Which 20" planer?

[John Pratt]

A while back there was a discussion about which tool you would upgrade in your shop. My response was the planer. I am ready to bite the bullet and upgrade from my 13" lunchbox to a 20" stand alone or a 15" with helical head. I've looked at the Jet, PM, Griz, Delta. I would like to keep the price under $3K including shipping. 220/230V single phase is not an issue since I have several drops already in place. Thoughts?

[bill schmoott]

John, I purchased the Griz, 453Z (spiral cutter head) a couple of months ago (15" with helical head from Griz). I have nothing but high praise for the machine so far. Heavy, stable, cuts great. I would look hard at their 454Z for $2,395 (20" cutter with HH), you can get the 5 hp for $2,995. I looked and looked at a bunch of the planers you mentioned. I just could not see the price difference. The PM sure was attractive, but wow, it was just so much more expensive than the Griz. Anyone else? Just my 2 cents.

[Jonathan Spool]

John, I recently went throught the same process, upgrading from a Dewalt 735. I looked long and hard at all the Chinese planers (they mostly all come from the same factory), finally deciding to get either a grizzly 454, and upgrading it to a Byrd head (454Z cutters are twice the cost of Byrd. Will cost you over $600 for a blade change). I looked at all the posts I could and came to the conclusion that these four posters, although workable with some finesse, were not nearly the same caliber of the old iron planers.
That being said I opted for a Powermatic 221, and upgraded that with a Byrd head. I just finished cleaning it up and painting it. It is 5HP 3ph with a VFD. Startup, and runs like glass. I have $3700 and a couple days work into it. Only drawback is that it weighs 1700lbs and takes up a fair amount of space. Adjustments are easy. Especially the bed roller adjustments which are lever adjustable.

[Irvin Crouse]

I also did the same with an old Powermatic 180. Purchased for $800 and was in really good shape. Cleaned it up and put in a Byrd Head. I put the motor underneath to save space. Runs really well. Cut is very smooth and quiet.

[Ken Garlock]

Hi John.

I suggest that you add the WoodMaster planer (http://www.woodmastertools.com/s/planers.cfm) to your list. Their equipment is all made in the USA, Kansas City MO.

[pat warner]

Ready for some contrarianism?
Unless you're jointing very wide boards, I wouldn't up the planer width to much beyond what you can joint.
Why? In my view, glue-ups, the primary target for wide sanders & planers, should be well joined at the time of gluing.
Of course, scraping and sanding after glue up is essential but not planing. Your stock should have been jointed and planed once and once is enough. Moreover, it is nearly impossible to assemble 20" of stock and not have some grain changes from stick to stick. As such, no matter which way you plane you'll tearout!
First class edge to edge joinery is ordinary woodworking, no heroics, T&g, (http://patwarner.com/images/t_g.jpg) glue joints, splines etc. will register well milled stock to within a couple of mils.

[Mark Carlson]

I agree. I'm currently waiting for a 12in Hammer jointer/planer. I don't see a need for anything wider. 15in maybe, but not 20.


Ready for some contrarianism?
Unless you're jointing very wide boards, I wouldn't up the planer width to much beyond what you can joint.
Why? In my view, glue-ups, the primary target for wide sanders & planers, should be well joined at the time of gluing.
Of course, scraping and sanding after glue up is essential but not planing. Your stock should have been jointed and planed once and once is enough. Moreover, it is nearly impossible to assemble 20" of stock and not have some grain changes from stick to stick. As such, no matter which way you plane you'll tearout!
First class edge to edge joinery is ordinary woodworking, no heroics, T&g, (http://patwarner.com/images/t_g.jpg) glue joints, splines etc. will register well milled stock to within a couple of mils.

[david brum]

I've had a 15" stationary for several years. On the rare times I've wished it were wider, I've needed significantly wider anyway, wider than 20". The vast majority of planing happens in the 6-8" width. Anything wider than 15" is likely going to be glue up which goes onto the 16/32 sander. With your budget, you could probably do both as well.

I think the advantage of the bigger, larger HP planers like 20 inchers is that you can run several boards simultaneously which saves a bunch of time if you're doing it commercially. I'm never in that much of a hurry though, and like to feed and receive each board to reduce snipe.

One of the great things about a wider planer is that you can dedicate half of the cutter head (say the left side) to rough cuts and the other half to more finished cuts. If the rough side gets nicks in the blade, no big deal since the wood will go into the finishing side anyway.

[Don Buck]

I've lived with a 12" planer for 20 years and have recently purchased a used Delta 20" which is in storage until I complete the wiring of my shop. The only time I've needed the width capacity in the past is to surface some glued up panels for some kitchen cabinets. In the past to have had to take the panels to someone else who had a wider planer or wide belt sander. I'm sure I could go another 20 years with my 12" planer but couldn't pass up the Delta (another high school shop closing).

[glenn bradley]

Another happy G0453Z 15" spiral owner. That being said, I would not allow my price range to push me to a knifed machine for greater capacity. If you need greater capacity, you need it. If you work highly figured woods and need the spiral you need it; one does not preclude the need of the other other. If I could have shoe-horned in the 20" spiral, I would have. The greatest tool in your shop can be a pain if you can't maneuver around it ;-

[scott vroom]

+1 on the G0453Z 15" planer. I didn't want a lunchbox planer and 15" seems to be the entry point for big iron planers...easy decision for me. I paid ~$1,500 for my setup with the Byrd cutter.

I run a small shop in a residential area so sound control is high on my list of priorities. I wouldn't consider a knived planer for that reason. The spiral cutter is quiet by comparison.

[Cary Falk]

For a $3k budget I would go with the 15" Shop Fox with a spiral head that Grizzly has on sale and look for a 16"-24" drum sander. I have the G0453Z and love it.

