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Thread: Budget Jointer and Bandsaw options?

  1. #31
    Quote Originally Posted by Bill Carey View Post
    Thx for starting this thread John - I'm in about the same situation as you are. And am looking forward to any info Michelle can share about the Cutech.
    hi fellas: I've had the cutech for 6 mos? I haven't used it heavily, but I have used it quite a bit with hardwoods. The teflon appears to be slick and no marring yet. I did lots of research before buying the cutech and found no bad reviews. The guts have been around for years and have proved to be quite tough. Cutech is just the latest company to use the design , but added the carbide heads...and they are a wonderment in my book. The fact I could get a whole jointer and even a whole planer with the heads for less than a Dewalt 735 replacement head, or a head for my delta, cinched it for me. No complaints at all. I still use my old delta 6 inch for knarly wood like nasty 2x4's for construction, and the cutech is for furniture making. As for your big piece of long wood question, I think you might build the cutech into a benchtop with wood wings (like a mitersaw ext) ..it would help you keep it flatter than trying to balance it .
    Be the kind of woman that when your feet hit the ground each morning, the devil says, "oh crap she's up!"


    Tolerance is giving every other human being every right that you claim for yourself.

    "What is man without the beasts? If all the beasts are gone, men would die from great loneliness of spirit. For whatever happens to the beasts will happen to man. All things are connected. " Chief Seattle Duwamish Tribe

  2. #32
    Join Date
    Apr 2018
    Location
    Cambridge Vermont
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    2,280
    Just posting a link to an ad on Craig's list is flawed. Often if I find a good deal (I've been looking for an open ended drum sander) they are gone in hours while the post stays for days or even weeks. I've only been successful getting one thing off of Craig's list and it was because the seller posted an incorrect phone number and couldn't be reached. I actually had to post an ad asking him to contact me. I'm thinking it's more likely to be successful to post an ad with what you are looking for and how much you're willing to pay in hopes someone thinking of selling but not willing to go through the work of actually selling.

  3. #33
    Join Date
    May 2015
    Location
    Ingleside, IL
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    Thanks Michelle - I think I'll give it a try. I rarely use anything even 5' long so this may work wonders. And it will certainly be an improvement over using the planer sled.
    Stand for something, or you'll fall for anything.

  4. #34
    After everyone suggestions in the thread, I am now torn between the highest end Cutech or the G0814 + spiral head (additional). It is about a $500 difference after shipping ($519 vs $1,077). The cutech gets me the 8” cut capacity however I hear the fence isn’t great regarding parallel and I don’t know how good the extension wings will be.

    However the G0814 is harder to swallow due to cost, considering it’s a 6”. But I feel like that’s a “real” jointer and in my head I’ll always be questioning the decision if I went with the Cutech.

    Thoughts?

  5. #35
    I have no issue with the fence. solid and has kept where I set it. Maybe folks are tougher on tools than I. The wings are locked solid. they have not flexed when I use them. But each person has different likes and dislikes and what they think is necessary to work wood.
    As I suggested above, if you want long wood jointed, you could make wings like on a miter saw on top of a bench to get you more landing zone. If you think you need to hog off 1/4 per pass the cutech is not for you. Hope you find what you want.
    Last edited by Michelle Rich; 08-02-2019 at 12:40 PM.
    Be the kind of woman that when your feet hit the ground each morning, the devil says, "oh crap she's up!"


    Tolerance is giving every other human being every right that you claim for yourself.

    "What is man without the beasts? If all the beasts are gone, men would die from great loneliness of spirit. For whatever happens to the beasts will happen to man. All things are connected. " Chief Seattle Duwamish Tribe

  6. #36
    Quote Originally Posted by Michelle Rich View Post
    If you think you need to hog off 1/4 per pass the cutech is not for you. Hope you find what you want.
    Not at all! I’m more of a minimalist. Small and steady...

