Seeking Advice - Large Planer

[Len Rosenberg]

I'm planning to buy a large planer. My ideal would be 20" so I can plane glued up panels and frames. Powermatic has a 20" with a Byrd/Helical head for around $4k. But the European combo machines (Minimax, Hammer) are tempting as well. Especially the MM with the Tersa head. The budget will not permit a new European combo larger than 16". I've read many posts about the advantages and disadvantages of jointer/planer combinations. My instinct is that combination jointer/planers are a compromise. I'm at a loss about what to get. I have an 8" Powermatic jointer late 80s vintage, but never bonded with it, and it is not unusual that I buy wood wider than 8", so I will be selling that. Any and all advice and suggestions would be appreciated. Also, sources for used (lightly) machines would be welcome.

This is a home shop, not professional, but I make furniture and am reasonably serious about it, have been at it for about 25 years. The planer will complement a Powermatic 66 5hp table saw and Minimax MM20 bandsaw.

Thanks for any suggestions.

Regards,

Len

[Myk Rian]

Buy the PM 20 and make a planer sled. All problems solved.

[John A langley]

Got the 20 inch MM with the Tersa head and love it

[Jim Andrew]

I went through the struggle between planers, and my neighbor had a Grizzly G0453 z planer, it works so well I went with that. You can buy a 15" planer for half the cost of a 20", and 20" still isn't wide enough for lots of panels, so I use my small widebelt sander to true up wider panels. Don't see much difference between Grizzly and Powermatic, except you get a Grizzly for a better price, and better customer service. And cheaper shipping.

[Matt Day]

Just a thought, but if you're talking about panels and frames, have you considered a drum or wide belt sander? Might fit your needs better.

[Mark Bolton]

I agree with Matt as long as your not planning on surfacing a lot of material from rough. If your just cleaning up panels and buying most of your material pre-surfaced I would be looking into a sander instead. If I really wanted a planer, and were willing to invest 4K in a machine I wouldnt be buying a powermatic. Overpriced in my opinion. Shopping the used market would be either a big cost savings or a way to perhaps get a much nicer machine at the same or lower cost.

[Susumu Mori]

Hi Len,

I was in the same boat about a year ago. After much research, my conclusion was, all the 15/20 inch planers from Jet, Griz, PM, General International and other half a dozen of companies are identical. I don't know why one source from Taiwan became so dominant. Maybe I'm wrong. If somebody knows that I'm wrong, please let me know.

In any case, reviews of these clones are also similar; some work pretty well but many reports snipes and sometimes some quality issues. I didn't get an impression that PM's quality was any better than Griz, but this is purely from internet search.

Before the purchase, I was using a DeWalt 13-inch lunch box. There was nothing wrong with it, but it was so loud and I never understood why I sometimes got a snipe and sometimes not. Because it is unpredictable, I always needed to make sure that boards always had extra lengths.

In the end, I chose a Hammer A331. As many reported, there is no snipe. Not once. The machine is quiet. The helical head is also quiet and leaves smooth surface. I didn't have to do any adjustment. Out of the box, it was ready to go. I wish I had A341 but the weight and the size were too much to carry to the basement.

The change over was better than expected. The space saving was more than expected. The 12-inch jointer is so nice. I wish I have a dedicated 20-inch planer. Someday maybe, but for now, I don't feel I need anything more than the A331. I hope PM will come up with a non-clone version of planers just like what they did for bandsaws.

Oh one more thing. I did add a Supermax drum sander. Hopefully it will take care of wide panels.

[Peter Quinn]

I have been using two 20" planers in a shop almost side by side, one is a powermatic, the other a green planer from a major seller, made in Tiawan (not a grizzly), and I'm gonna tell you they may look the same from 5 feet away, but when you put wood to steel the powermatic beats the other one hands down by a mile. The motor and drive train on the powermatic just keep on giving right to its full depth capacity, the other one will stall and buck if you hit a high spot or try to take too much. They are simply not all the same under the hood, or in the electrical department either.

