Planers

Here's a scenario for you. You wake up Saturday morning with the intention of starting that woodworking project you've been putting off. Maybe it’s the toys for the kids or grandchildren for the holidays not far off in the future, or maybe it’s something more complex like the kitchen cabinets you’ve been promising your spouse for quite some time. What’s the first thing you do? Head to the lumberyard for some nice, clean lumber, right? I’ve got a neat idea. Why not invest in a surface planer, purchase rough cut lumber, and clean it up yourself and save big dollars. I’m a big proponent of surface planers for that reason. They will pay for themselves in no time flat. The most common shop planer is the 15" series, and for this reason, this is the planer we will focus on in this column. For those of you who are looking towards portable planers, we will address those in a later article.

There are three different brands we will address here. The 15" planers by Delta, Jet and Powermatic have many similarities as well as several differences, and we will address them all. First of all, all will plane a full 15" width board. The thickness of the stock varies from a maximum of 6" on the Powermatic & Jet, to 6 1/2" on the Delta, with 1/8" being the minimum. These parameters should be sufficient for most planing applications.

The first question I’m always asked is how much snipe am I going to get. For those of you who are unaware, snipe is when you get little pock marks at the beginning or end of your material. This could be caused by vibration in the board passing through the planer, or the blades not being set correctly. The bottom line is all three models are pretty much snipe free. The key is to keep those knives set properly, and the use of a good knife setting jig will help to avoid snipe in the future. The blade changing is also a major concern, and I’m happy to say that all machines offer relatively easy blade changing.

Your probably asking yourself what separates these machines. Well, I’ve told you of the similarities, now lets address the differences. First, the Delta. This features a 2 HP motor with a large handwheel which raises and lowers the cutterhead to the required height. It includes a steel stand to bring it to the proper height, and infeed and outfeed boards to offer stability to your workpiece. Chip collection could be accomplished by adding an optional connector, as could mobility by adding an optional mobile base.

Now for the Powermatic and the Jet. I will tell of the features of these models together as they are almost exactly the same, with some subtle differences. These planers are 3 HP with the table adjusted both up and down to set the proper cutting height. It has an enclosed stand with built in electricals. Here is the first difference. The Jet’s electricals are located above the cutterhead on the left side of the machine, the Powermatic’s is on the right side of the machine, below the table height. I feel the Jet is more convenient and safer for the operator.

Both feature infeed and outfeed roller tables, and built in rollers on the base for mobility. The Jet also has a foot pedal to lock the rollers down. This is a great feature to have. It prevents the planer from rolling during operation. They also come with a chip removal connector. Simply install your dust hose and you’re set.

Now for price. All are priced about the same. Based upon that and the above, the Jet gets the Guru’s nod as the best buy. The position of the switch and the foot pedal set it apart from the Powermatic, although the Powermatic does run a close second.

As always, I welcome any questions or comments you may have. Feel free to e-mail me at dbarnett@internationaltool.com. Speak to you soon!

Till next month,

Dean "The Tool Guru" Barnett, President

International Tool Corporation

Email the Guru.

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