Sunhill? Amazon?

[HR masters]

Has anyone had any experience with Sunhill machinery? In Grizzly's class, better-worse? I received a bunch of brochures from Sunhill and was impressed with the Oliver's ( they are a dealer ) but was really questioning how they could be so far under the market with helical heads included on their asian models? Regarding Amazon, I see prices mentioned on threads here on SMC at prices much lower than what I get when I go on the web site. For an instance I bought a 12" Bosch miter saw for $300 and yet when I went on their site it was $539 and one of the SMC's mentioned that he just bought a Forrest Chopmaster for $75 and free 2nd day shipping, I went on amazon and the 12" Chopmaster was $109 with no mention of free shipping of any kind. thanks in advance for any enlightment. HR

[Ken Garlock]

Hi, I bought the Sunhill 8" jointer (http://www.sunhillmachinery.com/Jointers%20CT204L.htm)a couple years ago. I don't use it heavily but it has served me quite well. I would most likely buy it again. It is a heavy beast for one person to assemble, but with the help of a lift table, I made it. The real manufacturer is a Taiwan company, GeeTech. The Sunhill company does not make anything, AFAIK, but is a reseller of imported equipment.

[David Croteau]

Re: Amazon. Be sure to check the dates on the SMC threads. Amazon sales come and go. I went looking for that Forrest special too. Only when I couldn't find it did I realize that the original post was a few months old. Someone adding an update had bumped it up.

[Bruce Benjamin]

I have the Sunhill 8" jointer and it works very well. There were a few problems getting to the point were I was happy though. But they handled it with courtesy and were willing to do whatever I wanted to make me happy. They accidentally sent the wrong jointer. They sent out the correct jointer the day I notified them and paid to have the mistake picked up. They gave me a free set of knives for my troubles. The salesman gave me the wrong specs on the table height of the planer. I needed to know this before I assembled it so I could make a mobile base that would put the tables at the proper height for me. By the time I discovered his mistake I had built most of the base and it was very inconvenient to correct the problem. It also cost me a little more money in steel and another trip to the steel supplier. Sunhill apologized and not only sent me another free set of knives but also sent me a free $80 mobile base. I wasn't expecting or asking for anything. I just wanted to let them know that they need to get their facts straight. Then I noticed that the fence was twisted. The manager took my word for it and sent me another one right away.

As you can see, there were some mistakes made. 2 were their fault and one was the manufacturers fault. They didn't argue with me in the least and were very polite. Shipping the wrong machine was a stupid but honest mistake that only cost me about 3 days waiting for the new one. The incorrect table height info probably wouldn't have been an issue for most people but I wanted the table to be a certain height when on the mobile base. The twisted fence was something that can and does happen to any company selling jointers. I'm not looking to buy any more major tools right now but if I were I'd certainly consider doing business with them again. I've had an experience with Grizzly that was handled so poorly that I'll never do business with them again. But others like them.

By the way, I still have that mobile base unused in the box. It's the one listed here: http://www.sunhillmachinery.com/MobileBases.htm I'll sell it for $50 plus shipping. I checked once and shipping most of the way across the USA would be about $30. Sunhill wants $70 for the base plus between $25 and $30 shipping. It's the most heavy duty base I've ever seen. According to the Sunhill manager the load rating is at least 1000 Lbs.

Bruce

[Jim Andrew]

I bought a Oliver jointer from Sunhill about a year ago, and the blades were getting ready to be sharpened, and I decided I needed a helical head, so called Sunhill, they said about 1000 dollars, which sounded high
to me, so they got a price from Oliver and Byrd, which was about 100 higher than Wilke, so I bought it from Wilke. Byrd didn't care which one
they sold it to, and all I needed was a retailer. I really like the 10" jointer,
just wish it was a 12". But now if I was looking at jointers, would talk to
Wilke first. Jim

[Brian Gumpper]

I always thought Sunhill owned the Oliver name. I checked the domain registrations and sure enough they are registered to the same place.

[Reg Mitchell]

I got a 20" plane from them and they matched a price I got somewhere as far as shipping. I just got a poer feeder for the lower price since it was on the water and they wer out of stock. Sydny is great to do bussiness with and keeps you informed of wht is happening with your order

[Ken Garlock]

I always thought Sunhill owned the Oliver name. I checked the domain registrations and sure enough they are registered to the same place.

And, they are located next door to each other. One has a street address of 1208 and the other 1210. A coincidence, I think not.:rolleyes: