HP and jointers

[Anthony Whitesell]

There's often lots of talk about HP and bandsaws, but I've not seen much in regards to HP and jointers. When looking at 6 and 8 inch jointers, how much and what impact does the HP have on the performance of the machine? Should I be shying away from 3/4HP 6" machines or 1HP 8" machines, or does it not really matter?

[Tom Veatch]

There's often lots of talk about HP and bandsaws, but I've not seen much in regards to HP and jointers. When looking at 6 and 8 inch jointers, how much and what impact does the HP have on the performance of the machine? Should I be shying away from 3/4HP 6" machines or 1HP 8" machines, or does it not really matter?

Can't give you much in the way of comparative analysis, but for one datum point in your investigation, I have a 6" jointer with a (claimed) 1HP motor. I've run a lot of full width red and white oak over it, and it's never faltered.

How close to 1HP its working, I can't say. Could be that it's drawing more than 3/4 but less than 1 HP. If so, then a 3/4 motor would be too small. But 1HP on my 6" jointer is not underpowered for my usage.

[Mike Cutler]

Anthony.

It's really more of a factor in face jointing. The wider the material, the more surface in contact with a blade. All thing being equal the smaller jointer is working harder,
Here is the rub though. Unless you're trying to take off an 1/8" inch at a whack, it will probably be a non factor. On edge jointing the difference would be very small.
My Jet 6" is set to take off somewhere between a 32nd and a 64th. I've put some pretty dense hardwood through it, and it's been more than enough. I still want a wider one though. 6" is just too narrow for me. Get an 8", minimum, if you can.

[Tom Veatch]

... All thing being equal the smaller jointer is working harder,...

????

I'll agree that no matter how wide your jointer is, you'll eventually want one that's wider and has a longer table. I suppose the only cure for that is a #7 or #8 plane and a ride down the slippery slope.

[Daniel Hillmer]

I think of greater importance in choosing a planer, is not the width of the blade or the HP, it's length of the in feed and out feed tables. If you have long pieces to mill, for example if you are making long cabinet rails and stiles, a planer with a long in feed table will be a great advantage because you can take the bow out of long stock much better than you could with a short bed. The problem is, many of the 6" planers have a shorter bed than 8 or ten inch.

I own a the Grizzly http://www.grizzly.com/products/8-Jointer-with-Parallelogram-Beds/G0490 and the advantage of it is that it has an infeed table of 44 inches and the entire surface is 76", so it will do a better job of taking the bow out of long stock. Most 6 inch planers don't come that long, in fact I don't know of any.

And of course the wider the cutterhead you will generally have a larger motor.

My suggestion is to buy the planer with the longest infeed you can afford

[Jeff Duncan]

Go with the most powerful one you can find, it never hurts to have extra power.
My first jointer was a Jet 6" with the 1-1/2 hp motor. I bogged that sucker down all the time when face jointing hard maple. I personally wouldn't recommend a smaller motor like 3/4hp, it will just lead to frustration if your facing a lot of hardwoods. And if your getting an 8" I would try to get 1-1/2hp as a minimum.
good luck,
JeffD

[Rod Sheridan]

There's often lots of talk about HP and bandsaws, but I've not seen much in regards to HP and jointers. When looking at 6 and 8 inch jointers, how much and what impact does the HP have on the performance of the machine? Should I be shying away from 3/4HP 6" machines or 1HP 8" machines, or does it not really matter?

Hi Anthony, if I remember correctly my General 8" jointer was 1 HP, and it was a jointer meant for industrial use.

I used it for a decade, mostly on white oak, and it never had a problem with performance.

If you look at a large jointer such as the General 780, which is a 12" industrial monster, it is 3 HP.

A jointer is a machine that is normally hand fed, and is used to flatten/straighten material, and is expected to produce a good finish when used in cabinet making. A jointer is all about precision machining and quality components, coupled with an operator with skill and finesse.

You are normally taking off thin cuts 1/64" to maybe 3/64", at slow feed rates to obtain a high number of knife marks, so the jointer doesn't need a high HP motor.

If you find a good used quality jointer such as a Canadian General, or an American machine such as Powermatic with a 3/4 or 1 HP motor, in good condition, buy it. You'll have a superior jointer to a lower quality machine with a low quality motor with a higher HP rating.

Having said that, an insert type cutterhead will require more power than a straight knife type, so add maybe 1/2 to 1 hp for small to large jointers with insert cutterheads.

regards, Rod.

[John Thompson]

My rule of thumb is no less than 1 HP for 6"... 2 HP for 8".. 3 HP for 12". As mentioned.. always get the longest table your shop can handle as it does matter.

Sarge..

[David Romano]

My 8" Grizzly has a 3hp motor. Maybe this is more than necessary, I don't know. I've never been able to burden it in the least bit, even passing full width hard maple and Jatoba over it. But here's one factor to consider. The motor's speed is usually less than the cutterhead speed: 3450 rpm motor driving a cutter head at over 5000 rpm. The pulley ratio needed to do this will effectively cost you some HP.

David

[glenn bradley]

My 8" spiral head is 3HP as well. I would not want less. I have run an 8" 2HP with a spiral head that seemed to do OK. It required a small degree of more oomph to push the material past the cutter head. If I wasn't intimately familiar with my machine, I wouldn't have noticed and don't think it is an issue. A 6" machine would be an issue for me but 2HP on a well designed 8" machine would not. YMMV.