Powermatic PJ882HH Jointer Quick Review

[Michael Burnside]

I spent quite a while looking at different options and manufacturers, reading reviews and driving around to get some hands-on impressions where possible. Shop space isn't an issue for me, but I even considered combo options from SCM and Felder/Hammer. In the end, I'm just not a cool kid and ultimately prefer stand-alone, single-focused units. I'm ok if others disagree, there isn't a correct solution either way, it's just a preference.

After much deliberation, I decided to pickup the PJ-882HH (helical head/parallelogram) when the 10% off Powermatic discount rolled around. I have PM's 2820EVS drill press and absolutely love it and was hoping the jointer was as nicely built. I've milled quite a bit of board-feet now (Oak/White Oak/Walnut/Maple) and can safely say this jointer is awesome. Out of the box it was perfectly level, the wings co-planar and the only adjustment I had to perform was squaring the fence. It comes basically assembled except the power/stop arm needs to be rotated 90-degrees and screwed back on. It was shipped in an enclosed plywood "case", so it was very well protected from impact/bumping. The plug is a NEMA 5-15P I believe. The quality of cut is outstanding, even on curly maple, and face-to-edge joint is dead square. IMHO it is a well built, quality machine. I was surprised how quiet it was, with no vibration. Dust collection (4" port) is great. My only complaint is that the dust port has a slight outward taper to it, so you need some "sticky" rubber hose and tight clamp to prevent it from slipping. I'm guessing they did this so the inside airflow doesn't see a sharp angle and improves flow, but I would have preferred a straight port or elongate the port so it taper to being flat.

In summary, it does exactly what a jointer should do, perfectly, and it's well built to boot.

I also picked up the 15HH planer but haven't use that enough yet to give any feedback but will do that soon.

[Bill Dufour]

A picture would help. Title says planer text implies a jointer only machine? I do not have every model number memorized.
I am thinking about buying an xc40 for the wife.
Bill D

[Michael Burnside]

Sorry Bill, forum nanny settings won’t let me fix the title. I meant jointer. I actually purchased both the jointer and planer stand alone units recently and mixed it up when writing the title.

Update: some nice admin/moderator fixed the title

[Aaron Inami]

Thanks for the review, Michael. My previous Powermatic cabinet saw was the best cabinet saw I had used (much better than others such as Jet / Delta). It just felt more solid. If you have the money and the shop space, it's definitely better to go with separate jointer and planer. In my opinion, the only reason to get a jointer/planer combo machine is if you don't have the space or need to joint a 12"-16" surface without spending $10-15k for jointer and $4-8k for a planer. The stand alone jointer is going to keep it's alignment. The combo jointer/planers all suffer from alignment problems (i.e. getting the dang thing aligned to start with and also with the machine keeping the alignment over time).