Thinking about up grading to a 15″ helical head planer. I’ve had good luck with jet in the past so I’m looking at the Jet jwp-15BHH. Wondering if anyone has any experience with one they would like to share. Would really like to hear any horror stories.
Have fun and Be Safe.
Replies
I bought a Powermatic 15" HH planer 2 years ago for $2400 with free shipping and am happy with it. Since then, they've raised the price about $2,000. Powermatic and Jet are from the same company, JPW. Not sure how the two brands compare. My planer has built-in wheels so it's easy to move when needed. My only complaint is the factory setting for the bed rollers were too high, causing snipe, but they were easy enough to adjust.
I've had a couple of Jet machines and not all that familiar with PW but from what I've seen they look similar but the PW seems to have more iron.
Thanks
I have the Jet 15HH planer. I bought it used a few years ago, paid $1500 for it.
I previously had a Delta 22-580 planer. The Jet is a big upgrade, between the helical head and the extra horsepower. It does a really nice job on figured woods. I leave it on the slower speed feed most of the time for a better finish cut.
The Jet has a solid cast bed with no rollers, correct? Do you get any snipe at all with it? I got spoiled with my old machine cutting really straight.
Thanks
The Jet does have bed rollers. When I got my planer, for some reason the rollers were retracted below the bed, so pieces I fed through would get stuck on the edges of the roller slots. After reading the manual and adjusting the rollers, it works like a charm. Properly adjusted, I notice very little snipe.
I also own the Jet 15HH and I really like it. I will get a little snip every so often, but it was such a nice upgrade from my old planer.
I am considering the same thing. I bought a Baileigh 8 inch joiner a couple of years ago as I wanted something made in the US. Apparently nothing is made in the US anymore as the government has essentially outlawed foundries.
I think the best I can hope for is a machine that is finished in the US (higher quality motor, better machining, etc). Any comments?
You can get a US made machine from Northfield, the 18 inch planer, the smallest they make will cost 22K before extras and shipping. http://www.northfieldwoodworking.com/singlesurfacers/no2.htm
http://www.northfieldwoodworking.com/pricelist/pricelist-NMB-2021.pdf
There isn't a single thing on there in my budget.
Ditto for me John.
Thanks to all who replied. Now I just need to come up with the $$$$ to do it.
I know you're specifically looking for a new planer, but I am a huge fan of my Hammer A3-31 jointer/planer, which has their helical head. So, I get all the advantages of the segmented cutter head on both my jointer and my planer. My only regret is not spending a little more for the A3-41 with its 16" capacity. I know some folks dont like the idea of having to crank the planer table up and down to switch over, but it takes less than a minute and the digital hand wheel allows me to get back to the same planer setting with no issues.
There is no doubt the Hammers do a nice job. They were in the woodworkers show several years ago and Rollie Johnson was giving a class close to their booth. Rollie, I and a friend of mine were talking about a 1925 Dodge my friend was rebuilding. Rollie asked us to walk to the Felder booth so the guys there could plan an arm load of maple shorts he was using in his class. They came out glass smo0th.
A couple of years ago, a Felder sales men started calling me about a 16" rental unit that was coming back from a customer who had ordered a new one. I had never contacted them about anything but he was sure this machine was a good fit for me. He was telling me the customers' machine would be delivered in mid November. Then they take the rental back, go over everything in the rental and it would go into there used machines for sale pool. He called several times up to around December first and then went silent. I called him a couple of times with no answer, then waited until mid February and called a last time. He gave me a dozen reasons why that machine wasn't right for me and he would look for another one. I told him not to call back. Needless to say it left me with a bad taste for the Felder Group.
Have fun and Be Safe.
Redmond Machinery is running an auction. You might want to give it a look.
https://www.redmondmachinery.com/
If you are happy with your current planer but want the heliacal head, then you might want to consider just upgrading to the HH. I did that on my Park's planer and have been very happy with the upgrade. I also did it on my Powermatic 8 in. jointer. I did the upgrade myself on the jointer but when I thought of all of the settings that could go wrong with the planer I hired the local tool shop to do the upgrade. I would never go back to a three blade head.
Someone should tell the 2500 or so foundries in the US that they have been outlawed by the US government. The Waupaca foundry in Wisconsin is supposed to be the largest in the world and now owned by Hitachi Metals. If these machines are cast in other countries it must be for some reason other than a lack of manufacturing capacity!
I don't think foundries have been outlawed. Some, like the old Ford foundry in Cleveland OH. that belched so much smoke you couldn't see where you were going on I71, had to clean up their act and in some cases decided to shut down. I think the main reason we don't make much here is that the captains of industry decided they liked paying 25 cents a day for workers overseas a lot betted than paying 25 dollars an hour for labor here. Plus they don't have to deal with unions that object to things like, building a dormitory next to the factory where the workers live while they work 12 hrs. a day 6 or 7 days a week for 3 months or more waiting for their week off.
Be Safe and have fun
Ok, this post about planers is clearly a bit off the rails now...and its pretty typical: a discussion of tools turns into a quality vs value debate (accuracy/functionality/serviceability all weighed against price), which then devolves into the how's and why's of American industry.
To be fair, the Hammer/Felder machines that I suggested (may have kicked this off) are made in Austria and I'm pretty sure that they are socially responsible with regards to both environmental and Human Resources. Considering Tesla, and the German auto industry too, have long pointed to the fact that the various economic issues surrounding American manufacturing are more varied and complicated than pointing singular blame at Unions, Government, Board Members. There is blame enough to go all around. Consumers too need to signal with their wallets that low price alone is not the only thing that matters.
All good points
Hmmmm..Rockwell ,made in America. Rockwell deciding to build space shuttles and nuclear triggers sold off their tool division and it became Porter Cable. They,the new company, shifted their production to Asia with no discernible difference in price on this end. It's not our wallets......By the way, I remember when the river in Cleveland caught fire! So, now maybe no job and no money to buy tools maybe you have time to fish! An economy where we just deliver pizzas to each other!
Part of the problem is the digital age and infrastructure. Ours is old. When they go into a new area with nothing they build state of the art infrastructure. When that gets old --and since the technology is changing so rapidly it gets old fast, then they just shift to someplace else. Keep your eye on Vietnam and Laos. Laos 2 years ago had no railroad anywhere, ever. They announced they were going to build a high-speed rail system and 18 months later they had high speed rail that crossed the whole country! We have been talking about highspeed rail for decades. Our trains fall over and the companies dont invest here!