Powermatic 12" jointer

[Brad Pickens]

I'm looking for feedback from users of powermatic jointers--particularly their larger offerings (8" and up). It's time to upgrade the jointer in my shop and I'm exploring all my options--I've been really happy with the other powermatic equipment that i have so they're in the mix. I've found feedback and reviews on other jointers I'm considering, but nothing on powermatic. Anyone with experience with these machines that can share would be appreciated.
I've read all the comments about "paying extra for the yellow paint," etc. and am not interested in repeating those discussions as they say nothing about the machine itself--I'm just looking for solid feedback from PM jointer users.
Thanks for the help!

[Paul McGaha]

Hi Brad,

I have a PJ-882. I bought it in 2005 I think. I think you would be hard pressed to find a better 8" Jointer. Power is good (I think it's 2 HP), Dust Collection is good, The real strength of it is the tables are almost 7 ft long combined.

The fit and finish of mine was fine. The set up was uneventful.

I havent upgraded the cutter to a Byrd Head but I expect I will at some point. I bought a Powermatic 15-HH Planer last year and really like the Byrd Head as for as how quiet it cuts and the quality of the cut.

It's been a pleasure to own and use and I'd do it again.

Good luck with your decision and tool purchase.

PHM

[Van Huskey]

I have been researching the NEW 12" jointer market for several months now and have bounced around most of the offerings. My first requirement is the jointer comes from the factory with a carbide helical head, the second is that it muct do the simple job of a jointer well.

The low price option is the Asian or even Euro combo machines which give you a big jointer without big money. I have deceided I am not a combo machine guy since I have the room and the changeover even though it doesn't take much time and is relatively easy it just doesn't work with my general flow.

For stand alone 12" jointers you have 3 general price points, the highest being the Euro machines along with Northfield and though they are excellent they are a good bit more than I want to spend.

The second price point is the imports from Powermatic, Delta and Oliver. The PM and Delta do not come with a 4 sided carbide insert heads, the PM comes with a 2 sided insert which may be proprietary. In the end I have pretty much decided if I spend (unlikely) the $5000 for a jointer it will be an Oliver. Take a look at it and they have a short youtube clip about it. Even though it is imported it does have a Baldor (US) motor and is built in the "old iron" fashion. I really like the huge ships wheel table adjuster and even though it is a dovetail way jointer the tables are two pieces and fully adjustable without shims. I am a PM fan but I like the Oliver more, but admit I have not had a chance to use one, just look at them.

The low price point is the Grizzly G0609X (~$2500 delivered) from all the reviews and owners here it does the job it is designed to do, for me as a hobbiest it will probably be my choice. Just above it in price Laguna has a 12" dovetail way jointer. With the exception of the Oliver for the reason described above I am not a fan of DT jointers.

As for 8" jointers I must say there isn't new 8" jointer that I like better than the PJ882 w/Byrd head. It has lots of little details that make it a pleasure to use.

[Thomas Bennett]

I have a powermatic 12" jointer(made in Italy)...but it's green, not yellow. I converted it to a Byrd head about a year ago. I'll never go back to knives. At least consider a used , older machine before you buy an Far East import.
I surface all my lumber before planing. It's rare I need more than 12".

[Lewis Cobb]

Hi Brad,

I have a PJ-882. I bought it in 2005 I think. I think you would be hard pressed to find a better 8" Jointer. Power is good (I think it's 2 HP), Dust Collection is good, The real strength of it is the tables are almost 7 ft long combined.

The fit and finish of mine was fine. The set up was uneventful.

I havent upgraded the cutter to a Byrd Head but I expect I will at some point. I bought a Powermatic 15-HH Planer last year and really like the Byrd Head as for as how quiet it cuts and the quality of the cut.

It's been a pleasure to own and use and I'd do it again.

Good luck with your decision and tool purchase.

PHM

Another 882HH owner here. Came out of the crate and has been working great.

Paul hit the nail on the head with the table length. This machine is also quite a bit heavier than other 8" jointers. I had a friend's DJ20 in my shop for a while before I got my 882HH. The DJ20 is a fine machine and I was enjoying using it for the time it was "stored" at my house, but the Powermatic really dwarfed it when they were sitting side by side.

Jointers are not like women - the bigger and heavier they are the better.

Good luck with your purchase.

[ron ogle]

I have a new powermatic 8inch jointer with the byrd cutterhesd. The cutterhead is great.I had an older 6 inch powermatic and believe me this is junk compared to that.It took me several hours to get the tables right after I discovered a missing set screw.the fence is not flat.When I was face jointing I would somtimes catch the edge of the opening for the insert in the fence that rides on the table I took it apart and filed down edge.Wood would not slide on bed until I sanded down to 1200 grit.Cast iron is not cured as after 50 ft of hickory I found that the wood was leaving scratches in the infeed table.Chips will not come out of machine without dust collector.Sides of infeed table look like they were cut with a cutting torch and not finished which causes the table to be very jerky when trying to move up and down.Because of the byrd cutterhead there seems to be no way to set the out feed table to the cutterhead.When I called Powermatic they told me to set the machine on a level floor and set the outfeed table to level( it was then I knew I was in trouble)This machine is the same as any far east machine except for the price.This new company is taking advantage of Powermatics good name. If you are going for off shore machines you might as well get Grizzly and save a lot of money.I wish I would have asked around before I bought this one.

[John Ferandin]

Hi Brad,

I have a PJ-882. I bought it in 2005 I think. I think you would be hard pressed to find a better 8" Jointer. Power is good (I think it's 2 HP), Dust Collection is good, The real strength of it is the tables are almost 7 ft long combined.

The fit and finish of mine was fine. The set up was uneventful.

I havent upgraded the cutter to a Byrd Head but I expect I will at some point. I bought a Powermatic 15-HH Planer last year and really like the Byrd Head as for as how quiet it cuts and the quality of the cut.

It's been a pleasure to own and use and I'd do it again.

Good luck with your decision and tool purchase.

PHM

I too have had the PJ-882 since about 2005 and couldn't be happier with this 8" jointer. I make a lot of doors so I needed the long bed for the stiles - it works great. I would much prefer a 12" jointer but the price jump was beyond my budget at the time.

This year I upgraded it to a Byrd head and it was well worth the money (great price from Grizzly). The change out took no more than 2 hours after I had a machine shop press on new bearing.

The machine is heavy at ~800# so be ready. The Powermatic mobile base works great and is custom made for the body shape.

Good luck,
John

[Van Huskey]

I have a new powermatic 8inch jointer with the byrd cutterhesd. The cutterhead is great.I had an older 6 inch powermatic and believe me this is junk compared to that.It took me several hours to get the tables right after I discovered a missing set screw.the fence is not flat.When I was face jointing I would somtimes catch the edge of the opening for the insert in the fence that rides on the table I took it apart and filed down edge.Wood would not slide on bed until I sanded down to 1200 grit.Cast iron is not cured as after 50 ft of hickory I found that the wood was leaving scratches in the infeed table.Chips will not come out of machine without dust collector.Sides of infeed table look like they were cut with a cutting torch and not finished which causes the table to be very jerky when trying to move up and down.Because of the byrd cutterhead there seems to be no way to set the out feed table to the cutterhead.When I called Powermatic they told me to set the machine on a level floor and set the outfeed table to level( it was then I knew I was in trouble)This machine is the same as any far east machine except for the price.This new company is taking advantage of Powermatics good name. If you are going for off shore machines you might as well get Grizzly and save a lot of money.I wish I would have asked around before I bought this one.

Your first two posts are essentially the same and bashing a company?

Where did you buy it from, have you contacted your dealer? Have you contacted PM with a full list of your issues. In the end if PM does not take care of you then unfortunately you are the exception rather than the rule. Also which jointer do you have?

[Brad Pickens]

Thanks to everyone for the feedback so far--good to know that people have had generally good experiences with these jointers (too bad, Ron!).

I have a powermatic 12" jointer(made in Italy)...but it's green, not yellow. I converted it to a Byrd head about a year ago. I'll never go back to knives. At least consider a used , older machine before you buy an Far East import.

I am actually looking at the same machine that you have, but would need to remove the three-phase motor and buy a single phase motor for my shop. How is the dust collection on it? Do you have it on a mobile base? It looks like a parallelogram design rather than dovetailed ways--is that correct? Was the Byrd conversion fairly straightforward?

Van--thanks for your thoughts--that basically confirms what I've found as I've searched. I did look at the Oliver and I like everything about it except the dovetailed ways and the weight. Bigger is better, but I will need to move it on occasion in my smallish shop and the prospect of shifting 800 lbs. is less daunting that trying to toss around a 1,600 lb. hunk of iron.

the PM comes with a 2 sided insert which may be proprietary.

I am planning to buy whatever I get with straight knives and then upgrade to the byrd cutterhead first chance i get--i have the byrd head on my 15HH and so would have the same inserts for both machines rather than the funny two-sided inserts that PM sells with their helical head.

Thanks again for all the input!

[Thomas Bennett]

Dust coilection comes out a shoot on the lower back side. Byrd has the specs for the conversion. It was routine. As for the three phase, research a VFD at OWWM.com(Old Woodworking Machines if you haven't heard of it.) Less money to set it up than convert to single phase. Maybe you already know it, but three phase motors are simpler and require less maintenance than single phase.
Send me a PM if I can offer any other advise if you take this route.

Thanks to everyone for the feedback so far--good to know that people have had generally good experiences with these jointers (too bad, Ron!).



