My wife and I were planing up some some spalted Red Elm for some wall paneling the other day. As board came out of my little porter cable lunch box it twisted in my wife's hands and it knocked the dust cover off the hold down screws. The cover bounced off the cutter head and took a little trip. Some carnage was the result. That ended the wood working session for the day. Now I can probably fix it (shssssh don't tell) but I got permission to look for a new one. :)
15 inch helical head is what I am hoping for. I've been sorta watching for the right used one and nothing much has shown. So im asking what kind and where should I buy it. I'm in the middle of nowhere maybe have some sort of dealer in Omaha but nothing close. Just wondered what the thoughts were. 🤔
Why not a Woodmaster? For $ 5,155 your set 21" wide. You want to play you got to pay 😂. If you really want to go all out and have your wife knock you out! Go the Woodmaster 4000 and plane 18" and full blown moulder for 25k and 7k in dust extraction 😂. Now you have to set everything up. But you will have to get on the waiting list for the 4000
I've been nursing my old Delta 15" along on Grizzly parts for some time. They've shown me who has parts support.
Grizzly used to be a great value, and the tried-and-true machines did not change in price for years. My 20-inch planer was $1690 bucks and remained that way for 20+ years or so. then the tariffs, now covid, so more expensive if available. but no skimping on the castings, and simple available parts for the most part. used may be the answer if the seller has not heard about the "bubble".
You could also buy a used 15" delta or one of the many clones out there and then put a helical head in it.
I see these planers about once per month in the Stl area.
Used ones don't pop up very often at least on CL, I watch Lincoln, Omaha, Sioux Falls/Sioux City. I don't FB so I don't know how often they come up on marketplace.. The other problem is finding the time to go and look at used stuff 100 miles away.
I have the sawdust addiction but a 25000.00 set up for my piddle projects isn't in the cards. I have a couple client friends with cattle that do this for a living. One builds neat live edge tables
and stuff, one builds custom cabinetry, counters, and bars. If i need bigger one of them have it. Cabinet maker friend is bugging me to do some kiln work, just can't get caught up to start that project. I cut some Ponderosa Pine Timbers for him he's flattening some Red Elm slabs and doing the glue up for my daughter's desk top.
Grizzly was kind of the one I was leaning towards. I know you've got "pay to play".
Just wanting to play smart. I have a 6 inch Grizzly Jointer that was my uncles.
Honestly haven't used it yet, it's in storage, until I get a nice place for it to live.
The four post 15" is sorta a generic animal. 20 years ago the Geetech factory in Tawain made almost all of them. Powermatic, Jet, Grizzly, and a bunch of other colors. All off the same line. The Powermatic was the high end and would have really nice infeed and outfeed tables. The Geetech machine would have a roller for infeed and outfeed.
In the years since most production has shifted to mainland China for lower cost.
They all seem to do about the same job although they can be retro-fitted with a spiral head.
Almost all come with a 3 horsepower motor which is adequate for shop use. If you plan on planing much sawmill lumber 3 horsepower is not near enough. Even 5 horsepower is marginal.
If I were to buy a new 15" planer it would be grizzly, not only because I can drive a couple hours to pick it up, but I have had good luck with the grizzly tools I have and have had. I've had 2 grizzly table saws and they were both good, but I kept upgrading. I had an early 80s six inch grizzly jointer that served me well until I found this powermatic that I have for a great deal. My 17" bandsaw is awesome.
My new gib screws arrived from Grizzly yesterday. They had been back ordered for a good 6 months, I had forgotten about them till I changed knives the other night (after planing not a screw tip, I got the whole screw head). I had stripped one of the tapped holes in a gib and ordered 3 new ones and screws months ago, the gibs were in but the screws were backordered. I tend to overtighten gib screws so figured everything was stretched. Then I got an email saying they had adjusted the shipping to my order date so that there would be no difference from the price when ordered. I wonder how much backordered stuff around the world just went under water.
Oh, the reason for writing, yes get an insert head unless you know of a good sharpening shop nearby. All our old full service shops folded with the furniture industry here. The last 2 yahoos burned steel. I put on fresh knives the other night, ran maybe 500' of pine no problem. We pulled and reloaded the kiln today and I brought home a couple of hundred feet of red oak in the truck and planed it to 7/8 with the intention of dropping it at the building supply. By the end the knives had crumbled and were leaving a ton of lines down the boards >:(> I'll have to switch heads or planers soon, or find the time and desire to grind, not! :D
I saw a 20 inch powematic with a knife grinder attachment in St Joe listed today. I have no where to put a beast that size.
