Alex Zeller
04-29-2020, 1:48 PM
I was talking with a coworker last week and he said his father has a PM 60 8" jointer that hasn't been used in years. It's about 300 miles away and in a basement so I would have to deal with that if I was to buy it. I haven't seen any pictures yet but I'm told that it's in great shape. No rust on it at all. He said it's the gold model, maybe made in 1985, with a 1 1/2 hp single phase motor. I was trying to find information on it and it seams that since Powermatic has made them for decades specs have changed. Since it's far away I'm kind of committed to buying it before I go down (it'll be an all day event).
So my questions are: 1) when did Powermatic shift from making them in the US to Taiwan (would this be US made)? Are the US made ones tables for the most part flat or will it be like an Asian made tool where some are better than others? How long are the tables? Best I can find researching is that at some point in time they went from 65" to 72" in total length but I don't know when. Over all is this a good jointer? Any other opinions? I haven't talked price yet but while researching I've seen some go for as cheap as $500 for one in ok shape to $1200. If it's a US made machine, in good shape, and generally a good jointer (and it sounds like his father could use the money) I'm not going to try and get it for the lowest price possible.
If i did buy it I assume I'll have to break it down to remove it from the basement. The motor, base, and fence seam easy enough but what about the jointer itself? It seams natural to carry it by the in feed/ out feed tables but will that put too much stress on the dovetail joints? Would removing the in feed/ out feed tables require a lot of work? I plan on doing a full set up once I have it but will removing the tables make it a lot harder? How heavy is the jointer without the motor/ base/ fence? If I can slide it in the back of the wife's Rav4 (close to 30 mpg vs my truck's 15 mpg and not having to worry about the weather) it would make the trip much easier.
On a side note, how do you do a search with more than one word? If I search for powermatic model 60 I get threads that have just one of the 3 words.
So my questions are: 1) when did Powermatic shift from making them in the US to Taiwan (would this be US made)? Are the US made ones tables for the most part flat or will it be like an Asian made tool where some are better than others? How long are the tables? Best I can find researching is that at some point in time they went from 65" to 72" in total length but I don't know when. Over all is this a good jointer? Any other opinions? I haven't talked price yet but while researching I've seen some go for as cheap as $500 for one in ok shape to $1200. If it's a US made machine, in good shape, and generally a good jointer (and it sounds like his father could use the money) I'm not going to try and get it for the lowest price possible.
If i did buy it I assume I'll have to break it down to remove it from the basement. The motor, base, and fence seam easy enough but what about the jointer itself? It seams natural to carry it by the in feed/ out feed tables but will that put too much stress on the dovetail joints? Would removing the in feed/ out feed tables require a lot of work? I plan on doing a full set up once I have it but will removing the tables make it a lot harder? How heavy is the jointer without the motor/ base/ fence? If I can slide it in the back of the wife's Rav4 (close to 30 mpg vs my truck's 15 mpg and not having to worry about the weather) it would make the trip much easier.
On a side note, how do you do a search with more than one word? If I search for powermatic model 60 I get threads that have just one of the 3 words.