8" jointer

[jason lambert]

I have been looking for a jointer for a while I was leaning the grizzley way because of price but people keep on veering me away from them because of quality issues. So I am now about to pull the trigger on a Powermatic 60 HH 8" jointer.

How is this machine I know it is expensive 1900 or so, ouch. Is this my best option?

[David Christopher]

Jason, thats funny, I never heard anything bad about Grizzly's jointers

[Matt Day]

I think you may have heard a couple long drawn out stories about shipping issues, but those aren't caused by Grizzly. I think all of those stories ended up with a happy resolution from Grizzly too.

I have a couple Grizzly tools, including a Shop Fox 8" jointer (same as a Grizzly) and couldn't be happier with it. I got it for half the price of the Powermatic you listed, and I don't understand why on earth I'd spend more for what I got for less than $800.

[Don Bullock]

A agree with David. Jointers seem to be one of the most commonly purchased wwing tools by people on the forums I read. Perhaps the Powermatic is better, but is it really that much better to warrant the dramatic difference in price?

[Paul Ryan]

Even though I am not a grizzly fan. I cannot see any reason to buy the powermatic over the grizzly. Grizzly has a great deal on jointers, the powermatic and jet machines are over priced. Considering they are made in the same place, there is not reason the white and mustard machines should cost almost double what a green one does. If I were going to but a new jointer it would be a grizzly.

[michael case]

I almost pulled the trigger on the Powermatic Parallelogram 8" back when they had the big %15 off sale. The reason I passed it by was that the Powermatic had the least flat tables according jointer reviews. Also I kept coming across post on this same issue. If your going to get a jointer, you probably want the more modern and effecient Parallelogram design. These allow the beds to be adjusted to coplaner. The old style which rest on dovetail ways most often are not truly coplaner. I got the Grizzly G0490 Parallelogram and I'm completely satisfied with it so far. Its tables were truly flat and I adjusted it to .001 coplaner. Its 76" long with an infeed table that measure 43". For $875.00 its a lot of machine.

[jason lambert]

I tend to have to aggree with you guys maybe is is just isolated to the people I spoke with, in any case what is the difference I want a small 8" jointer is the
G0656X 8" Jointer with Spiral Cutterhead my best option?

[Matt Day]

The jointer you mention might be the right one for you, but they offer a number of 8" jointers to choose from depending on your needs and budget. I've got the 0490 with regular blades and it's all I need. If I was going to spend the money on a spiral head, I'd probably get one in my planer instead of my jointer.

And "small" is kind of relative. The bed length on the 8" jointers I think is only a 4" difference between all of them (72" - 76" or so). The base does vary a bit more it looks.

[Mike Goetzke]

Just before the Holidays I purchased a Grizzly G0490 8" jointer and couldn't be happier. They had a sale going on plus when combined with the Microsoft CashBack I was able to afford new versus used. I think many took advantage of this deal so what you saw was a result of so many sales. Plus, I made a post about my learning curve to set up the paralleolgram tables to try to help others came out to some as a Grizzly complaint. I took me a little over an hour to assemble but several hours to set the beds. Using this experience I could set the beds in around an hour now.

Mike

[jason lambert]

crap, hate setting beds. Next sale then, I will pick one up. I am also working the wood working show in NJ I'll see what specials powermatic has but the grizzly sounds like a decent machine.

[Paul Johnstone]

If money is an issue, I'm not sure it's worthwhile to put a spiral head on a jointer. Save the cash for the spiral head on the planer. Then just plane the face jointed side. I guess as a hobbyist, I feel that jointer blades last a really long time.

[Glen Butler]

I picked up a powermatic PJ882HH for $1850 new, so 1900 seems high, but it was an extra floor model so maybe I just got lucky. I knew nothing of grizzly when I purchased. Knowing what I know now I would have given it some serious thought.

[Van Huskey]

I picked up a powermatic PJ882HH for $1850 new, so 1900 seems high, but it was an extra floor model so maybe I just got lucky. I knew nothing of grizzly when I purchased. Knowing what I know now I would have given it some serious thought.

Actually, $1900 is a good price for the non-HH version, the HH version runs closer to $2200. The 60HH should run about $1800 shipped. The Dovetail Grizzly with HH will run about $1140 shipped so you are looking at about $660 more for the PM. For a lower chance of shipping issues, slightly better machine overall and a 5 year warranty you are paying $660 At about $300-350 difference I would get the PM no question, for over $600 more the Grizzly is looking very good.

[Rich Noterman]

I ordered one Sth of Jan. Received it within 3 days great tool. The setup was right on from out of the box. You cant go wrong for the price

[Van Huskey]

I ordered one Sth of Jan. Received it within 3 days great tool. The setup was right on from out of the box. You cant go wrong for the price


Are you talking about the PM 60HH or one of the Grizzlys?

[glenn bradley]

If money is an issue, I'm not sure it's worthwhile to put a spiral head on a jointer. Save the cash for the spiral head on the planer. Then just plane the face jointed side. I guess as a hobbyist, I feel that jointer blades last a really long time.

The problem here (or the opposite for me, I have a knifed planer) is that if you get an 1/8" deep tearout you have to lose a lot of material to get a good surface back. Often this will exceed what can be removed and retain the thickness required so the scrap bin gets fed.

[glenn bradley]

My G0490X was so flat out of the crate I kept checking it thinking I must have missed something. It was just right and has been ever since. I have been running it for about 18 months and have not even rotated the cutters to the next surface yet. I assume they will show some degrading in the cut quality sooner or later but, I would have been through several sharpenings and probably a new set of knives by now based on my previous knifed machine.

[Richard Andersen]

If you are set on a Powermatic you may want to take a look at www.equipmentsalesandsurplus.com (http://www.equipmentsalesandsurplus.com) They currently have the Powermatic 60C jointer for $1490 and the PJ882 for $1801. They also have an eBay site (link is on thier "about us" page) and starting bid price for the PJ882 is $1595 + $95 delivery to terminal or buisness (residential and liftgate extra). So far no bids on the PJ88 and there is 4 days left. I purchased my Baldor PM 2000 from them during the 15% holiday sale and have no complaints...well except for my cheapness not accepting their $85 residential liftgate delivery fee offer and opting for the free terminal drop and I pick it up myself, they said if I changed my mind when the saw arrived I could work something out directly with the shipping compnay (YRC). I had no idea what delivery costs where so I thought going directly through YRC would get me better pricing (figuring equipmentsales&surplus where probably making a little money off the $85 delivery fee). Boy was I ever wrong when YRC gave me a quote of around $220 to deliver from the local terminal to my house with liftgate service!!! For that price I picked it up myself and what a hassel it was unloading from my truck with one of those cherry picker engine cranes my neighbor and I used, it didn't help that it was night, snowing, temperature single digits and my driveway where I had to unload was icy. While struggling in the cold unloading the saw with frozen fingers and toes I was kicking myself for not paying the extra $85 especially during the brief moment when it looked like the engine crane was not going to lift the saw high enough to clear the truck bed...thats when I was thinking maybe the $220 YRC wanted may have worth it. In the future the DIY and Cherry-picker option will not be my first chice for unloading these heavy machines. :rolleyes:

[Karl Card]

you guiys would laugh at what i got then.... i got a brand new in the box discontinued 8 inch jointer from the world famous "enco". 66 inch bed 2 hp motor and for me and what I am doing at this time it does a wonderful job. paid 325 for it and got a set of 10 foot steel rollers with it. The rollers are gonna be cut down to make out feed tables for my planer and table saw.