    Another criticism I’ve heard of the cutech is that it does excellent face jointing but not so great edge jointing. Can you speak on that. I would be edge jointing quite a bit so that’s another factor I’m weighing.

    Thanks so much for you input!

  7. #37
    Join Date
    May 2015
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    Ingleside, IL
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    1,417
    I have the 8" with carbide cutters, no teflon, being delivered Monday. Give me a day or 2 and I'll give you my first impressions. BTW, I called Cutech and asked them if I hated it could I return it. The guy laughed and said that has only happened twice that he knows of and if I wanted to be the third, I could. No problem.
    Stand for something, or you'll fall for anything.

  8. #38
    Quote Originally Posted by Bill Carey View Post
    I have the 8" with carbide cutters, no teflon, being delivered Monday. Give me a day or 2 and I'll give you my first impressions. BTW, I called Cutech and asked them if I hated it could I return it. The guy laughed and said that has only happened twice that he knows of and if I wanted to be the third, I could. No problem.
    Thanks for the info, Bill!

  9. #39
    I don't understand your question, I think. What do you mean edge jointing is poor.? Not 90 degrees? Trying to use a very wide board against a small fence and it tips? I have no issues doing edge jointing. I'm not trying to do big wood. I am using wood appropriate to the size of the machine. Have you watched youtube videos on this unit? If you are trying to use wood too big for comfort on this cutech, yes you will be disappointed. The negative info you are getting is from a much trusted source who knows what they are doing? I have made my living for over 35 yrs with a contractors saw, and a 6" old delta jointer. I am not a tool fanatic. I am a tool user. Now in my retirement, I still make furniture, and this cutech is good for me. I make chairs, small tables, etc. NOT huge farm tables or say big built-ins. I think you might want to seriously ask yourself what you will make. If I were to make lots of farm tables and big furniture, this cutech would not be my choice. I jointed wood for years with a handplane. The tools available for you today, really make woodworking so much easier.
    Be the kind of woman that when your feet hit the ground each morning, the devil says, "oh crap she's up!"


    Tolerance is giving every other human being every right that you claim for yourself.

    "What is man without the beasts? If all the beasts are gone, men would die from great loneliness of spirit. For whatever happens to the beasts will happen to man. All things are connected. " Chief Seattle Duwamish Tribe

  10. #40
    Quote Originally Posted by Michelle Rich View Post
    I don't understand your question, I think. What do you mean edge jointing is poor.? Not 90 degrees? Trying to use a very wide board against a small fence and it tips? I have no issues doing edge jointing.
    Apparently the quality of the edge joint/cut is not the greatest and they were attributing that to the fact that the spiral cutter isn’t a “true” helical cutter and does not have enough cutting blades on it. However, face jointing, and the wood comes out like glass.

    I'm not trying to do big wood. I am using wood appropriate to the size of the machine. Have you watched youtube videos on this unit? If you are trying to use wood too big for comfort on this cutech, yes you will be disappointed.
    Oh, I’ve watched probably too many YT videos on a bunch of jointers, including this one. Unfortunately, being a beginner and having never used one of these before, I don’t know what is appropriate for the size of the machine. My goals are typical house furniture (for myself...not looking to do this as a job or for commissioned work). However, an ultimate goal of mine is an indoor dining and outdoor dining table. I’m not sure if that classified as too big for the machine? Then again, the grizzly I was looking at is a 48” table, which technically is 3” shorter than the cutech with extension wings....so what spec determines what the machine is really capable of?

    The negative info you are getting is from a much trusted source who knows what they are doing? I have made my living for over 35 yrs with a contractors saw, and a 6" old delta jointer. I am not a tool fanatic. I am a tool user. Now in my retirement, I still make furniture, and this cutech is good for me. I make chairs, small tables, etc. NOT huge farm tables or say big built-ins. I think you might want to seriously ask yourself what you will make. If I were to make lots of farm tables and big furniture, this cutech would not be my choice. I jointed wood for years with a handplane. The tools available for you today, really make woodworking so much easier.
    I was never doubting your opinion or abilities and commend your history in the craft! These opinions came from other posts online from other communities where people voiced their opinion to someone (not myself) asking about the cutech.