My KY Vo-tech school shops were always equipped with PM tools as they had the price contracts in KY. Mostly the "green era" PM's, some gold era ones. I've used PM planers and table saws for hours and maintained them. My own Taiwan made 5hp, 20" planer cuts as well as those did and the only maintenance has been triple belt sets and blade changes. I would never buy a new head for mine as owning 4 sets of blades they are cheap to sharpen and will last longer than myself.
It is a very well made machine I bought around 1998-9 from a Fine Woodworking magazine ad. Transpower branded but much like many 4 post, Asian 20" planers. I once had a grizzly that was 15" and not so great, but as said they've improved a lot. Local guy had a contract to get all their freight damage and returns and mine was built from his parts stash.
There's a man near FT Myers/Estero Beach, FL who has a PM restoration business and been around for years. He mostly avoids the newer Asian PM machines.
Fleabay, CL and more recently FB marketplace are the go-to places for used machines.
I just picked up a Delta clone 15" in great shape on Market place for $350.
Did a Utube search and most parts can be sourced from Grizzly.
If cost wasn't an issue I would have got a Hammer combo 16" jointer/planer
I have a delta lunchbox planer that is adequate for projects, but not for the ever increasing amounts of wood I am processing. I just picked up a 1950's era 12" green Powermatic planer that I am giving a rehab. $400 off of craigslist. It works but can be much better. Folks say you can't go wrong with one that is dialed in. Found the original paint color and had Sherwin Williams make me a bucket of it.
I wouldn't buy another Grizzly 15 inch planer from China after my experience. Their customer service is second rate and as they now say they are not finish planners with the straight inserts. I have been thinking about trying a Jet with the true helical head to replace mine.
If I can't help it I'm not going to help support the Communist party and cut throat American companies looking to max profit to build the China military machine to try and take over this country! Buy American 🇺🇸
👍 Agreed!
There is an ore deposit out my back window, short of that, good luck. I had the same notion when I bought that Delta, which was only a name. It's now only supported by griz parts, a chinese 5 horse motor, capacitors from a junk box and American know how. The American machines I've seen are sheet metal fabrications. My world isn't black and white anymore.
I used to run a Berlin 4 sider. Solid American company, had to change their name after the great war to something more palatable to the masses, the kaiser was the dog to kick at that moment. Yates American was born. They also spun off the first company that had knife grinders on the machine, Stetson-Ross.
Jet is an international company and part of a large corporation. Avoiding China isn't easy these days. Good luck on that one!
At what point do you guys want me to put the entire forum in the restricted board? As much as I agree, there are times there are a fellow member or two that may not and you simply don't change those types. No need to preaching to the choir eh?
Quality isn't cheap. Several years ago when I was looking for a planer I ordered a 20 something inch Grizzly. They were out of stock, back ordered, kept not arriving, price went up, etc. I got disgusted with the whole thing so I called Wood Master instead. Had a 25" planer sitting on my forks three weeks later, been very happy with the machine and the customer service I receive. They are a Forum sponsor, and made right here in the US. Like I said - they aren't the cheapest option, and they are not the "absolute, industrial grade, baddest one built", but for keeping up with my Super 70 it does absolutely fine, was affordable, and will last for decades.
The grizzly, jet, shopfox 20" planer is very good, i even used it professionally for over 12 years, we put some wood thru this little planer, i upgraded to spiral head and did the installation myself, definitively worth the money. this planer is over sized for hobby use.
But now i had the opportunity to upgrade to a extreme duty 25" grizzly and what a change, this is a different animal, love it
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Surprised you didn't use some flexible conduit to the Griz
Plastic chip pipe- I hope it's got a ground wire? I switched to the clear duct with a wire spiral. Bought an Amazon warehouse return bargain of a long piece.
My Transpower branded/Taiwan mfg. 20" planer is identical design of the 15" showing here above. I paid extra for a 5hp motor on mine.
Is that a ball valve for a blast gate? First one I've seen, but I like it.
Quote from: Walnut Beast on July 13, 2022, 08:09:16 AM
Surprised you didn't use some flexible conduit to the Griz
There is about 1meter of 5" flex hose that goes to the grizzly hood
Quote from: kantuckid on July 13, 2022, 08:13:41 AM
Plastic chip pipe- I hope it's got a ground wire? I switched to the clear duct with a wire spiral. Bought an Amazon warehouse return bargain of a long piece.
