Help with Powermatic PJ-882 Review

[tom hintz]

I have a Powermatic PJ882, 8" parallelogram jointer in the shop and am in the process of writing a review on it. I thought I'd ask what the members here wanted to know about this type of machine to see if that differes from what I think is important.
Right now it has the straight knife cutterhead but I also have a helix head for it and will be installing that to complete the review process.
If you have something you would like to see included in the review email me at thintz@ctc.net. I may not be able to put everything in the review but I would like to cover as much as I can as this is a very popular (and expensive...) machine.

Thanks!

Tom Hintz, Newwoodworker.com LLC

 

[Jim Murphy]

I have one and I LOVE IT! When it first arrived, the outfeed lever was so stiff I thought I was going to break it. With WMH on the phone, and the CS rep assuring me if I bent or broke it, he'd fix me up, I kept on spraying WD-40 and finally loosened some bolts and it moved. Darn it's stiff, still. Once set, however, it sure stays there. The aircraft carrier tables are dead flat, according to my Starret straightedge, the knives were dead on out of the box (after I got the outfeed table set right) and the infeed lever is smooth and easy to adjust. I particularly like the "twist to reset" stop button, partly because it's large and well-placed, and the safety feature is great. Howsomewever, I never read that you had to twist the thing to reset it (it might be in the manual, I didn't see it) and thought I had broke the darned thing second time I tried to start it up. Smooth, powerful, sleek and painted in a most glorious hue. I was concerned about it being imported, but it's just as well made as my PM66. Five stars and two thumbs up from me.

FWIW, a shop vac with 2-1/2" hose attached to the port with a reducer can't begin to keep up with the chip flow. I'll let you know how it does with a 6" Clearvue hooked up, but that might be mid-summer at the rate I'm going.

 

[toolferone]

One thought would be to take sound readings with each different head while in use to see what the difference is. Price difference between the different replacement knives too.
My.02 cents worth.

 

[tom hintz]

I actually tried taking sound readings with a rent4ed, high-end meter but we found that the shop itself has a huge impact on the sound levels. I followed a machine I sold from my shop to another temporary one and then the final place (waiting for it to be completed) and got three very different readings, all taken from the same distance from the same machine.
Add to this the drastic reduction in sound a well-made helical head makes and you almost have to hear it for yourself to belive it.
As for the difference in cost, the cutter are two completely different animals. the regular knives are cheaper to be sure but they have one edge where the solid carbide helical cutters have four. Each edge on the carbide lasts way longer (multiply that a few times) than the straight ones. Plus if you shoujld encounter metal and damage an edge, you only have to index or replace a few of the carbide cutters rather than a whole set of straight knives.
I will try to give the costs but they really don't relate to each other well.
By the way, this machine is a deam...I wish I had a big enough shop to keep it! I wonder how the wife would respond to a construction crew and a bigger shop/smaller yard?.....

 

[Nativespec]

I am curious about the carbide cutters. Do they all cut at the same depth? Are the results enough to justify the purchase of a new cutter head (the one for my machine, if available, would be about $850)?

I don't see why the parallelogram design is any better than the dovetail-how often do you have to adjust your table?

To me a jointer is a jointer and size is what matters to me.

Thanks,

David

 

[JimmyC]

David,
I read an article that stated blades cut better on regular wood and the carbide inserts worked better on figured woods. :eusa_thin

Jimmy

 

[Travis Porter]

I would like to know about fence deflection and how easy or difficult it is to get the fence square and keep it square to the table.

 

[DavidF]

I would also mention repeatablity of the fence position after moving. If I move my fence in or out and retighten, there is a good chance that the 90Deg setting is slightly off. Or if I tilt the fence and put it back against the 90 Deg stop it may or may not be perfect. I always check after moving the fence and in fact try never to move it once it's set.

 

[tom hintz]

The carbide cutters of the helical head do all cut at the same depth. When designed right, like on the Byrd and Powermatic cutterheads, they also are in shear when cutting and produce an exceptionally smooth cut in all types of wood. I have tried everything from junk pine to high figure maple and the helical head in this jointer, my 6" Powermatic jointer and the 15hh planer produce great finishes.
The parallelogram tables are very easy to adjust because they have cams, two up front and two in the rear of each table. No shimming. Also, the parallelogram tables stay close to the cutterhead when raised and lowered which acts like a zero clearance insert more or less to help reduce chipping and tearout.