Kevin Blunt
03-03-2007, 6:55 PM
Hello all,
As some of you may already know I have been searching to buy an 8" jointer for some time now. After loads of research and a bit of luck I am happy to say that I am now the proud owner of a Shop Fox W1741 8" parallelogram jointer (dj20). For this review I have many pics so please check out the lower posts as well.
To start out, I was in the market for an 8" jointer and had basically decided on the DJ20 style. I looked at Delta, King Industrial, Steel City, General International & Canada and even contemplated driving to Muncy, PA to visit the Grizzly showroom because their 8" jointer won several awards including editors choice in the 2007 Buyers Guide from FWW. Then I stumbled across the Shop Fox Jointer being sold on Ebay for a great price. Upon closely lookng at it it appeared to be almost indentical the Grizzly jointer. I came to find out later that Grizzly owns Woodstock International who makes Shop Fox. Anyway, I did more research on th e SF W1741 and it just didn't seem to compare to any of the others in terms of features. It either had all the other brands beat or matched what they were offering. I will post specs at the end.
Here is where the luck came in to play. Shop Fox is not a largely distributed product in Canada machinery wise, but I am lucky enough to reside 30 minutes from one of the SF dealers in Ontario. Ford Machinery. I called them up to see if they could get the jointer and Rob (owner) told me they had one on display. After a few moments of discussion I asked him for a quote and after he punched some #'s he told me he could sell it for 995.00. I was expecting something like $13-1400 for the jointer. Long story short, I told him I wa son my way to view it first hand. On my way down I received a call from Rob stating that he had misquoted the jointer and the actual price he was selling it for was 1295.00. When he realized that he was calling my cell phone and that I was already there practically at the showroom he agreed to eat the differnce and stick to his quote. I was wextremely pleased. Maybe this was his way of marketing to make me think I was getting a great deal but I called Weeks of Waterdown for a quote and they flat out said nothing less than 1299.00. After checking it out I decided to put a deposit down and would pay the rest in full when the unit arrived.
One week later I was on my way down to Ford to load up our new baby and bring it home to its nesting place. The first problem we had was how we were going to get it to the basement. Four guys later and a fridge cart (and some cold ones) we finally had it in the basement. The jointer was well packaged in the crate and was covered in oil. the base was packaged in a heavy cardboard box with lots of styrofoam surrounding it.
The first thing I noticed as how well the fit and finish was on the base because we had to start there for setup. The paint job is powder cotaed and has a very nice textured finish to it (pic of it later). Once we got into the manual I noticed it was very well written and very thorough from start to finish. Two and a half hours later and we had it all set up. Everything went together like butter and there were no missing parts. The tables and fence are dead flat (using the straight edge that I have, planning to buy a veritas one at the woodshow tomorrow). This was noted in the buyers guide as the Grizzly tables were ground better thatn any other brand in the test. (note: the shop fox was not included in this test because it is still a new product and was not available at the time that the test was being perfomed.) Everything opertes smoothly and I am very happy with the jointer.
Now for the somewhat negatives.
1) During my research I discoverd that the original models of this jointer were prewired with 16awg cord and I had figured that I would have to change the cord to 12awg when I got it. To my surprise, Shop fox had already noted the problem and is now wiring the unit with 12awg wire throughout. Woo Hoo!
2) After having the jointer set up now and have had it running just for trial, it seems that there is a small amount of vibration being caused from the belt during startup and shutdown. The jointer past the nickel test no problem once running but wouldn't during startup or shutdown. No big deal but I think I will try and get some link belt at the show tomorrow. I have heard mixed reviews about Link Belt but I have read about many guys that tried t and swear by it to remove small amounts of vibration.
After having the jointer for about a week now I can say that the more I look at it the more I like it. Like I said, the fit and finish is scond to none comparing it with anything from overseas(can't compare with General Canada).
In total I paid 995.00 plus tax and I think I great deal on a very well equipped jointer. In fact it is the best equipped I have found. Check out the specs below compared to delta. I must say, I had heard some negative things about the customer service at Ford but Experienced it first hand and it was EXCELLENT. I am always on here acting as a spokesperson for Joe @ TJV and still do but if you have the time to spend with Rob @ Ford Machinery, he is a pleasure to deal with. A different style of business from TJV though.Very Cluttered to say the least!
