Replies

1. 
   robkelly1 | Oct 24, 2003 03:57am | #1

   The advantage of a wheel is that you can start a cut at, say, 1/8" and as you run the board through slowly turn the wheel so the cut is zero, giving you a smooth tapered edge or face, which I find invaluable for fitting window and door casements in houses where the walls aren't square (e.g., all houses so far.)

1. 
   TomMGTC | Oct 24, 2003 04:06am | #2

   That is an odd way to do a taper on the jointer. I have never heard of that method before, and to me it sounds dangerous and uncontrollable. How would you ensure that your feed rate and the speed that you turn the wheel are in sync.

   The only method I have ever used to taper on the jointer is to lower the piece down on the cutterhead at the point you want the taper to begin and the run the board through normally. If you want a 1/8 taper and your jointer is set for a 1/16 cut, run it twice. You can seta stop on the infeed table so each pass starts in the same place.Tom

   Douglasville, GA

1. 
   robkelly1 | Oct 24, 2003 10:45pm | #4

   Tom, it's the only way I've found to quickly "carve" a piece of molding to fit a wavy wall or floor. It's surprisingly accurate once you get the hang of it, and practice teaches you to syncronize wheel and feed. I use the same  method to make tapered table legs , except for the rough work where I leave the cutter at 1/8" and cut to the line freehand. The final pass(es) are using the wheel, leaving no "step" in the cut. To do this , you have to remove the guard, so Kids, don't try this at home!

2. 
   JohnWW | Oct 24, 2003 06:01am | #3

   Bill,

   On the outfeed table a wheel adjustment for table height is almost a necessity to fine tune the outfeed table's height to get a perfectly straight edge on the stock after installing new blades or to compensate for blade wear or for slight adjustments when jointing very hard or very soft stock.  The difference between close and and properly adjusted is on the order of a hundreth of an inch or less in table height.  With a hand wheel making that kind of adjustment is easy, with a lever it is just about impossible.

   On the infeed side I suppose a lever is of some slight advantage but only if you want to frequently make big changes in depth of cut.  I generally set my machine to take off somewhere around a fat 32nd of an inch and leave it set that way for weeks.  Changing infeed depth of cut still only takes a few seconds more with a wheel than using a lever and the ability to make slight consistent changes is, to me a big advantage over levers.

   On top of the performance advantage to wheels, they are simple, almost foolproof mechanisms, with one moving part.  They require no maintenance and virtually never wear out, jam, or slip, none of which can be said about levers on low end home shop machines. 

   To be honest, I think levers are a marketing gimmick, picked up from much more sophisticated European jointers that do use them on the infeed side of parallel linkage tables where they work reasonably well, but even the Euro machines use traditional wheels on the outfeed to preserve the fine control.  Because they're simpler, jointers with wheels usually cost no more than lever machines and often cost less, either Grizzly is trying to get rid of the lever machines or there are other features that explain the price difference.

   John W.  

3. 
   forestgirl | Oct 25, 2003 01:54am | #5

   Bill, rather than asking "are the handwheels worth an extra $100?" you might want to ask "Why are they knocking $100 off the lever-adjust model."  That $100 probably puts the sale price close to cost, which means they're eager to get rid of it.  My guess is, the levers have proved to not be a popular feature.  It could be that the lever design just wasn't done quite as well as necessary.

   forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl   ;-)

1. 
   mbiker1999 | Oct 25, 2003 02:02am | #6

   Yeah, that's what I was thinking.  There must be something else going on there for sure.  I'm also looking into a Sunhill.  They have wheels for a great price.  Unfortunately I think that shipping it all the way to western MA is going to be expensive.   This jointer is the last big tool to round out my shop.  I wish I could afford an 8"er but just not in the cards as far as expense or space.  The search continues!!  Actually the hunt is almost as fun as getting the tool.

   Thanks for the replies so far.  Looks like I'm heading to be a wheel man!!