    Thank you!

  11. #41
    Join Date
    May 2014
    Location
    Alberta
    Posts
    2,162
    John,you have received a lot of good advice in this thread .At some point you will just have to make a decision on what you buy. I sincerely hope you are happy with whatever you end up with. If not you can always sell it and move on. Good luck.

  12. #42
    Join Date
    May 2015
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    Ingleside, IL
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    This oughta test the Cutech. I'll let you know how it handles this red oak.
    20190804_142545.jpg
    Stand for something, or you'll fall for anything.

  13. #43
    Join Date
    Apr 2017
    Location
    Clarks Summit PA
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    Nice prep work Bill. What is your longest length of oak? I will awaiting your review. Will the Cutech 8 inch jointer be the equivalent to the Dewalt planer?

  14. #44
    Join Date
    May 2015
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    Ingleside, IL
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    Cutech 8" carbide cutter jointer review. Disclaimer: I have not used a jointer since I was at the Washburn Carpenters Apprentice school in 1967. So I probably did a bunch of things wrong in terms of using the Cutech. And I am going to copy this review and send it to Cutech. If they respond, I'll post it here.

    Took me longer to unbox it than it did to assemble it - all that was needed was to attach the fence. All of 5 minutes. Before doing anything in the way of setup I put a square on the fence and it was dead on 90.
    20190805_163820.jpg

    Hooked up a 4" dust collection and turned it on - 81 decibels running with out any load on it. My dust collector runs at 70 decibels so this thing is pretty quiet. Started in on flattening and squaring the chair parts I bucked out a few days ago and this little jointer had no problems at all. I ran it almost non stop for 2 hours and got everything done that would have taken me day(s?) with a planer sled and TS.
    20190806_071137.jpg 20190805_164402.jpg

    Every board came out looking really nice - square with a very nice finish. I only had 2 boards that were off: this one in the pic below, and flattening one of the 4'-6" legs. It had a pretty big bow in it and I started with the concave side down and it would drop when the end of the board cleared the extension wing. Probably should have gone with the convex side down.
    20190806_071305.jpg

    The dust collection was outstanding as you can see from the pic below, taken after a couple of hours of use.
    20190806_071837.jpg

    PLus and minus:
    1. The fence is pretty short and when doing the legs if I was not pushing straight it came off the fence pretty quickly. I have a an 8/4 piece of red oak, 6' long, that I'll try to joint later today. But I think that is past the limit of what this machine is made for.
    2. The fence flexes at the ends, which is probably why they made it so short. Not a big issue to me, I just modified the way I was using it and the result was fine.
    3. Moving it for storage. The only way to lift this is by the ends of the tables - and I have to think that lifting it enough times by the table is going to cause alignment issues. So I'll bolt it to a plywood base with handles for carrying it.
    4. Motor never bogged down or sounded strained at taking an 1/8 of a piece of 5" wide red oak.
    5. I thought it would be too high when on a bench, put it was actually pretty comfortable to use it at that height.
    6. I have some thoughts on a new fence, but it might void the warranty. I have options since I will never use this for anything but 90 degree cuts.
    7. Everything is adjustable, easily. The fence, the beds, the extension.
    8. Was not clamped to the bench, and it did not move around at all, no tipping, sliding, etc.

    For what I do this jointer will be fine. Would it be fun to have a Hammer - of course. And if you know where I can get one for 440 bucks let me know. This is quiet, powerful, easy to use, came out of the box dead on. Fence is the only issue. All in all I'm very happy with it. It will serve me well, and for bigger stock I have the old planer sled and TS routine to fall back on.
    20190806_071030.jpg 20190806_071049.jpg
    Stand for something, or you'll fall for anything.

  15. #45
    Join Date
    Apr 2017
    Location
    Clarks Summit PA
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    Good review Bill.

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