my life measuring various blade and blade rollers rollers to get this planer to work - so far no success. Powermatic considers it an adjustment issue and not a warranty issue. I am sure that this problem is unique to my machine. I tell you this because their customer service has been unsatisfactory. It was my understanding that the extra cost of the Powermatic versus other brands was for the warranty and customer service. In my opinion, you might be better off with the Grizzly and saving some dough.

[John Harden]

Hi Mark -
I have the PM15HH and have been very disappointed with it. When I can get a board to go through it the snipe is three plus inches on both front in back. The worse part is that a fair amount of time the board will not make it past the first bed roller. It gets stuck and will not go through the planner. Hence for me, this plan has been unusable. What has been most frustrating is the Powermatic tech support folks have offered no additional advice other than "make sure it is within specs of the manual". I have spent eight hours of my life measuring various blade and blade rollers rollers to get this planer to work - so far no success. Powermatic considers it an adjustment issue and not a warranty issue. I am sure that this problem is unique to my machine. I tell you this because their customer service has been unsatisfactory. It was my understanding that the extra cost of the Powermatic versus other brands was for the warranty and customer service. In my opinion, you might be better off with the Grizzly and saving some dough.

John, sorry to hear that. I recently sold my PM15S and it was relatively snipe free. isn't there an adjustment where you can change the height of the infeed or outfeed roller? Does the manual cover this?

[John Stan]

John, sorry to hear that. I recently sold my PM15S and it was relatively snipe free. isn't there an adjustment where you can change the height of the infeed or outfeed roller? Does the manual cover this?

John - Thanks for the ideas. So far I have been playing with the bed rollers, next is the infeed and outfeed rollers, and chip breaker height. I am sure the problem will get resolved. My frustration is I paid the extra bucks for the PM figuring it would work reasonably well out of the box. My disappointment is that is not the case. So the extra several hundred for the PM name and warranty was in my case wasted money.

[Simon Dupay]

Looking to replace a planer here at work with a 20". I was looking into the powermatic 5HP. Just curious the thoughts here on what planer you might recommend.
thanks, Mark.

What kind of work do you do? you might want to look at used Am. or eruo made planers if you do a lot of planing.

[Bryan Cowing]

I have recently bought the 20" PM 209HH and nearly snipe free, just a hint of snipe. Planes maple with no tear out.

[Michael Schwartz]

John - Thanks for the ideas. So far I have been playing with the bed rollers, next is the infeed and outfeed rollers, and chip breaker height. I am sure the problem will get resolved. My frustration is I paid the extra bucks for the PM figuring it would work reasonably well out of the box. My disappointment is that is not the case. So the extra several hundred for the PM name and warranty was in my case wasted money.

Keep working on it, sounds like it is infact an adjustment issue. Most new equipment needs to be setup in some way or another. I wouldn't buy any piece of equipment without the intent to spend as much time as it takes to get it cutting perfectly.

I have a Powermatic 60 jointer that I bought used and while its 30 years old it was never tuned by its previous owners. I had to shim the outfeed table about .004 to correct a slight twist that was causing problems. I put about 6 hours into this machine and now it cuts perfectly

[John Stan]

Hi Mark -
I have the PM15HH and have been very disappointed with it. When I can get a board to go through it the snipe is three plus inches on both front in back. The worse part is that a fair amount of time the board will not make it past the first bed roller. It gets stuck and will not go through the planner. Hence for me, this plan has been unusable. What has been most frustrating is the Powermatic tech support folks have offered no additional advice other than "make sure it is within specs of the manual". I have spent eight hours of my life measuring various blade and blade rollers rollers to get this planer to work - so far no success. Powermatic considers it an adjustment issue and not a warranty issue. I am sure that this problem is unique to my machine. I tell you this because their customer service has been unsatisfactory. It was my understanding that the extra cost of the Powermatic versus other brands was for the warranty and customer service. In my opinion, you might be better off with the Grizzly and saving some dough.

Ok, I got to the bottom of my planer issue. I turns out the the bed of the planer was not properly manufactured. They are supposed to bevel the edge of slots cut in the table for the bed rollers. They did not do that on mine. I discovered it by going back and looking at the floor model. Apparently Powermatic has been having problems with Quality Control on their planer beds lately because the other planers the store had in the back also had the same problem. It also appears to me that they to do not QA their products much either.

[Glen Butler]

$5,600 would get you a great planer. My 20" jet with a helical head only ran me $2200.

[Rick Fisher]

Sorry your having problems with your planer John..

I am a big believer that if your buying Asian import machinery, dont buy on old names and reputations.. buy on customer service..

Powermatic, Delta, Grizzly, General Int., Jet.. all made in "someone else's" factory in Asia..

These companies are "distributors" who provide after sales service.. So buy from the guy with the best service..