Woodmaster Machinery?

[Joe Vee]

Hello,
I am going to order a Woodmaster 4 in 1 planer/molder/gang saw/drum sander model 712. As always, I appreciate all of your input. In this case, I was hoping to get opinions of those who have personally owned or used one of these machines. Are they well built? Will they do everything Woodmaster Inc. claims they will? I have limited space and budget, so a machine that can do 4 jobs is just what I need. Thanks

Joe

[Kevin Hogfeldt]

Hi Joe
I have a 718 have owned it for about 5 years. I have done Plith blocks a real kick, molding and planing. I never got around to gang ripping or sanding. Its a good tool built and designed well. Dust extraction is marginal I use a Shop Fox 2 hp system. I built my house and used it for the trim and mouldings. For some reason I find ways around using I have a Dewalt with digital readout that I prefer to use. I pull it out for larger projects or wider boards.

Kevin

[James Suzda]

Joe,
I've got the 712 and yes it will do everything that the Company says it does. I'm very happy with the performance of mine and our first custom job paid for the tool.
It is a very powerful planer, then you can put the gang saw in the machine to cut all the stock to exactly the same width before you run the wood through the molding head.
Okay some of the stuff that they will not tell you about. You NEED a good dust collection system. Mine is a little wimpy and things tend to get plugged up when you are hogging off a 1/16 to a 1/8 inch of wood. Plus when you use the gang saw you need a bunch of air movement to keep the blades cool.
Until you get used to the planer you will end up with about 5 inches of snipe on each end of the board. (I made some 8' long in and out feed tables that I can adjust the far end to be about 6 inches higher than the planer bed and this solves most of the snipe problem.)
If you are going to run some cutter knives that are over 3 inches wide you have to put them in the planer head which means you have to remove the planer knives for this operation. But, it is pretty easy to re-adjust the knives when you put them back in again.
As for changing from one operation to another it takes me about 15 minutes unless I have to remove the planer blades. (I've got one 3 1/2" fluted cutter.) Tolerances are very close on the shafts and sometimes I have a little difficulty pulling the shaft in and out of the self aligning bearing until I get things lined up.
I could go on, but I think there are limits to the length of these postings.
BTW, if you decide to buy, don't pay the advertised price! Call up the salesman and do some "good old horse trading".
If you want more information feel free to send me a personal message.

[Joe Vee]

Thanks for the help, you were right, the woodmaster is built like a tank. So far I have used the planer and the drum sander. I will try the molder soon.


Joe

[ralph fowler]

James:

I also have been considering purchasing a Woodmaster, but that amount of snipe is disturbing to me. I don't have room for an 8 ft infeed and outfeed table extension and having to elevate the outfeed table 6 inches over 8 ft seems excessive. Looks like I need to look elsewhere for my planer

Ralph

[Jim Becker]

Woodmaster generally has a very good reputation and happy customers. I've seen two of their machines in other woodworker's shops and was very impressed with the visible quality of the machine.

[James Suzda]

James:

I also have been considering purchasing a Woodmaster, but that amount of snipe is disturbing to me. I don't have room for an 8 ft infeed and outfeed table extension and having to elevate the outfeed table 6 inches over 8 ft seems excessive. Looks like I need to look elsewhere for my planer

Ralph
Don't let my comment about how I raise the ends of the boards scare you away. My 8' tables are used to feed 16' boards through the Woodmaster. When you are running this length of lumber you need about 40' to work in and the 8' tables help support your lumber as it comes out of the planer. When the last few feet of the long board is coming out of the planer it's nice to have the other end about 6 inches higher because if it sags down you will surely get snipe.
It's just one of those tricks that I've learned while using my 712.

[Jim King]

I have had several Woodmaster planers. And every attachment. All worked well. As for snipe you have it with every planer. Just put the following board in the planer before the first passes and the knives (side overlap) or but the boards tight end to end and no snipe.

Good machine, good people and low priced for a small to medium shop. I ran thru over a million square feet of lumber from 1/4 to 3/4 for one of the pickiest customers in the US and they were pleased.

[Jim Andrew]

I have a 718 woodmaster, and don't have much trouble with snipe. I purchased the Byrd style cutterhead, and consider it a huge improvement over the 3 knife cutterhead, and is much easier to change cutters than figured it would be reading the book. The morse tapers make it really easy to change. I kept my 3 blade cutter, as they advised it would really be an improvement in running molding. For a machine that is not built with large castings it is a very nice planer.

[Victor Stearns]

I have the 718 and love it. Sanding, planing, and molding are great. Only wish I had the larger 725. You cannot go wrong with this machine and the customer service is great.
Victor