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New planer & jointer

2/22/16       
Pete D Member

Looking at new 24" planer & 20" jointer options. I build furniture and do all my dimensioning between these two machines so my primary concern is accuracy and repeatability. I know what I get with Martin, would assume Panhans is comparable, although no service in the states, but a little less expensive. The wild card is SCM as it's a lot less money, but savings at what cost? Been down that road and lost a lot of time and & money. Anyone have any experience with the nova/class/L'invincible 20" jointers or 24" planers *without* bed rollers and sectional infeed? ...seems that's what most would have as that's the way they're configured when SCM brings in stock machines. Fences stay accurate at 90°, no twist? Planer tables in close tolerances side to side? Well versed in the virtues of wood movement and how measuring tolerances to the .001" isn't necessary for woodwork, but I'd like to be able to put away the squares and get to work. Appreciate any opinions, experiences, etc.

2/23/16       #2: New planer & jointer ...
Bruce H

I have a General 24" planer which I like. It has powered top and bottom rollers, digital readout with powered lift. Also has a spiral head which works well. I would have preferred a helical head but this will work. The depth of cut is a bit light, unlike my old Powermatic which could/would do a quarter inch plus if you wanted it to. This is not limited by HP but by design. What I really wanted was a Rotoplane but, too much money. (watch the video and dream)

I also have a General Jointer. I bought a 12" which turned out not to be wide enough. Same head as the planer, works OK. I do think it is under powered. Doing it over I'd look for a used jointer and re-build it. If you can find one in reasonable condition it shouldn't be all that hard. You would get a better machine and spend about half not counting you time.

If you are looking to buy new in the caliber of machine mentioned I'd guess you have about 20K to spend. Consider used machines and put the time into re-building them. I think you would get a more robust machine maybe giving up some of the whistles newer machines might have.

Rotoplane Planing Machine

4/16/16       #3: New planer & jointer ...
greg

I have a 20" SCMI jointer, which I got new 15 years ago(?). Not a bad machine but certainly not a great machine. I've had several minor problems from the start and SCMI has been worthless. I think their service advice dept. isn't set up in such a way where certain people are suppose to specialize in certain machines, but also because the 20" jointer is rare, at least I think it is, no one knows anything about it. And even more telling is I haven't found any one who cares! Their attitude seems to be "well that's too bad; maybe you should just buy another newer model".
(maybe this is just sour grapes, but I've had similar service issues with my SCMI wide belt)
Example, out of the box it cut perfectly. What a joy to be able to join the edge on 2 12' long boards and not have ANY gap between them. But since their knife setting device is slightly off getting fresh knives perfectly reset is a major operation. Doable yes, but not the way it should be.
The fence is bigger then the 16" jointer, as it should be, but it wasn't engineered to handle the heavier weight, so moving it is anything but easy.
For me, I wish I would have gotten the Martin. Today I would look also at Felder or an old Oliver. Kolle is also suppose to make "martin" like machines.
But what I learned is never buy something I haven't been able to test drive. But jointers aren't sexy so even going to IWF doesn't mean you'll be able to actually see what you might be interested in buying.
On the planer side of your question, I was able to land a 24" Northfield with their carbide head. Rock solid, well build, beautiful surface finish. The top and bottom adjustable feed rollers are great. Heavy metal at its finest. And they speak English, not to get too trump like!
The Northfield was a replacement for an older SCM 20" planer. The two machines are not in the same league, or price range.
If I had a fire I would look for another Northfield. I can't say that about the SCMI.


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