Your thoughts on a Woodmaster 718 Planer

[Cypressstump]

I have seen one advertised locally, a 2001 model 718 with many extras for 1200 bucks,,kinda outta my range, but before I contact the guy, I figered I'd ask here about your opinions of this machine.

PS- it has the baldes, not spiral head

Thanks Stump

[sawmillhand]

i haven't had any dealing with those but you could check out you tube. i have heard that if you add the t&G accessory to it that it is hard to set up just right but once you set it up it works fine.

[pineywoods]

Stump, I have one along with most of the accessories, I'm well pleased with it. Get the plastic bed overlay, it makes a world of difference. without it' it tends to eat up the rubber feed rollers. Have a friend (member slysam) who has 2, one set up for planing, the other with the 2 router heads for making molding. That setup works well, it just a little picky to get set up right. No experience with the spiral head, out of my price range 

[bedway]

ive had one for maybe 14 years, love it. Got it with all the acc. but have never used it for anything but planning. All the stuff ive never used still in boxes  . If you keep the infeed and outfeed tables waxed you dont eat up feed rollers.

[Woodey]

I have a Woodmaster 718  Planer with a 5HP motor. It will plow though anything. Make sure you have a dust collector they put out a lot of chips with wide boards. With Extras $1200.00 is a good price.

If you can find a spiral cutter head I would strongly recommend going that way.

I purchased the 20" Grizzly with spiral head and last year and have not used my Woodmaster since.  It runs lot quieter and the carbide inserts stay sharp and last a long time. 

[WDH]

Once I got my spiral head planer, I no longer have any tear-out, and there are no blades to continuously sharpen.  The spiral head is like sliced bread.  It is beyond wonderful.  Nothing wrong with the Woodmaster, but after using the spiral head, I will never be sharpening planer blades again.

[OneWithWood]

I put a spiral head on my 718 a couple of years ago.  Major difference in cut quality and like WDH said no sharpening worries.
The 718 has proven to be very durable.

[woodmills1]

I have a 725, it has replaced my belsaw 12 inch

I like it, like a belsaw but simpler with separate feed moter

mine is 7.5 HP so no planing problems, once I hooked up dust collection

I sharpen my own knives so not going for spiral

[DR_Buck]

I put a spiral head on my 718 a couple of years ago.  Major difference in cut quality and like WDH said no sharpening worries.
The 718 has proven to be very durable.

What he said!    I love mine.  I have the spiral cutter and extension tables.  I'm getting ready to cut my first oak baseboard molding.

[Cypressstump]

Thanks for the great feedback guys !

I have inquired about it, hope to hear soon from the seller.

I have often read issues concerning the feed tables, many say to keep them super smooth. There were also some threads elsewhere on people not being able to keep the grooves out the the planed wood. The guys mentioned running a single belt, and hanging the 5hp motor on a hinge to where the motor provided tension for the belt.
Any of ya'll heard or done that?

Stump

[pineywoods]

Stump, the grooves in the wood are from nicks in the knives, usually from trying to plane nails. Not something unique to woodmasters  The belt tension is adjusted by shims under the motor mount plate. When you pull out all the shims and the belts are still loose, it's time to replace the belts. With the hinge on the motor mount, I think that 5 (or 7) hp motor has enough torque to climb up the belt, defeating the purpose of the hinge. The drum sander uses only 1 belt, but I don't think running the planer head with 1 belt would work too well, especially on wide boards. Nobody mentioned snipe and the woodmaster is capable of some nasty snipe if the infeed and outfeed tables aren't level with the planer bed..Keep the bed and infeed and outfeed tables clean and waxed, otherwise you will tear up feed rollers. Better yet, woodmaster sells a plastic overlay that covers all three, it's slickern snot.

[sawwood]

 Stump i have had my Woodmaster 18 for some time and had no trouble with it. I did buy the spiral head
 cuttter and it sure makes a lot of diifernts. There are some photos in my gallery that showes it and the
 out feed table i bought from them. I also use the sander a lot and the moulder some times.

 Sawwood

[Kcwoodbutcher]

The variable speed drive on the woodmaster maxes out at 17 fpm. On all but the widest boards it can handle a faster speed, especially when skip planing. There's a little trick that can increase that a little without changing pulleys. PM me if you would like the info.

[Cypressstump]

Thanks all good feedback, I apreciate it. I am still waiting to hear back form the guy, he works offshore, should be in next week per his wifey.

Stump

[oakiemac]

Well I hate to disagree with all the responses but I'll be the one vote against the woodmaster. I have an 718 and found that it does an ok job but when I upgraded to a 1961 Oliver 24" planer with a spiral head I wondered why I ever put up with the woodmaster for all those years. To be honest, I am not comparing apples to apples but the woodmaster is SLOOOOW. If you are only surfacing a few hunderd feet now and again the the wm is ok but if you have to do jobs where you surface 1000bf of oak or hickory then forget the wm. At the fastest feed rate the wm is about the slowest feed rate on my oliver. The difference in speed is huge and the solid cast iron bed won't bend like the wm.
So if you are doing a little planing then get the WM but if you are setting up shop to surface wood for others or to do mill work then get a better machine. Just my humble opionion.