Need help on what I should spend my newly acquired money on - Jointer/Planer

[David B Thornton]

So today I sold my bass boat, and shed a tear as I saw it and all the great time spent on it drive right away from me. I then quickly picked up my Grizzly catalog and wiped that tear right off! I now have both sides of my two car garage(shop) to be fully utilized as my woodworking area. My wife has her sewing room/domain, so this is now all mine! *Insert sinister laugh here*

Yes, I know what you're thinking. You sold you're bass boat to buy woodworking equipment? Yes, the sickness is strong in me, and you know you would/have all done the same

So here is what I'm looking on some insight for. I need to figure out what I should spend the money on, and in what order, or at least get input from all of you. I've got $2100 to drop.

This is what I've got so far in the power tool department:
Grizzly G1023SLWX 10" TS
Jet JBS-14 Bandsaw
Makita LS1013F SCMS
Milwaukee 1-3/4HP Fixed and Plunge Base routers

My two top priorities are to wire in a subpanel with 220 for the machines, lights, etc. etc. Then I need to get a dust collector, which I still need to do some research and figure out what would work best for me. I've got a 21'x23' space, but I'm thinking that the best place to look for assistance on the DC is in the Workshops forum, so we will skip that. The next two things that the bulk of the money will go towards is a jointer and a planer. I've been looking at the Grizzly G0453 15" planer and the Grizzly G0490(x) 8" jointer (Comments on these machines?). I really like the Grizzly machines, including the price point. I can also pick up my machines at the local Grizzly, so that helps with the freight charges.

My real question comes as should I get both machines, but don't get the best that I can, or should I splurge on just one machine, and worry about the other one later? I woodwork as a hobby, so the best may not be necessary, but like you all know, just because it's not necessary, doesn't mean that we don't WANT it. Another thing that I need to consider is the noise that the machines will make. I live in a residential area with a HOA where the houses are pretty close together. I don't plan on running the machines late at night or early in the morning, so I'm hoping that the neighbors won't start to get annoyed. With that in mind, would it be highly beneficial in a non-woodworking sense to get machines with spiral cutterheads to cut down on the noise, or is the difference in knives and spiral cutterheads minimal? I don't do much at all if any figured woods, so spiral heads aren't highly crucial to me in that sense.

What do you guys think? Sorry for the long post, but with this big pile of cash in my hand, I'm getting very anxious to spend it!

[Cary Falk]

I guess it will all depend on the type of projects you intend to build. The Table saw would be on the top of the list for me and I wouldn't skimp on that. The Grizzly is a great choice.A router is pretty important to me also. I hardly use my CMS. I have a 17" BS after owning a 14". Roe me the BS is a luxury item. For others it is a necessity. I have a 13" lunchbox planer and am saving my money for the G0453Z for noise reasons. I haven't had any complaints in the last 8 years for noise but it is loud in the garage. A jointer is pretty important also in conjunction with the Planer. I have Shop Fox version of the G0490.

[lou sansone]

hi David
what about getting a jointer planer combo?

lou

[Roger Bullock]

You mentioned that the Grizzly outlet is not too far from you. Since most of these machines are imported, they are subject to lots of handling and transfers during transport thus leading to more chances of being scratched or slightly damaged. I've heard that these scratched machines are either place separately within the store and discounted in price or kept off the floor and offered a couple of time a year in a scratch and dent sale. You might ask at your local store to see how they sell their scratch and dented item. This could save you several $$$$$$. As for what to purchase, a jointer or a planner. If your table saw is setup properly (everything square, fence to blade, blade to table, etc.) and you have a good blade installed you can achieve a decent glue joint. No other machine in the shop can replace a planner and I don't know how I would get anything completed without one in my shop. If you can swing getting the spiral cutter heads, that would be the way to go. Bladed machines get nicked in the same place on all two or three blade when they hit something (and yes you are going to nick some blades, trust me) and you have to replace a full set of knifes, $$. With the spiral cutters have the small carbide cutters that you purchase in packs of 10 at a cost of a couple bucks each and you just replace the chipped ones. Plus stay sharp much longer and as an added bonus they are four sided and if not severely damaged, your just rotate them 1/4 turn to a new surface.

[glenn bradley]

You will find similar discussions here on the forum that may add additional info. There will be many different responses as we all do many different things. What is important to one may be inconsequential to another; just factor that in and you'll do fine.

Knowing that with some shop made jigs, you can edge joint with your tablesaw or router; my answer is as follows: You can joint with a planer and sled but cannot plane with a jointer.

I love the spiral head on my jointer and am always wishing for one on my planer. I'd be hard pressed to buy a new machine without one. That being said and knowing the cost of said machine; I bought the G0490X and went light on the planer till I could get a better one.

I face joint boards over 8" (a rare occurance for me) with a planer sled on my DW734 lunchbox planer which does a nice job for the price (the price was around $350 when I got it). It also is more than adequate for my planing needs outside of some tearout on difficult grains. Hence the desire for a spiral on my next planer. The G0453 is a nice machine but I would hold out for the spiral head if I were going to move into that cost neighborhood on a planer. YMMV.