I am actually looking at the same machine that you have, but would need to remove the three-phase motor and buy a single phase motor for my shop. How is the dust collection on it? Do you have it on a mobile base? It looks like a parallelogram design rather than dovetailed ways--is that correct? Was the Byrd conversion fairly straightforward?

Van--thanks for your thoughts--that basically confirms what I've found as I've searched. I did look at the Oliver and I like everything about it except the dovetailed ways and the weight. Bigger is better, but I will need to move it on occasion in my smallish shop and the prospect of shifting 800 lbs. is less daunting that trying to toss around a 1,600 lb. hunk of iron.



I am planning to buy whatever I get with straight knives and then upgrade to the byrd cutterhead first chance i get--i have the byrd head on my 15HH and so would have the same inserts for both machines rather than the funny two-sided inserts that PM sells with their helical head.

Thanks again for all the input!

[Stephen Cherry]

This is a little off your initial topic, but I think you're smart in upgrading to 12 inches for the jointer. I started with a 12" (a big tiawanese grizzly) and have never regretted it. When I buy wood, it is not often that I get anything over 12", but there is plenty that is over 8".

[Steve Costa]

Let me add to the discussion. I have an 8" PM HH jointer. I bought it in May of 2009 and never have had a problem. It runs terrific, dust collection with a 1 1/2 HP dust collector works great. Machine is 2 HP, 1P, 220 V & 9 AMPS (I think).
If you are patient PM usually offers 15% off their machines 2 or 3 times per year. I bought mine from CPO-Powermatic. Free freight & delivered down a 200' driveway into my garage. Bought PMs 20" HH planer from the same place, free freight but with snow on the ground I had to pick it up.

Also, a 5 year warranty if for home use.

[ron ogle]

I didnt think I was bashing a company but telling my experience with this machine. This machine is very heavy and was purchased 100 miles away so its not like dealing with your local hardware where you could easily return it.I have made the necessary repairs myself to save the headache of trying to get the dealer that far away to take it back.This may have been the only machine they have made poorly but everything I said was factual.As far as factory help, when they told me to find a level spot to put it and then set the outfeed table level I didnt think this sounded like a good way to do it.Jointer sells for $2600 and is no better than any other far east machine.On second thought maybe I was bashing them as they are ruining Powermatics good name.If this site doesnt want true reports I am in the wrong place.

[Thomas S Stockton]

I think you'll find that it is cheaper and easier to run a phase converter than swap out the motor. The other thing is if you can find a machine with a tersa head you might find that you don't need a spiral cutterhead since it is so easy to put in a set of sharp knives when you encounter difficult grain.
I have a Griggio I bought used with a tersa head and am very satisfied with it and it was about the same price as a quality import.
Tom

[Van Huskey]

I didnt think I was bashing a company but telling my experience with this machine. This machine is very heavy and was purchased 100 miles away so its not like dealing with your local hardware where you could easily return it.I have made the necessary repairs myself to save the headache of trying to get the dealer that far away to take it back.This may have been the only machine they have made poorly but everything I said was factual.As far as factory help, when they told me to find a level spot to put it and then set the outfeed table level I didnt think this sounded like a good way to do it.Jointer sells for $2600 and is no better than any other far east machine.On second thought maybe I was bashing them as they are ruining Powermatics good name.If this site doesnt want true reports I am in the wrong place.

First, let me welcome you to the site and assure you that first hand reports of machines are welcome here whether favorable or not. Let me try to give you an anology of what I was trying to say:

Let us say someone moves into a new neighborhood. Each week the neighborhood has a "party" where everyone is invited, you decide to drop in. You walk into the party, don't introduce yourself and start telling people you bought a widget from XYZ corp and it is garbage. On the surface this might strike some as dubious and they may wonder about your motives. On internet forums people that do this often get branded as a troll. I have no reason to think you are not merely relating your experience and your opinions both accurately but this may not be the case for everyone.

The other point is this is a big resource for help with CS issues. The are numbers of posts where people have had good to excellent luck with PM service, many include a service call to ones home to rectify the situation, most people are happy in the end. By poking around here you would realize that the service you received is not the norm and you may have realized another call might have got you satisfaction instead of leaving the bitter taste of $2600 you feel poorly spent in your mouth.

There is no question that you got a poorly manufactured machine and your CS was way off the mark and both deserve to be told. Though you should not be under any burden to pester a manufacturer for help it often takes a second call to get companies moving which is sad but a fact of life. You have a resonable gripe BUT if that is all you ever speak about then people tend to tune you out and your legitimate point loses its impact.

I also agree that the PM machines are NOT what they used to be, which actually may be good for us since if they were they would cost 3 times as much. If you want quality equal to the old "American iron" it is available BUT expect to pay significantly more.