Shop Fox Jointer
If you set out to design a full featured 8" Jointer, you couldn't do any better than this. We started with a 3 HP motor and a 4 knife cutterhead and added a precision parallelogram table adjustment mechanism, extra long infeed table, large cast iron center mounted fence, pedestal mounted switch and a built-in locking mobile base. Check out the other features and you'll agree! Motor: 3 HP, 220V, single-phase, TEFC, 3,450 RPM
Switch: magnetic w/thermal overload protection
Table size: 8" x 76-5/16"
Tables: parallelogram design, precision ground cast iron
Infeed table size: 8" x 43-3/8"
Deluxe cast iron fence size: 35"L x 1-1/4"W x 5"H
Cutterhead diameter: 3-3/16"
Cutterhead knives: 4 (HSS) 8" x 3/4" x 1/8"
Cuts per minute: 21,400
Cutterhead speed: 5,350 RPM
Max. depth of cut: 1/8"
Max. rabbeting depth: 5/8"
Max. width of cut: 8"
Shielded & lubricated bearings
Precision ground cast iron tables
Fully adjustable tables
Single V-belt drive
Easy access lever adjusted tables with height gauge
Heavy-duty center mounted fence with angle gauge
Built-in dust chute with 4" port
Powder coated paint
Approximate shipping weight: 600 lbs.
Delta dJ20
Motor (Enclosed Stand)
• 1 1/2 HP, 120/240V, 60Hz., single phase TEFC, 3450 rpm
Cutting Capacity (max. width)
• 8"
Cuts Per Minute
• 16,500
Cutting Capacity
• Width: 8"
• Depth: 5/8"
• Rabbeting Capacity: 5/8" Cutterhead
• Speed: 5500 rpm, 16,500 cpm
• Number of Knives: 3
• Diameter: 3 3/8"
• Runs on Sealed, Lubricated-For-Life Ball Bearings
Table
• Length: 76 1/2"
• Length of Rear Table (outfeed): 32"
• Length of Front Table (infeed): 42"
• Height from Floor: 32"
Fence
• Size: 5" x 35"
• Tilts In and Out: 45 degrees
• Positive Stops: 90 degrees, 45 degrees in and out
Overall Dimensions
• Height: 32"
• Width: 26"
• Length: 76 1/2"
• Weight: 394 lbs.
Enjoy the pics. There are just under 20 of them.
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y73/mizzerbrown/100_2676.jpg
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y73/mizzerbrown/100_2677.jpg
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y73/mizzerbrown/100_2678.jpg
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y73/mizzerbrown/100_2679.jpg
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y73/mizzerbrown/100_2680.jpg
____________
As some of you may already know I have been searching to buy an 8" jointer for some time now. After loads of research and a bit of luck I am happy to say that I am now the proud owner of a Shop Fox W1741 8" parallelogram jointer (dj20). For this review I have many pics so please check out the lower posts as well.
To start out, I was in the market for an 8" jointer and had basically decided on the DJ20 style. I looked at Delta, King Industrial, Steel City, General International & Canada and even contemplated driving to Muncy, PA to visit the Grizzly showroom because their 8" jointer won several awards including editors choice in the 2007 Buyers Guide from FWW. Then I stumbled across the Shop Fox Jointer being sold on Ebay for a great price. Upon closely lookng at it it appeared to be almost indentical the Grizzly jointer. I came to find out later that Grizzly owns Woodstock International who makes Shop Fox. Anyway, I did more research on th e SF W1741 and it just didn't seem to compare to any of the others in terms of features. It either had all the other brands beat or matched what they were offering. I will post specs at the end.
Here is where the luck came in to play. Shop Fox is not a largely distributed product in Canada machinery wise, but I am lucky enough to reside 30 minutes from one of the SF dealers in Ontario. Ford Machinery. I called them up to see if they could get the jointer and Rob (owner) told me they had one on display. After a few moments of discussion I asked him for a quote and after he punched some #'s he told me he could sell it for 995.00. I was expecting something like $13-1400 for the jointer. Long story short, I told him I wa son my way to view it first hand. On my way down I received a call from Rob stating that he had misquoted the jointer and the actual price he was selling it for was 1295.00. When he realized that he was calling my cell phone and that I was already there practically at the showroom he agreed to eat the differnce and stick to his quote. I was wextremely pleased. Maybe this was his way of marketing to make me think I was getting a great deal but I called Weeks of Waterdown for a quote and they flat out said nothing less than 1299.00. After checking it out I decided to put a deposit down and would pay the rest in full when the unit arrived.
One week later I was on my way down to Ford to load up our new baby and bring it home to its nesting place. The first problem we had was how we were going to get it to the basement. Four guys later and a fridge cart (and some cold ones) we finally had it in the basement. The jointer was well packaged in the crate and was covered in oil. the base was packaged in a heavy cardboard box with lots of styrofoam surrounding it.
