Kristopher Yates
07-06-2019, 7:27 PM
Hey everyone! This is my first post, though I've been reading for years & find this forum to be quite the wealth of knowledge!
I am currently on the hunt for my first jointer / planer combo machine. Why a combo, you ask? Well, I am a luthier, so I pretty much never need long jointer beds, but I do need the 10" width. Also, my shop is a very modest 86 sqft, so the combo is kind of a necessity. Over the past couple years, I've been sharing a shop space with a friend, equipped with a 12" Rojek Jointer / Planer & I must say, I didn't know how nice that thing was until I tried some lesser machines. Very precise, never even had to worry about snipe, equipped with a quiet helical head, etc.
Last week, I bought a Jet JJP-10BTOS from my local Woodcraft store & let me tell you, the thing felt like it was made by Fisher-Price. An absolute toy. Incomplete aluminum castings under the planer bed, cupped jointer fence, cupped infeed table, the cheapest plastic I've ever felt, the list goes on & on.
So, I just returned that thing today and ordered the Rikon for a few reasons-
It has a helical cutter head
It has what appears to be a real motor
It weighs about 70lbs more, despite being about the same size, so hopefully this is indicative of a more robust machine
The fence can be adjusted across the cutter head, so the same section of the blades aren't used every time when edge jointing
Unfortunately, all of the reviews on this machine seem to be specific to it's predecessor, which just has a 3-blade cutter head. The biggest gripe seems to be that the metal that the fence support is made from is cheap pot metal. Honestly, if it delivers in all other aspects and just falls short with that one bracket, I'll have a better one fabricated. It's been very surprising to find that these are really the only two options for a compact 10" Jointer / Planer. I saw that Grizzly used to make one, but it required 220v and weighed an additional couple hundred pounds. My workshop is just a shed in our back yard powered via extension cord, so 110 is necessary. On paper it seems like the Rikon is perfect, but the reviews are still pretty bad.
Does anyone have a recent experience with the Rikon? Or ideally, both units? Since I only have hands on experience with the Jet, my fingers are crossed that the Rikon will be a legitimate machine and not as much of a toy. Any other 110v 10" combo machines out there that I'm not aware of?
Thanks!
I am currently on the hunt for my first jointer / planer combo machine. Why a combo, you ask? Well, I am a luthier, so I pretty much never need long jointer beds, but I do need the 10" width. Also, my shop is a very modest 86 sqft, so the combo is kind of a necessity. Over the past couple years, I've been sharing a shop space with a friend, equipped with a 12" Rojek Jointer / Planer & I must say, I didn't know how nice that thing was until I tried some lesser machines. Very precise, never even had to worry about snipe, equipped with a quiet helical head, etc.
Last week, I bought a Jet JJP-10BTOS from my local Woodcraft store & let me tell you, the thing felt like it was made by Fisher-Price. An absolute toy. Incomplete aluminum castings under the planer bed, cupped jointer fence, cupped infeed table, the cheapest plastic I've ever felt, the list goes on & on.
So, I just returned that thing today and ordered the Rikon for a few reasons-
It has a helical cutter head
It has what appears to be a real motor
It weighs about 70lbs more, despite being about the same size, so hopefully this is indicative of a more robust machine
The fence can be adjusted across the cutter head, so the same section of the blades aren't used every time when edge jointing
Unfortunately, all of the reviews on this machine seem to be specific to it's predecessor, which just has a 3-blade cutter head. The biggest gripe seems to be that the metal that the fence support is made from is cheap pot metal. Honestly, if it delivers in all other aspects and just falls short with that one bracket, I'll have a better one fabricated. It's been very surprising to find that these are really the only two options for a compact 10" Jointer / Planer. I saw that Grizzly used to make one, but it required 220v and weighed an additional couple hundred pounds. My workshop is just a shed in our back yard powered via extension cord, so 110 is necessary. On paper it seems like the Rikon is perfect, but the reviews are still pretty bad.
Does anyone have a recent experience with the Rikon? Or ideally, both units? Since I only have hands on experience with the Jet, my fingers are crossed that the Rikon will be a legitimate machine and not as much of a toy. Any other 110v 10" combo machines out there that I'm not aware of?
Thanks!