I've never used a combo, its certainly a compromise versus singles, but possibly one worth considering. A combo is going to be cheaper than the equivalent quality level of individual machines, so you get more value by consolidating. And you get two machines in the same foot print. For that you also get to switch from jointer to planer as needed, the good ones make that part easy enough, only thing easier is not having to do it at all. If you have unlimited budget and generous space, buying a combo seems a foolish decision to me. A combo anything. But few shop scenarios meet that unlimited criteria. generally speaking I prefer the euro planers to the powermatic 4 post series, many of the euros are a much better build. A real industrial planer has both chip breaker and pressure bar, the feed rollers and chip breaker are segmented, and in the best cases the bed rollers are adjustable on the fly and feed speed is variable. Many of the euro combos actually have these features available. The powermatic does not. Powermatic made plenty of planers that are/were true industrial, but the 4 posters of the current era are not. Not bad machines for the small shop but not BOB. Still probably the best of the asian imports IME.

Which one should you get? I like the sander idea. The best planer I have ever used was not big enough to handle the biggest panels I make, so it has to be done other ways. If you are only making cabinet door panels 20" will probably cover most of those, if you are into table tops and such, Even a 37" wide belt isn't going to handle a 42" dining table. But a 36" drum sander will handle most panel glue ups. Lots of different methods to get this done.

[Rod Sheridan]

I'm planning to buy a large planer. My ideal would be 20" so I can plane glued up panels and frames. Powermatic has a 20" with a Byrd/Helical head for around $4k. But the European combo machines (Minimax, Hammer) are tempting as well. Especially the MM with the Tersa head. The budget will not permit a new European combo larger than 16". I've read many posts about the advantages and disadvantages of jointer/planer combinations. My instinct is that combination jointer/planers are a compromise. I'm at a loss about what to get. I have an 8" Powermatic jointer late 80s vintage, but never bonded with it, and it is not unusual that I buy wood wider than 8", so I will be selling that. Any and all advice and suggestions would be appreciated. Also, sources for used (lightly) machines would be welcome.

This is a home shop, not professional, but I make furniture and am reasonably serious about it, have been at it for about 25 years. The planer will complement a Powermatic 66 5hp table saw and Minimax MM20 bandsaw.

Thanks for any suggestions.

Regards,

Len

Len, I have a combination jointer/planer and don't consider it a compromise on quality or performance.

Mine has cartridge cobalt knives (similar to Tersa) and the machine is also available with carbide insert heads...........Rod.

[Jesse Busenitz]

I bought a G1033X 5 years ago and that thing has been a horse for me..... I ran a ton of rough lumber through there, and it does great. I have had to tune it up once and probably could still tweak it a bit but it general does a super clean job.

[Len Rosenberg]

Thanks all for the replies and info. Still not sure what to get. Budget is around 4k. That puts me in the used market for felder/minimax/hammer 16" combo, or new PM 20" planer with Byrd cutter head. Interesting to see that others have gone through the same process. Well, it's nice to have choices, I guess...;)

Len

[John Sanford]

The only area where a Euro combination j/p is a "compromise" is in bed length. A dedicated 12" jointer has about another 12"-18" in length over the combo. And, of course, the changeover.

Len, were it me, I'd be aiming for the 16" J/P, and add a sander down the road. Another member here had a Felder listed for in the ballpark that you're looking, but it has sold. Keep an eye out, if you're patient you'll be able to find that for which you're looking. I scored a Minimax SC30 (12" J/P) for $1,300 about a year and a half ago. While I do want to move up to a 16" ("moah powahhh, ar ar ar"), such an upgrade is fairly low on my priority list, low enough that barring a great deal it may never happen. For now, my priority is a new tablesaw (Euro slider or Sawstop) and then DC upgrade. After that, I'll look at a shelix for the J/P, something that hopefully I'll be able to get next year.

[Len Rosenberg]

Thanks John. Good advice, and likely the way I'll go. I'm thinking Minimax SF41 Elite, used.

Len

[Chuck Hart]

Thought I found one on Wood Central but the listing was 7 years old. Shoot Len there is a MinMax user group on Yahoo you might find a used one there:

https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/MiniMax-USA/info

[Mike Heidrick]

I have a dc580 delta 20" planer, 5hp, 1000lbs solid, segmented feed rollers, bed rollers, multi speed, feed engagemet lever, and 6" dust collection port. Another machine to consider.

[Keith Weber]

Thought I found one on Wood Central but the listing was 7 years old.

That's a big problem with Googling anything these days -- all your top hits are cluttered up with old ads or things that are no longer relevant. I find that their time filter is limited and not very effective.

[Len Rosenberg]

Thanks. I joined the group a couple of weeks ago. Hugely knowledgeable folks there, great resource for Minimax owners.

Len