Thoughts on Cantek planers/machinery?

[CHill8903]

Anyone have an opinion on Cantek Machinery, specifically their planers?  I'm considering a new planer(P630HV) and have no experience with the brand. 

I'm interested in their build quality, and cutterhead finish specifically.  Any experience good or bad would be appreciated. 

[tacks Y]

I have never seen one, but looks interesting.

Are those 2 sided cutters reasonable? Available?

The 11 plus inch cut height is good not sure I would ever use.

3 motors, 1 for table lift. Is there also a hand crank to lift table? On my wide belt I like the motor but I am glad there is a crank also.

Good luck on you decision. 

[CHill8903]

I've never seen a spiral head like they use before. It looks like the cost of the cutters per cutting face is about the same as the four sided Byrd inserts but I like that there's only half as many to flip. 

I currently have a Powermatic 221 with a Hermance Helix head. I love the old heavy duty American Iron, but parts are getting too hard to find and if you do they're $$$. It's at the point it needs some freshening up and I'm not sure I want to stick the money into it. Id love the extra width and auto up/down table. 

[Southside]

I believe @YellowHammer and @customsawyer  both have their double sided carpet planer. 

[YellowHammer]

Cantek makes a very good planer.  I use mine commercially, never had a problem with it.  

[customsawyer]

Only problem I have had from mine is the paint job on it leaves a little bit to be desired. It leaves a nice finish on the wood and will eat slabs all day, I've made it do it more than once. It isn't to much fun when you have to change the knives but it is that way on every planer I have.
I started with a SCMI 24" single sided planer and 20" jointer. I did slabs with that setup one time, after that I called and ordered the Cantek 30" double sided planer with the carpet feed system. I still have the jointer but swapped the 24" one sided planer for the 30" double sided.  

[CHill8903]

Thanks for the input guys, I think I'm going to go put eyes on one next week. 

[teakwood]

I heard that Cantek are really good quality machines, but i would buy the grizzly extreme 25" for less money, it has a 15hp motor which you really need for this size planers

https://www.grizzly.com/products/grizzly-25-15-hp-3-phase-extreme-series-planer-w-helical-cutterhead/g0603x

I have this one and i'm very happy with it, there is some minor stuff that could be better. it also has a real shear cut head with 176 inserts, 4 side inserts

[CHill8903]

Teakwood, thanks for the input. That machine was also on my list for consideration. Powermatic, Southbend, and Oliver also sell the same machine with only slight differences in cosmetics but big differences in price. I questioned Powermatic on the $6000 price difference for the same machine and their only response was you get what you pay for. 

I have mixed feelings on Grizzly, overall their machines are good and I have several but sometimes their adjustments are a little clunky and I had a bad experience with a motor on a 20" grizzly planer years ago. Although I will say that had the same helix head as yours and that was the best finishing planer I ever had. 

How long have you had yours and about how much use does it get?

[Southside]

The Grizzly machines of 15 years ago are not the same as today.

[CHill8903]

I'm assuming you mean they've gotten better?

[customsawyer]

I think it comes down to how and how much you plan to use a machine. I know there are several on here that have Grizzly and they like them. I don't know of a any places that use planers almost every day that run them.

[Walnut Beast]

The machines Custom and Yellow have are on another level.........

[teakwood]

How long have you had yours and about how much use does it get?

I have it since about 10month and it's already paid for itself, boosted my planer output about 30%. it's a solid machine although the transformer burned up and pop the fuse of the circuit. two hours later with a electrical tester and head scratching i got to the conclusion that i don't need the transformer because my tree phase is 230Volt and i eliminate the thing and the planer is back working. the planer was stored for 2-3 years here in CR before i bought it, so that could have been a problem also.

you could use it as a cabinet workshop planer but it's pretty much overkill. you can run it easy 8h a day and it will hold up. but if you do 8h a day 5days a week then buy a more industrial planer like yellowhammers unit. 

some days i do 5-6 hours of planning and some week it doesn't work. maybe 350ish hours on my unit 

[teakwood]

I mean i had a 20" grizzly spiral planer, an ok wood workshop planer, but for what i use it the most was putting 100s of boards and panels thru it it's night and day now. 

[YellowHammer]

With planers. power is king. Get all you can get, then get more.

