King Canada KC-12HJPC 12" Jointer/Planer Combo: First impressions

[Paul F Franklin]

There was a thread recently asking about King Canada machines. At last week's Hartville Hardware tool sale, I picked up a KC-12HJPC. I couldn't resist the chance to get a 12" J/P with spiral cutter head for $2699. That was the sale price; before the sale Harville had it listed at 3k.

These are first impressions since I've only just got it into the shop yesterday, but I'll update when I've had more time on the machine.

Of other similar machines out there, the King most resembles the Balleigh. It's also pretty close to the Jet. I assume they come from the same factory with a few alterations. For example, compared to the Balleigh, the only noticeable difference is that the King has 3 rollers that extend the planer outfeed table.

Compared to the Jet, the King has more inserts (60 ), turns the cutterhead faster (6500 RPM), has the outfeed rollers mentioned above, and has a mechanical position counter on the planer depth adjustment.

So, first impressions: Fit and finish to me looks very good. The tables are nicely machined (smooth finish; I think the jet might be grooved). The only F&F defect I noticed was a mar in the black paint on the end of the jointer outfeed table. Purely cosmetic and only noticed because I was looking hard for defects. There are two areas where the jointer fence plate mates to the base and my first thought was these areas were rather roughly machined (and they are). But I think it is because those are the areas where the fence depth locking knobs lock the fence plate down and making them a little rough provides a little "bite".

The jointer tables, the planer table, and the fence were all flat within my ability to measure them. I couldn't slip a .001 feeler gauge under my reference straight edge anywhere on any of the tables, straight or diagonally. The jointer infeed and outfeed were coplanar to the same extent. The 90 degree stop on the fence was dead nuts on.

I haven't yet checked that the jointer and planer tables are parallel to the cutterhead. I did do the ruler test on the outfeed table and the cutters just barely move the ruler at each end, so I think the outfeed table height is a thou or two below the highest part of the cutter arc, which is pretty much ideal.

One tiny nice touch ( which may be common for all I know, but I haven't seen it before): the insert cutting edges are numbered 1-4 rather than just having an index dot.

How does it cut you ask? I have no idea, yet. The mobile base comes in tomorrow and then I can move it over close to power and dust collection. I did run the motor using a 240 extension cord and it runs nice and smooth with no noticeable vibration. Stay tuned.

[Geoff Brooks]

I bought one last week and it works great!

[Paul F Franklin]

I got the J/P onto its mobile base (a bit of exercise, that), moved into place, and hooked up to power and dust collection. Jointed a piece of figured cherry that was fairly flat to start with and piece of red oak that had a bit of bow and quite a bit of cup, both about 4' long. Results were excellent on both. No noticeable tearout on either and both ended up nice and flat, although the oak took several passes due to the cup. Dust collection was OK, but some chips were left on the infeed table. Tried a longer piece of cherry with a fair amount of bow and at first ended up with a nicely finished piece of cherry with a fair amount of bow. I realized I was pressing too hard on the infeed side, once I adjusted my technique the results were much better.

Then I switched to planer mode and ran into my first snag. I ran the oak through first and it seemed like there was no dust collection, chips everywhere! (yes the cyclone was running). After a little head scratching, I found the problem. Inside the dust chute is a pivoting baffle that redirects the air flow between jointer and planer mode. It's designed so gravity moves it to the correct position when you flip the chute over when changing modes. The suction from the cyclone seemed to be overriding the weight of the baffle and pulling it to the jointer position even though I was planing. I opened a second dust collection port on another machine, and that reduced the suction enough to allow the baffle to stay in the correct mode. Evidently the 3HP cyclone generates more suction through a single 4" drop than the baffle was designed for. I also noticed that the chute has two holes that are positioned such that if you slide a short pin into the proper hole, it holds the baffle in one position or the other, depending on which hole you slide the pin into. I think I'll make up a little wooden pin for that purpose and also try to remember to open a second port when using the J/P. There's no mention of any of this in the manual (more about that below). Seems a little marginal to me; I'd rather see some kind of positive mechanism controlling the baffle. Since this is my first combo J/P I don't know if this is a typical design or not.

After sorting through that, I continued with testing planing with great results. Uniform thickness across the width of each board and no snipe. Again, no tearout. Dust collection was now great.

The manual is pretty marginal. The assembly/set up section describes in some detail how to attach the magnetic starter to the front of the machine but has no mention of assembling and installing the fence or the guard. Fortunately neither was tricky, but I did scratch my head over 4 cap screws in the hardware kit that had no immediately obvious use. Turns out they are just guides to keep the fence support roughly in line so it doesn't bind when sliding the fence in or out. The manual does cover switching modes in detail, and also covers all the adjustments for the table in reasonable detail. I didn't need to do any of the adjustments since everything was dead on from the factory, but the info is there at least. There is also a full exploded parts diagram and parts list.