   -Bill

1. 
   hammer1 | Oct 25, 2003 09:48pm | #7

   Bill,

   If you do not securely lock the tables, lever operated tables can suddenly drop! Very scarry when a 16" RJ42 drops to full depth when cutting.

2. 
   AngeloD3 | Oct 26, 2003 06:56pm | #9

   Bill,

   I bought an 8" Sunhill and had it shipped to Raleigh, NC. As I recall, the sales tax (7%) savings paid for half of the shipping. I'm on vacation in FL and can't pull the invoice.

   Benny

1. 
   mbiker1999 | Oct 27, 2003 03:09pm | #10

   Hi Benny thanks for the info.  Looks like I'm going with the Sunhill 6".  They threw in a dust hood and an extra set of knives to soften the shipping charges.  With all the good things said about the Sunhill jointers in this forum over the past few months I can't pass up the deal.

   Hey Sarge if you see this, it looks like I'll be getting a big blue piece of equipment in the shop soon!!!

   Thanks to all for all the info and help.  Knots is great place to get information and opinions.    Especially for us newbies!!

1. 
   RANGERP75R | Oct 28, 2003 02:10am | #11

   Bill

      You're buying that piece of crap, I can' believe it!! :>)

    Welcome to what we call the "Over the Sunhill Gang". Your membership card is in the mail. As soon as you get it, report for duty. And get plenty of sleep in the interim, "we always ride at dawn". ha..ha..

   Congratulations and enjoy...

   sarge..jt

   Think in advance as to how you're gonna get the grease coating off without upsetting your wife with the stinky smell of solvents. A trip for her to moms the day you put it together would be an excellent suggestion. he.....

4. 
   bobpowers | Oct 26, 2003 02:04am | #8

   I have had a 6" Grizzley jointer for about ten years, probably the same one you mention.  Mine is the model with levers, not wheels.

   First, may I say that over the years, the preponderance of comments about levers vs. wheels seems to be greatly in favor of wheels.

   My own experience is that I bump the lever with my fist to adjust it, just the same as I bump my Biesemeier table saw fence.  It works.  Maybe wheels are better, but I find that concentrating on the job at hand rather than the type of adjustment mechanism keeps my disposition in better shape.

   As to the jointer itself, it has performed quite well over these years.  It rattles, the fence is not all that easy to adjust, the finish is just so-so, but the end product is quite satisfactory.

5. 
   Crunk | Oct 28, 2003 09:51pm | #12

   Wheels, Wheels, Wheels.

6. 
   CRAIGCONEY_M | Oct 29, 2003 07:49am | #13

   wheels

7. 
   mathiasraulf | Oct 29, 2003 09:20am | #14

   Levers...come on, why do you think the best european machines have levers? http://www.hofmann-maschinen.de/hobeln.asp# or http://www.otto-martin.de/frameset_uk.htm.

   It´s less prone to fail under load, no gears with eventual slack, no dust problems in gears...We only adjust the infeed table anyways. Throw way, self adjusting two-side blades are the norm. So why adjust the outfeed table?

   Mathias

   
   

   ---

   Edited 10/29/2003 2:23:49 AM ET by Matt

1. 
   JohnWW | Oct 29, 2003 03:34pm | #15

   Matt,

   The machine he's considering buying is a Grizzly, not a multi thousand dollar finely crafted European model.  The Grizzly won't have self adjusting blades, so it will be a necessity to have an outfeed table that can be fine tuned for height after blade changes. 

   I have a large SCM jointer and it has a wheel adjuster on the outfeed table despite having a Tersa disposable blade cutting head.  About once a year the height of the outfeed seems to need a slight adjustment to get the cut back to perfect.

   Wheel type adjusters have one moving part, no gears, can't slip under load, and seem to have less problems with dust and wear than lever adjusters.  In the class of machine being asked about, levers have no advantages and several drawbacks.

   John W.

   Edited 10/29/2003 8:46:49 AM ET by JohnW

1. 
   mathiasraulf | Oct 29, 2003 04:55pm | #16

   John, you are right.