[Van Huskey]

I agree with Pat but for reasons not related to tear-out since I am a helical head fan. I agree to keep the jointer and planer pretty closely matched AND have a significantly wider drum or widebelt sander, I think a shop then has lots more capacity. The day I need a planer to HOG OFF material after a glue up is the day I need to reevaluate my glue-ups, the drum sander should take care of that fine AND do other work as well.

Last week I would have said the Shop Fox with a spiral head is a no brainer over the Grizzly since Grizzly had it on closeout and it has a 2 year warranty but I don't see it on their site now, which may mean they are all gone. The only thing I would mention is the inserts are more expensive than the Byrd inserts which you will not feel unless or until the day comes that you replace them all at one time.

The 4 post 15" planers are very similar with warranty, extension bed size and type of cutter head being the biggest differences. The Grizzly has a short warranty, extension beds on the short end (but they are all pretty close) and not my choice of cutter head BUT definitely offers the best price, best value is up to you.

[Ira Matheny]

My solution to expanding into a larger planer...........Used. A local business was closing down and I purchased a 24" Powermatic of 1970 vintage. It is 220-3ph, which is no problem, and the price, $400 was a great NO PROBLEM! It is louder than my Jet 15", but that is not a problem for me. I have the need, space, power, and DC system, so it is a WIN-WIN.
I frenguently run larger panels and boards, so this is just the tool.
Ira

[Rob Sack]

For a $3k budget I would go with the 15" Shop Fox with a spiral head that Grizzly has on sale and look for a 16"-24" drum sander. I have the G0453Z and love it.

I agree. Running glue-ups though a planer will more often than not result in at least some tear-out. I've used an old 12" Northfield jointer, 20 year old Hitachi 12" planer, and a 37" Woodmaster drum sander, all purchased used for less that $4000 total, with great results. Even though surface planing glue-ups is faster initially, using the drum sander has saved, I'm sure, hours of work because tear out is not an issue, plus I have the ability to surface panels as wide as 36" using the drum sander. On glue ups I almost never go over 8" in individual board width, as recommended by Sam Maloof during one of his workshops, for overall panel stability.

[Chip Lindley]

Everybody has their own ideas about planers.

IF I had no drum sander, I might highly entertain the idea of a 20" planer with spiral head. Panels could be surfaced pretty decently up to 20". There is still chance of slight tearout on the final pass, even with a spiral head. I cannot tolerate even slight imperfections on finished panel surfaces, so I would never trust that to a planer. That is the wide drum/belt sander's job!

With a $3000 budget for a planer, I would get the 15" spiral machine. That would give roughly $1000 toward at least a 24" drum sander. I think the two would live happily ever after.

[Paul Johnstone]

Don't let people talk you out of a 20" planer, if that's what you want.
I got a Jet 20" a couple years ago.
It's a Huge timesaver.
On most glueups, my stock is already reasonably flat. I edge joint, glue up, then the planer flattens it up.
Saves a lot of time, as there is no need to get everything perfectly face jointed.

Even if you still face joint every piece, you can feed multiple pieces into the 20" jointer at once too.
Maybe there's a 12" planer that can take off up to 1/8" of thickness at a time (That's about what these 20" do).
Taking bigger bites is also a time saver.

[John Pratt]

Thanks for all the input. You have swayed me a little. I think the 15" is probably the way to go. I should have mentioned that I already have a 22/44 jet drum sander. One of my biggest reasons for the upgrade is that I am just not happy with my Dewalt 735. It does what it is supposed to do, but I would really rather have a stand alone machine for stability reasons and versatility.

[Russell Smallwood]

Having had a 453px (15 HH) for a few months, and several years of lunch box pain and suffering. If I were going to select a planer today, features in order of importance would be:

1.)HH (I probably won't own a traditional knife cutter head again)
2.)HP - I've tripped the thermal on my 453px a couple of times when being too aggressive. No big deal in my garage, but maybe a huge inconvenience if you're running through a lot of stock on a regular basis.
3.)Size - 15" is plenty for 98% of what I do, YMMV. As stated before, its usually <15" or way more (>20).

To me, an old-iron 20" w/ Byrd that will hog off 1/8" across it's entire width all day without complaining would be perfect, but you're taking a risk there, not to mention 80% it will be 3 phase which opens a whole different can of worms.

One of the advantages, at least to me, with the Chiwanese planers is that they are smaller than the old machines which means I can at least fit them in my garage :)

[Keith Hankins]

Well, I had a makita 2012 lunchbox planer for over 20 years (she still runs), but I just went through the same decision point your are at now. First let me state I'm a huge grizzly fan. I have their TS,BS,Horizontal boring machine, and 12" jointer. I started looking at the end of last year to upgrade and looked at numerous models. However, someone mentioned that I should consider getting some old American Iron that I would not be dissapointed. I looked and finally came across an 18" northfield planer that I just recently purchased (so new I've not got it hooked up yet). You can find good deals on older stuff and it's made like sherman tanks. A lot of the older stuff runs on three phase, but don't sweat that. I bought it and a rotary phase converter for a song and the quality of the machine will beat any of the modern day stuff. Good luck on what ever you do.

[Joe Von Kaenel]

I would put in another Vote in for Woodmaster Planers. Built like a tank, Versatile; Planer, Jointer, Molder, Drum sander, gang saw. Made in USA, outstanding customer service!! Huge selection of molding knives.

Joe

[Jonathan Spool]

I keep hearing about folks using rotary converters for their 3 phase finds. Take a look at the variable frequency drives available out there. I believe you will retain more of the original 3 phase torque, and can start those big hp motors up nice and easy, eliminating voltage spikes.