Overall, I'm a happy camper. The chief complaint with this style of machine seems to be that the jointer tables go out of alignment over time, so I'll be watching for that. And of course, I've only run three sticks though it, so not much of a test yet.

[Curt Harms]

I have a Jet JJP-12 w/ straight knives. I found similar with the flapper in the dust collection hood. First I made a long dowel a little over 12" with a handle that went through both holes and held the flap in position. Then I discovered that if I removed the vacuum between switching the dust hood between modes, the dust collection worked okay. The flap still rises up some but dust collection still works. I have a '2 h.p.' dust collector so I'm sure not as much 'suck' as you have. It seems like the flap is shaped a little like a kreuger flap, maybe that's why it seems to generate some lift.

[David Publicover]

Thanks for the review! I’m looking forward to any further comments on the King J/P as you use it; it is one of the brands I’m considering. I’m hoping to upgrade to a 12” jointer/planer in the fall and the King is available locally.

[Rod Sheridan]

. The chief complaint with this style of machine seems to be that the jointer tables go out of alignment over time, so I'll be watching for that. And of course, I've only run three sticks though it, so not much of a test yet.

I'm on my second Hammer A3-31 in 12 years, the first is running perfectly with no loss of calibration and the second is as well.

Glad you're happy with your new J/P, it's the only way I was going to get a wide jointer into my shop......Rod.

[Paul F Franklin]

Rod, I believe the Hammer also has a dust chute that flips over between modes. Does it have an internal pivoting baffle and if so, does it just depend on gravity to hold it in correct position?

BTW, for anyone with the hots for an A3-31, it seems to be on sale on their e-store right now. Still a lot more $$$ than the king, but a discount from usual price, I believe.

[Paul F Franklin]

One more quick note: While I was scratching my head about where the four socket head caps screws were supposed to go, I sent an email to King asking about them. Although I did figure out where they went, I was happy to receive an email back with a couple of drawings showing (confirming) where the screws belonged. Granted it was a softball, but their customer service responded in a timely fashion.

[Rod Sheridan]

Rod, I believe the Hammer also has a dust chute that flips over between modes. Does it have an internal pivoting baffle and if so, does it just depend on gravity to hold it in correct position?

BTW, for anyone with the hots for an A3-31, it seems to be on sale on their e-store right now. Still a lot more $$$ than the king, but a discount from usual price, I believe.

Yes, it has a similar baffle, you can hear it clunking into place.......Rod.

[Geoff Brooks]

Can you let me know where the 4 screws go please? i didn’t end up finding a location for them...

[Paul F Franklin]

Geoff, they go in the 4 tapped holes next to the sliding bracket that holds the fence, two on each side. All they are are rough guides for the fence bracket, so it doesn't get skewed and bind when you are adjusting the fence depth. If that's not a good enough description pm me your email and I'll forward what King sent me.

[Geoff Brooks]

Thanks Paul!

[David Publicover]

Hi Paul,
Now that you’ve had your King J/P for awhile, I’m wondering if you are still satisfied or if you had any comments to add? I’m looking to add a J/P to my shop this fall and the King is available from a local shop.
Thanks!
David

[Paul F Franklin]

Hi Paul,
Now that you’ve had your King J/P for awhile, I’m wondering if you are still satisfied or if you had any comments to add? I’m looking to add a J/P to my shop this fall and the King is available from a local shop.
Thanks!
David

I've probably run a couple hundred board feet through it by now, mostly cherry; some oak, and am still very happy with it and have had no issues at all. I did add an IGaging DRO to it recently. The mechanical depth dial on the King works fine and seems quite repeatable, but it did exhibit a little backlash, so if you wanted to return to a precise setting, you have to make sure to always approach it from the same direction. That's good practice anyway, and not a big deal, but the DRO measures actual table position, not the position of the elevation shaft, so it doesn't exhibit backlash. Plus, I mostly work in imperial units and king dial is metric. Finally, I mounted the display for the DRO up a little higher so it is a little easier to read.

One thing I really like about the segmented cutter head when jointing is not having to worry about grain direction. It's a little thing, but it saves time and fussing.

So far I haven't seen any sign of jointer tables going out of alignment. I haven't actually checked them, but I'm getting nice flat faces and edges with no noticeable snipe. (aside from the time I forgot to lock the jointer tables down; didn't work so well then!)

So, to sum up, no regrets and I would buy the king again.

[David Publicover]

Thanks Paul! I appreciate your comments. Right now I am trying to sort out the pro’s and cons between the King, RIKON and CWI jointer planers. It gets challenging as they are quite similar. It’s a great help to get some personal feedback.
I have taken over our single car garage so space is limited and the J/P would be a huge upgrade from my Benchtop models. Which mobile base are you using? Do you like it?
I hope all is well with you in Ohio during these difficult times. My brother lives outside of Cleveland so I have a vested interest in your state
Cheers,
David