Gloat... SHOP FOX W1742 15-Inch Planer with Cast Iron In and Out Feed

[Bob Feeser]

Well I pulled the trigger last night in the wee hours for a SHOP FOX W1742 15-Inch Planer with Cast Iron In and Out Feed. I have been using an older 12 1/2" Craftsman Contractor Grade planer I bought new back then for $700. Anyhow I decided to get back into some wood production as a part time side business, and needed something that would plane wider stock than that, and do it in a lot less time than having to take 1/32" off at a time. I drooled over the PM15 for a lot of years, but was shocked when I saw WoodCrafts Shop Fox; it was number one rated at Amazon based on the reviews, and sales figures of the 15" and larger machines. I know there are larger and more expensive machines out there but this thing is pretty amazing for the money.
You have to read the reviews on Amazon to see what they are saying. http://www.amazon.com/SHOP-W1742-15-Inch-Planer-Cast/dp/B001R23T9O/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1320887926&sr=8-1

It has a 4" dust port. I am so tired of having to stop in the middle of a planing and have to clean out the 2" dust chute on my Craftsman.
It doesn't have the helix head. It has flat blades but I have the Tormek system with the planer and jointer blade attachment so I can resharpen them until there isn't any metal left.
3hp motor 220volt single phase 20 amp so no special lines to run.
Everything on it is FULLY adjustable so you can fine tune it.
The price point is nuts for a planer at this level.
It weighs in the 700 plus pound shipping weight.
So I read the reviews on Amazon and decided it was a good way to go. I am interested in any input from someone who has experience with them. I'm using it in my basement shop which is about 700 sq ft.

[Bob Feeser]

The other thing I like about is is the gear speed change option; it is a simple lever. In the Craftsman you have to remove the side cover and change gears to go to a different speed. Then if you do bother to do that the hp is insufficient to shave more than a hair off of the board at that speed, so I just keep it at the slower speed all of the time. It takes a lot of time to do a job of any size. So with the Shop Fox you just set the faster speed and get down to size quickly, and then just make a couple passes at the slower speed to bring up a nice finish.

[Bob Feeser]

I just noticed something interesting. In Amazon if you follow the link in my original post above you will see that this particular unit garnered seven 5 star reviews and two 4 star reviews, and they came because the machine needed to be fine tuned when it arrived. (Something I would want to do anyway) I then scanned other machines, from other manufacturers, especially the Powermatics which I have loved ( I have a PM66, their 8" jointer, and stand hollow chisel mortiser). Many of the other machines different makes etc didn't fare so well. It was an eye opener. So is this Shop Fox the early Toyota Camry of planers? Maybe, maybe not?
I understand Fine Woodworking just had a review touting the merits of the helical head/spiral planers. They are about 800 to 1000 dollars more. A lot of the reviews even on the 20" Shop fox spiral cutter weren't that good. So from what I can see this is a sweet spot both in performance and price. I paid $1199.