The first thing I noticed as how well the fit and finish was on the base because we had to start there for setup. The paint job is powder cotaed and has a very nice textured finish to it (pic of it later). Once we got into the manual I noticed it was very well written and very thorough from start to finish. Two and a half hours later and we had it all set up. Everything went together like butter and there were no missing parts. The tables and fence are dead flat (using the straight edge that I have, planning to buy a veritas one at the woodshow tomorrow). This was noted in the buyers guide as the Grizzly tables were ground better thatn any other brand in the test. (note: the shop fox was not included in this test because it is still a new product and was not available at the time that the test was being perfomed.) Everything opertes smoothly and I am very happy with the jointer.
Now for the somewhat negatives.
1) During my research I discoverd that the original models of this jointer were prewired with 16awg cord and I had figured that I would have to change the cord to 12awg when I got it. To my surprise, Shop fox had already noted the problem and is now wiring the unit with 12awg wire throughout. Woo Hoo!
2) After having the jointer set up now and have had it running just for trial, it seems that there is a small amount of vibration being caused from the belt during startup and shutdown. The jointer past the nickel test no problem once running but wouldn't during startup or shutdown. No big deal but I think I will try and get some link belt at the show tomorrow. I have heard mixed reviews about Link Belt but I have read about many guys that tried t and swear by it to remove small amounts of vibration.
After having the jointer for about a week now I can say that the more I look at it the more I like it. Like I said, the fit and finish is scond to none comparing it with anything from overseas(can't compare with General Canada).
In total I paid 995.00 plus tax and I think I great deal on a very well equipped jointer. In fact it is the best equipped I have found. Check out the specs below compared to delta. I must say, I had heard some negative things about the customer service at Ford but Experienced it first hand and it was EXCELLENT. I am always on here acting as a spokesperson for Joe @ TJV and still do but if you have the time to spend with Rob @ Ford Machinery, he is a pleasure to deal with. A different style of business from TJV though.Very Cluttered to say the least!
Shop Fox Jointer
If you set out to design a full featured 8" Jointer, you couldn't do any better than this. We started with a 3 HP motor and a 4 knife cutterhead and added a precision parallelogram table adjustment mechanism, extra long infeed table, large cast iron center mounted fence, pedestal mounted switch and a built-in locking mobile base. Check out the other features and you'll agree! Motor: 3 HP, 220V, single-phase, TEFC, 3,450 RPM
Switch: magnetic w/thermal overload protection
Table size: 8" x 76-5/16"
Tables: parallelogram design, precision ground cast iron
Infeed table size: 8" x 43-3/8"
Deluxe cast iron fence size: 35"L x 1-1/4"W x 5"H
Cutterhead diameter: 3-3/16"
Cutterhead knives: 4 (HSS) 8" x 3/4" x 1/8"
Cuts per minute: 21,400
Cutterhead speed: 5,350 RPM
Max. depth of cut: 1/8"
Max. rabbeting depth: 5/8"
Max. width of cut: 8"
Shielded & lubricated bearings
Precision ground cast iron tables
Fully adjustable tables
Single V-belt drive
Easy access lever adjusted tables with height gauge
Heavy-duty center mounted fence with angle gauge
Built-in dust chute with 4" port
Powder coated paint
Approximate shipping weight: 600 lbs.
Delta dJ20
Motor (Enclosed Stand)
• 1 1/2 HP, 120/240V, 60Hz., single phase TEFC, 3450 rpm
Cutting Capacity (max. width)
• 8"
Cuts Per Minute
• 16,500
Cutting Capacity
• Width: 8"
• Depth: 5/8"
• Rabbeting Capacity: 5/8" Cutterhead
• Speed: 5500 rpm, 16,500 cpm
• Number of Knives: 3
• Diameter: 3 3/8"
• Runs on Sealed, Lubricated-For-Life Ball Bearings
Table
• Length: 76 1/2"
• Length of Rear Table (outfeed): 32"
• Length of Front Table (infeed): 42"
• Height from Floor: 32"
Fence
• Size: 5" x 35"
• Tilts In and Out: 45 degrees
• Positive Stops: 90 degrees, 45 degrees in and out
Overall Dimensions
• Height: 32"
• Width: 26"
• Length: 76 1/2"
• Weight: 394 lbs.
Enjoy the pics. There are just under 20 of them.
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y73/mizzerbrown/100_2676.jpg
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y73/mizzerbrown/100_2677.jpg
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y73/mizzerbrown/100_2678.jpg
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y73/mizzerbrown/100_2679.jpg
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y73/mizzerbrown/100_2680.jpg
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