My Transpower branded/Taiwan mfg. 20" planer is identical design of the 15" showing here above. I paid extra for a 5hp motor on mine.
why grounded? it's plastic, i use this setups since over 15 years, never had a problem. My old planer above is a 20" with a spiralhead update, it's a shopfox, but they are all the same. it has a 5hp single phase
Quote from: Tom King on July 13, 2022, 02:16:13 PM
Is that a ball valve for a blast gate? First one I've seen, but I like it.
4" pvc tubing with ball valve. there is no such thing as dust systems, ducts or blast gates in Costa Rica, we use what's available.
Maybe your air is humid enough, or maybe you have been lucky, but chips going through PVC will cause static electric build up and yes you can get a very significant spark to jump from it - enough to burn a place down, thus the common solution is to ground the PVC.
Rainforest climate? Probably humid enough to limit static buildup. The size of the discharge is related to the amount of unearthed surface. A small system can built up a charge, but not enough to generate a big enough energy to ignite things. Can be enough to annoy the operator though, think the sort of shock you sometimes get while stepping out of a car. That's a good enough reason to use a ground wire even in a small shop.
It becomes more critical on larger industrial installations, bigger the system, the more charge it can build up. But they usually use metal piping, so grounding is easier (and more necessary)
in the 15 years never ever felt something like a even small discharge when touching the pipes. Pipe touches the stone wall alot of times, maybe this discharges the build up. there are metal bands holding the pipe against the wall also
Shhh, my ground wire across the 8' of 8" pcv pipe hooked to the fan on my mill has been off for, years. I also know I have been flat out, blue spark, nailed by the static from a little shop vac. I suspect everything around my mill and fan is damp and sitting/sinking into the ground. It doesn't make it safe practice, they should be bonded, but there is another sketchy ground path connecting it all together and dissipating the charge. It's kind of like the ground on a Dodge, iffy :D
I'm pretty sure the cyclone over the building outside got hit by lightning on a shop I was working in. We were inside with a light show going on along the dust system. Nothing caught fire and nobody got a tickle, most of the time you get lucky I guess. And to be Mom, there should be an extinguisher on that wall. If there is a fire shoot into the intake. The conduit Walnut was talking about is protect those bare wires in something. My friends bang into things, regularly. This ends our public service announcement for the morning, carry on :)
My puters weather report says today's humidity will be 94%. It cannot get much higher humidity than here!- yet static is a real danger as stated above already. Eastern KY is a jungle like humidity most days all summer but we still have static.
I will admit to playing that ungrounded plastic pipe game myself and was lucky. They do blow up and hurt people. Then I made the change.
I also used to use a shop vac on my router table but now have it going into my chip system. I found only one company that sold a reducer from 4" duct to 1.5" router table dust/chip connector but saves toting chips and noise too.
The outfeed of my planer is extended 10' with a section of skate rollers, there is a gap between the planer outfeed table and the rollers, those rollers are supported by plastic saw horses. I had to ground the skate rollers as everyone was getting a static shock when it was dry out off the lumber rolling down the roller, it comes off a HDPE surface onto the rollers so my guess is the charge was being developed by the planer head itself.
I saw an add for a Foley - Belsaw planer molder. It was actually on the way to the cabin and I needed to make a quick run so I stopped. It had sat out in an unheated shed for a couple years, had no in /out feed tables, needed a new switch and lots of elbow grease to polish it back up. It didn't have any of the molder accessories or the sander. It had potential but I have enough projects, i passedon it. He did have a Jet dust collector. I bought that for $150.00 seemed like an ok price.
All I've got is a 12.5" Dewalt my wife bought me .It does okay but you can't crowd it too much plus it cups the end of the board .I can deal with it no more than I use it .It's not a lunch box but it certainly is not a professional machine . To counter act the cupping I just cut the rough stock a little longer .Then use the drops for kindling wood .It's not a total waste .
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Found one. A Delta DC- 380 15" it seemed to have very little wear. Talked my semi retired carpenter buddy into borrowing his skid steer to helping move it out of the fellows shop it was in. Ex owner is retired and he and his wife are moving and down sizing. He bought for his H-O scale model railroading project work. It gets to live in Rick's heated and air-conditioned shop for a while until I get a better place for it permanently. Should do what I need. I gave 500.00$ for it I think I'll come out ok on the deal.
That's the planer I have. I've been getting parts from Grizzly. Jack it all the way open and check/change the gearbox oil. On the side your friend is on there are 2 sheet metal covers inside the opening and then the large center allen on the outside cover. Pry the black cover off its dowel pins and inspect the drive chains and sprockets for tension and wear. Good little machine, if you burn it up it works really well with a 5 horse on it.
Thanks for the heads up Don 8)
Mine is a copy of that out of the same factory in Taiwan.