Woodmaster Planer/Moulder opinions?

LB75

Moderator
George
I stumbled across the Woodmaster 712 and 718 planer/moulder while browsing the FB marketplace and am curious if anyone here has any experience with these machines? The moulding head and gang rip saw capabilities really interest me but the advertised flexibility/capabilities of these seem almost a little too good to be true. Anyone have any hands-on experience they can share? Thanks!
 

Colin Helms

Colin
User
George, I have the 718 that I have had for several years and I love it. I have used it in my shop to run moldings only since I already had a planer and a sander that I would use for these jobs. It is also a sander which works great and a gang rip saw which I have used many times. I do not know what price's you are running across, but they are worth the money. I am in the process of down sizing my shop to go back to using my 718 instead of several different tools. The only problem is having to remove all the different parts to run the molder, sander, planer and the rip saw, it takes several minutes to undo and reinstall what you want it to do. This machine is well worth the money you will pay. Go go for it.

Colin
 

LB75

Moderator
George
George, I have the 718 that I have had for several years and I love it. I have used it in my shop to run moldings only since I already had a planer and a sander that I would use for these jobs. It is also a sander which works great and a gang rip saw which I have used many times. I do not know what price's you are running across, but they are worth the money. I am in the process of down sizing my shop to go back to using my 718 instead of several different tools. The only problem is having to remove all the different parts to run the molder, sander, planer and the rip saw, it takes several minutes to undo and reinstall what you want it to do. This machine is well worth the money you will pay. Go go for it.

Colin

Thanks Colin! How much adjustment is needed after you switch it over from say rip saw to moulder? It seems like it's minimal based on what I understand so far that the different shafts are secured using morse tapers but I couldn't find much info on that. If I pull the trigger on this it would primarily be for the rip saw and moulder since I already have a helical head planer and drum sander.
 

Colin Helms

Colin
User
George, I am sorry that I can not answer your question since it has been years since I have used the 718 back and forth. It takes time to change the different shafts between the sander to molder and back to the saw. You have to remove the shaft for every changes, it does take some time to make the changes. That is why I always used my planer and sander rather than changing the different shafts to do what you want it to do. To use as a moulder is 2 different changes dependent on the way you want the moulder to work. Rather than using the planer head and change the blades over to a moulding cutter takes some time. I always used the 12" moulding shaft that slides onto to the main shaft and setup the moulding knives. Your welcome to call me to help you set this moulder up when you buy it. You will like it for sure.
 

LB75

Moderator
George
George, I am sorry that I can not answer your question since it has been years since I have used the 718 back and forth. It takes time to change the different shafts between the sander to molder and back to the saw. You have to remove the shaft for every changes, it does take some time to make the changes. That is why I always used my planer and sander rather than changing the different shafts to do what you want it to do. To use as a moulder is 2 different changes dependent on the way you want the moulder to work. Rather than using the planer head and change the blades over to a moulding cutter takes some time. I always used the 12" moulding shaft that slides onto to the main shaft and setup the moulding knives. Your welcome to call me to help you set this moulder up when you buy it. You will like it for sure.

Thanks again Colin, I really appreciate the insight. Also glad to see that somebody local to me has one that I can hit up for help if I get stuck, I'm in Concord.
 

Colin Helms

Colin
User
George I welcome you to come by my house to look at my Woodmaster and maybe I can explain it a little better to you. It will take me some time to move all my tools around to let you see the woodmaster.
 

blackhawk

Brad
Corporate Member
George - I have a 718 also and highly recommend it. I have owned mine for about 20 years. I actually had mine setup for moulding and just had to switch it back over to the planer head on Saturday. I decided to time how fast that I could do it, so your post is right on time. Going from moulding setup to planer setup took me right at 15 minutes. I did that time without rushing, just a leisurely pace.

I have actually never used the gang rip saw. My blades for it are still sealed in plastic. I've just never had a time where I need to rip enough boards at one time to justify setting it up.

I have a spare planer head that I setup my moulding knives in. Mine is an older machine and it came with an accessory shaft where you could mount a single knife holder. I found that the accessory shaft always had a little vibration and my cuts were not perfectly smooth. The planer head is massive, so even with a single knife, you can get super smooth cuts. With a single knife you have to use counter balances in the other 2 slots. A single knife works fine for short runs that you can run through a little slower. For big jobs, I will use 3 knives in the planer head to help with production. A machinist's test indicator is ideal for aligning all 3 knives.
 

Pokey

New User
Jerry
I bought a used 718. I had to replace several months of parts. I called woodmaster and they sold me the parts I needed and answered many questions that I had. They were very friendly and helpful
 

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