My experience with Grizzly equipment and planers is "GIG" or "Good I Guess".  I've owned quite a few pieces of Grizz machinery and basically use them as my scouting company.  If I think I need a new tool, I will get one from them, use it to the point I either stop using it, or max it out, then find a "Better One" and get it.

The planer I have now is a good example.  I went through two iterations of Griz planers, each one bigger and better than the last, had a few issues that I fixed but always cropped up again.  Things like pulleys that always would come loose after a couple weeks use, a roller that would jam, a bed that was never "quite flat," etc.  They were certainly GIG machines, but one thing that they all had in common is that their internal motor controller circuit breakers were always set lower than the amp rating on the motors, or would have other electrical controller issues, one wasn't;t even wired up correctly.  Most times, all it took was a small screwdriver, a voltmeter, etc to set the pot to the correct setting, or put the wires in the right spot, etc.  I used them, used them hard.  I never broke one or had one go out of service for very long.  Little stuff would break, and could be easily fixed.  Generally, the moving parts, such as pulleys and belts were the main things.  A circuit breaker, a broken bed roller bearing, a set screw that always worked loose, little stuff, but aggravating sometimes.    

From my experience with them, and then buying the upgraded machine they are copying, I have come to the conclusion that they are copies of one generation ago or one series ago machines, which isn't a bad thing.  For example, they used to sell a very good industrial planer that was a copy of a phased out Baker commercial planer.  Their current Extreme Duty planers are one generation ago of the upgraded Powermatic and Oliver series.  No mistake, that was a good generation, but for some reason they are always at least one generation behind.  On their straight line rip saw, they are two generations behind.  So Grizz are good machines, and good copies of historically good machines.

My old planer is a Powermatic 201HH, and Grizz had one just like it, (but a generation older) but I went with Powermatic because they assemble their machines at their shop, then grind the beds, clean up the edges, put true Byrd spiral cutters on it (The Grizz planer I had used Grizzley carbide inserts and dulled much quicker than the Byrds) and other stuff.  Grizzley doesn't do that, then send them as is and I received a Grizz jointer where the bed wings didn't even have tapped and drilled holes, so I had to do that to get it assembled.  

I've had Powermatic stuff break too, but their warranty service was more than incredible.  I had a bearing go out on the planer and they sent a service guy out the next day, he ordered parts on the phone and I heard the guy on the other end say "Get everything you possibly need, make it right" which was amazing.  They even threw in a spare set of cutters for free. When the parts showed up next day shipping at 5:00PM the repair guy showed up and he stayed until 1:30 am, yes 1:30 am at night to get it all back up and running.  I was with him and he said they had promised to get me back online the next day because I was a business, and they were going to make it happen.  They did.  No other company has ever done that for me.  

The Oliver and Powermatic are essentially the same, they even use the same Users Manual.  When I upgraded to the Cantek double sided carpet planer I was going to sell the Powermatic single sided, but later decided that was not a good idea as it still runs perfectly, and we use it to plane small batches of wood for our customers when it's not worth firing up the big dog.  I can't tell you how many hundreds of thousands of bdft of wood have been through that PM paner, and it still works as good as new.

Anyway, my experience is that Grizzley are "GIG" machines and PM are "Yep, there is a difference."  Both work, but....  

[CHill8903]

Yellowhammer, GIG is exactly how I would describe my experience with Grizzly, well said. They work perfectly fine to get the job done when they work but I've also dealt with the electrical issues and little nuisance things. 

Currently I use my planer for maybe 30mbf/yr. Mostly preplaning before the moulder and also S2S and custom planing for customers, butcherblock and slab tops. 

I've learned the hard way to always buy more machine than you think you need. On paper the Grizzly pencils out to more machine than the Cantek but I know spec sheets and real world don't always add up. 

I'd love the Cantek CM626, that looks like a beast, but I'd have to change to a bigger phase converter and part with a lot more $$$. 

[Hilltop366]

but for some reason they are always at least one generation behind.

Sounds like they are buying the last generation production line and producing them.

[customsawyer]

I think the numbers on mine is GT760ARD8. This gives it a 8"X30" capacity. Yes there are days it isn't big enough but not many. I would hate to be trying to run what I'm doing with any less. Been looking at their 52" model though.

[customsawyer]

One thing I forgot to mention is the knives on the Cantek planers take metal strikes better than anything I have ever seen. You can hit a nail and still be getting a smooth surface.