More Jointer/Planer Questions

[Geoff Grant]

Hi All, I'm new to SMC and really enjoying the wealth of knowledge. I want to upgrade an older Delta 12.5" portable planer (snipe issues and torn rubber rollers) and low-end 6" Grizzly jointer (it's OK but it vibrates and blades nick easily and are hard to change). I was thinking Powermatic 54a and Makita 2012 (12" portable planer) based on consistently good reviews, "don't buy more than you need" philosophy, hopefully good resale values and general discouragement over the 50/50 mix of good and bad user experiences (Amazon, etc.) with practically all 6-8" jointers and 12-15" planers out there!! I don't mind paying for quality ... if I am assured of getting it! I would appreciate thoughts, advice and recommendations ... also opinions on wedge versus parallelogram jointers and regular versus spiral cutter heads. Thanks!

[Lee Schierer]

Your present planer may be fine! I have a 12.5" Delta lunch box type planer and it too sniped when I first got it. I discovered that the sheet metal tables leading in and out of the planer would flex when longer boards were run across them causing snipe. I built my planer into a table with a 30" infeed and 30" out feed surface in addition to the sheet metal tables and get no measuable snipe. I also found that if you are running narrow boards, sart the second piece before the first piece exits and snipe is eliminated. You can feed in a length of scrap before and after your good pieces an your good pieces will have no snipe.

[glenn bradley]

If you search the forum you'll find a lot of jointer posts going on. At this point I'm focused on the Griz G0490 with straight knives. This is after about 6 months of prowling and research. YMMV. I plan to purchase around December. The p-beds keep a consistent gap at the knives, its got plenty of power and a built in mobile base. The Shopfox equivalent would be a good match as well but I can find no dealers in SoCal so the price gets a little high by the time you get your hands on the machine.

For the planer (you mention lunch box style) I have the DW734 - 3 knives, single speed; and love it. My dad runs the DW735 - 3 knives, dual speed; which I would have got if I could have gotten the deal he got at the WWing show. There are many other quality machines but the DW735 pretty much rules the roost as long as you don't expect it to be a floor standing production machine replacement.