planer

[jonnyfontaine]

I have a fairly small shop, i'd like to keep as much room available for hopefully soon when i get my supermax drum sander but i haven't been able to find any tool tests on 15" stand alone models. has anyone found a tool test for these. I was thinking the dewalt 735 is like $650 with and in feed out feed table but to add a spiral cutter heard your basically spending over $1000 and at that price why not go for a stand alone unit? i'm sure the extra width would come in handy but i am not sure if it's over kill. thanks let me know what ya know think

 

[chris_goris]

Are you talking about 4 posted, 220v 15" planers?

 

[jonnyfontaine]

yeah, since the Grizzly catalog is right here, like a Grizzly G0453W. It's 15" 3HP 240V planer. That's $1200 w/o shipping the spiral cutter head planer of the same model is $1800 and then add shipping your close to double the cost of the dewalt with a Byrd Shelix spiral cutter. What do ya guys think. I'm leaning to the dewalt because of their great reviews and shop size. What do you guys think?

 

[Roy G]

Jonny, which planer you get depends on how much wood you think you will be planing. The larger one will be quieter and take more off with each pass. It will also take up more space and need 240v. My experience with a planer is that you use it with each project as you need it. If I buy 100 bf of wood, I never plane the whole lot at once. I'll roll out the planer, use it and roll it back out of the way. So a smaller planer would be easier to maneuver. My planer is an old Boice-Crane that was made in 1950. The reason I have it is that when I bought it, there wasn't a whole lot of choice and the small bench-top models hadn't come on the market.

Roy G

 

[sawman101]

Although the Grizzly machines are pretty much basic, with no added fluff, I think you get the most bang for your buck. I bought their 12" bench top planer when it first hit the market about 4 decades ago, and after sharpening and resetting the knives, I received very good service from it. I've had several bench top planers over the years, all 2 knife models, and now I am using a Jet 13" planer molder, which is absolutely awesome, if your planning needs are under the maximum 13". You will need a dust collector on these bigger planers, where as a shop vac will work on almost all bench top machines, but the DW735 had a built in fan to eject chips: simply attach a hose and feed it into a trash can. I think helix heads can be purchased for most bench tops, but my inclination would be towards the DW735, with helix head.