Baileigh jointer planer

[David Gutierrez]

Robert
Baileigh was recently acquired, their parent company also owns Jet, no affiliation with Grizzly. the two machines are similar but not the same the Baileigh jointer tables can be raised together, with out removing the fence, and also has more inserts in the cutter head than either of the other two.

i did look at the griz but eliminated it and the Jet because of the fence removal issue. i also prefer the euro guard better than the pork chop guard, it just feels safer to me.

[David Gutierrez]

Baleigh is pretty expensive. Hope they're not the low end of Powermatic at the prices their charging. They want $4500 for a 20" straight knife planer. Almost 6k for a helical. Same money if not more that a South Bend.

went to the Baileigh show room today there equipment seems to be aimed at the industrial user not a lot of hobby level equipment some truly massive industrial metal working machines.

[David Gutierrez]

Robert, many machines are physically produced in the same factories with minor specification differences and testing tolerances, depending on the brand they will sport in the market. Contract manufacturing is the norm for the mass market and has been for a long time. So that can account for the similarity between machines with different names. I do not believe that Baileigh has been acquired by anyone, but I could be wrong.

jim you are correct they do not come from the same factory as the jet or the grizz.

[Larry Edgerton]

My only experience is with an edge sander and it has done its job well, but then an edge sander is a relatively simple tool. I wanted old iron, but did not have the space, not sorry I bought the Baleigh.

[Keith Outten]

I was told that Baileigh stocks parts for their machines. Their customers are primarily businesses, probably because of their price and the quality of their machines. Honestly I doubt I will ever need parts for any of the Baileigh machines I purchased given my age I am a big fan though and really enjoy the quality of their machines. Note all of the Baileigh machines I own are big time heavy, even the mag drill which is tough for me to lift out of the case. The horizontal metal cutting band saw cuts heavy wall pipe, angle iron and square tubing like butter with no need to wait very long before the material drops. My edge sander is a beast, it cuts my sanding and fabrication time to a fraction of the time I used to spend edge sanding solid surface material and wood for signs.

If I had the money I would own one of their killer pipe benders.

[Ed Fang]

Baileigh is part of JPW industries - which is primarily Jet/Powermatic. They are essentially another "brand" for JPW with some overlap in manufacturing. Baileigh has a heavy footprint in the industrial metal working market, moreso than woodworking. I'm not sure if its equivalent to the powermatic line in terms of good, better, best or slotted a bit below. pricing wise they are pretty comparable to powermatic. It is definitely higher up the food chain than Jet. Service, responsiveness and availability seem to be pretty top notch. The only piece of baileigh I own is the jointer and thats been a pretty nice unit.

Oh hey Keith - havent seen you in 20 years. its been awhile and I find you here. wow, impressive.

[Cliff Polubinsky]

Richard,

I just saw the Hammer is on sale. Might want to compare sale price against your quote.

Cliff

[Keith Outten]

Baileigh is part of JPW industries - which is primarily Jet/Powermatic. They are essentially another "brand" for JPW with some overlap in manufacturing. Baileigh has a heavy footprint in the industrial metal working market, moreso than woodworking. I'm not sure if its equivalent to the powermatic line in terms of good, better, best or slotted a bit below. pricing wise they are pretty comparable to powermatic. It is definitely higher up the food chain than Jet. Service, responsiveness and availability seem to be pretty top notch. The only piece of baileigh I own is the jointer and thats been a pretty nice unit.

Oh hey Keith - havent seen you in 20 years. its been awhile and I find you here. wow, impressive.

Hello Ed, I am surprised that you are a woodworker given your old day job
You can find me here every day, I work here at The Creek. The sawmillcreek server is the only one I kept when I shutdown Hampton Roads Online.
I will send you a Private Message with my contact information so we can get together again.

[Curt Harms]

Robert
Baileigh was recently acquired, their parent company also owns Jet, no affiliation with Grizzly. the two machines are similar but not the same the Baileigh jointer tables can be raised together, with out removing the fence, and also has more inserts in the cutter head than either of the other two.

i did look at the griz but eliminated it and the Jet because of the fence removal issue. i also prefer the euro guard better than the pork chop guard, it just feels safer to me.

Fence removal? I have the Jet JJP-12, there is no fence removal and the jointer tables move together. The Jet also has a Euro style guard, yes for jointers I prefer them. I had a 'porkchop' style guard previously on a 6" machine. The 'porkchop' worked fine for narrow stock - less than half the width of the machine. When stock was wider than about 4 1/2", the porkchop guard didn't want to swing out of the way easily.

[David Gutierrez]

Update

I decided on the A3-31, will be placing the order Monday. So the Baileigh JP I was looking at was a show model greatly reduced price because it could not be sold as new. Drove up to the Baileigh Show room, a 2 hr 40 min drive to take a look at the machine. (joel had the machine brought in from the warehouse so i could take a look at it.) Got to tell you the sales guy Joel was a great help.

Also went to see the a3-31 at a private owners shop, the visit was arranged by the Felder rep Steve Taylor. The owner of the machine, Mark, took the time out of his evening to spend 40 minutes with me in his shop. he has very nice shop with a 10 HP martin sliding table saw that is massive.

I was having trouble with the decision but decided on the A3-31. Cut the deal with Steve on the A3-31 the next morning. That afternoon received a call from Joel, the Baileigh rep, that the machine had been sold!! Apparently someone had come into the show room and purchased the JP on the spot from another sales rep. I had no issue with this as Joel had warned me that he could not hold the machine without a deposit.

So I have a A331 on order for delivery scheduled for April 22.

Must say that both of these companies have been very helpful, communicate well, are professional and have quality equipment.

Thanks for all your input.

[Ray Newman]

Good choice! Hope there is no shipping/delivery delay.

[Jim Becker]

That will be a mighty fine machine addition to your shop! Congratulations!