[Rod Sheridan]

Hi David, I replaced a stationary planer and jointer with a combination machine 2 years ago, and wish that I had done it sooner.

I have a Hammer A3-31, and really like have a wide jointer (12"), with matching planer.

The quick change knives are great, I can replace them in about 5 minutes with no adjustment required.

In addition, the machine acccepts clip on bed extensions so the machine can be as large, or compact as the job requires.

These style of machines are hard to beat........Regards, Rod.

[Ron Bott]

what about getting a jointer planer combo?
lou

+1. To me, this seems to be a better way to go. Having the same jointing and planing capacity makes sense, even if space savings isn't an issue. Some will argue about a combo machine having to short of tables for jointing longer boards, but for the most part this a technique problem.

[Paul B. Cresti]

I have a shop not that much bigger than yours (former two car garage) and have a lot of industrial machinery in it. While you "seem" to now have more space do not forget to allow yourself for work areas (bench) and assembly areas....not to mention wood storage if other spaces on your property or in your house do not allow.

One particular machine I have of interest is a 16" j/p. The best space saving investment I have done. In my case I also have a horizontal mortising attachment for my j/p so it now serves as three machines in one footprint. The other thing that this machine does is it is mobile (as mobile as 1000lb+ machine can be) with an internal mobility kit. It allows me to move it in order to create larger assembly areas if needed. I do not do this often but I can if need be.

The $2100 will go fast so if that is your budget start from there first....is DC included in that budget? Do look at Clear Vue cyclones...very good designs

[David B Thornton]

+1. To me, this seems to be a better way to go. Having the same jointing and planing capacity makes sense, even if space savings isn't an issue. Some will argue about a combo machine having to short of tables for jointing longer boards, but for the most part this a technique problem.

I've looked into the dual purpose machines, but the only thing I've always wondered is what is compromised having both machines in one. Will the quality of cut on both machines be the same as having two separate machines?

The $2100 will go fast so if that is your budget start from there first....is DC included in that budget? Do look at Clear Vue cyclones...very good designs

The $2100 is for everything, including wiring and a DC. I was thinking about something along the lines of the Grizzly G0548Z 2HP Canister DC. Not sure I'll warrant the need for a large cyclone at this time.

Also, I've considered getting just the knife version of either the jointer/planer and then upgrading later to a Byrd Shelix cutterhead. I'm assuming that these would be better than the ones that Grizzly puts into their machines, and would cost around the same price or a little more to upgrade later. Is this a good assumption?

[Rod Sheridan]

[QUOTE=David B Thornton;1302114]I've looked into the dual purpose machines, but the only thing I've always wondered is what is compromised having both machines in one. Will the quality of cut on both machines be the same as having two separate machines?



QUOTE]

I went to a Hammer combo from separate General machines, which cost more than the combo did.

The combo has better performance, and increased capacity........Rod.

[Michael Drew]

I just upgraded to a cabinet saw from a contractor’s saw. Wish I would have done that years ago. I would definitely get the TS you want first and pimp it out how you want with accessories. Make sure it has a great fence, whatever you do. Either that or buy a used machine or contractor’s saw and put a new fence on it. I now look forward to using my TS just so I can play with the Incra fence. After the TS, I can’t imagine living without my jointer or my planer. I know some rip glue lines with their TS, but I just like taking a couple quick passes with the jointer. I’d hate to loose that machine. The planer is also a must for me. It’s so much nicer to have all my boards exact in dimension and my planer is the tool I use for accomplishing that. I use a Jet 6” jointer and really have no desire to upgrade, even if I had the room. I use a Rigid 13” planer that fits on a full extension shelf in one of my cabinets in the garage when not in use. I have no desire to upgrade the planer either. My BS, I like having it for times when I need it, but I can make do without it. I don’t use it very often. I use my drill press more than the BS. You’ll have to buy a DC for the planer and jointer. No choice there, but you can go cheap with a little Jet unit. I have one and it does the job, doesn’t take up a lot of floor space and it’s quiet. I find that I also use my router table fairly frequently. Not sure if I could live without that either……. With a nicely set up router table, you could use it for glue joint cutting.

I’d rank the order of non-hand held tools – 1) TS 2) planer 3) router table 4) jointer 5) drill press 6) band saw

[Curt Harms]

The thought about scratch & dent at Grizzly is a good one. I got a small metal cutting band saw that retails for $264 or so for $80. I had to buy about $50 worth of parts so it worked out to 50% of retail or so. Another place to check would be equipment sales & surplus in Auburn, WA. They occasionally have Jet & Powermatic refurbs. I have the Jet 12" jointer/planer with straight knives. The helical head wasn't offered when I bought mine. Having a 12" jointer can be real useful if you work with rough lumber. And the Jet with straight knives runs right around $2,000 I think. The helical head runs $500 more. I looked into retrofitting a helical head from Byrd. It was over $1,000. No thanks.