Sunhill Jointer any good?

[Kyle Jorgensen]

I am looking at buying an older Sunhill CT-200 8" jointer. I don't know anything about this brand. I assume it's an import. I don't mill any serious hardwoods (yet), but a jointer would sure be a nice addition :). Anyone know if it's a good machine? Can a spiral head be put on it?

Thanks
-Kyle

[Tim Morton]

http://preview.tinyurl.com/2zhzc8

[Ken Garlock]

HI Kyle, and welcome to the creek. Feel free to jump in and wade the creek anytime. :)

I have the Sunhill model 204 8" jointer. It is made by GeeTeck somewhere in Asia. I don't know if it is Taiwan or China.

It is a beast weighing in around 430#. I am not a heavy user, however I did install the Shellex cutter head last year. The new cutter is much quieter and does a lot smoother job.

My jointer has a four inch table extension on each end that gives a total length of 73". You might inquire of Sunhill as to whether those add-ons are available.

Sunhilll has a sale on the 204 now, at a good price of 595 plus shipping. I think I paid around 750 plus shipping for mine 3 years ago.

Considering the price, weight, and quality of the castings, I would buy it again.

[Brian Knop]

I have had the 6" model for around 10 years. Works fine and I would buy one again.

[Larry Rasmussen]

And they are not as well finished as some but price/quality ratio seems good. I looked hard at a planer that appeared to be the same product as some of the other importers sell badged for Sunhill.

I'm writing with a suggestion. The spiral bladed heads they have for planers and jointers appear to be really decent and you can just buy one installed. The blades are relatively inexpensive and just pop right in, no individual alignment problems. Improvement in noise level and cut is said to be similar in my reading, I don't have direct experience.

There were many times over the course of the installation of the Shelix cutter head on my planer that I wished that I would have just spent a few hundred less and bought the Sunhill delived with spiral blades ready to to.

Good luck either way,
Larry Rasmussen
Seattle

[Bruce Benjamin]

I have their 8" jointer. They bent over backwards trying to give me good customer service. The downside of that was that they did screw up a little. I'll spare you the details but the bottom line was that on more than one occasion they seemed willing to do practically whatever it took to smooth out the wrinkles and make me happy. Would I do business with them again? Yes, I s'pose I would. It took a few tries but I am satisfied with the jointer, the price was right and the damage control of their customer service was really good. I should note that, unlike that one tool company that sent out how many defective jointers to the same guy recently, the problems from Sunhill were accidents and were never due to them not being willing to correct the problem. Very friendly and very prompt.

Bruce

[Kyle Jorgensen]

Well I'd like to thank you guys for the comments. I decided not to buy for now. But I got some good information from you all on a brand I previously knew nothing about and that’s great. Who knows what the future holds…

Much appreciated!

-Kyle