I'm spending 10K - are those the right choices?

[Gilbert Grenier]

Hello all,

I've been reading a lot of threads about a lot of topics, but always in the shadow. Today I'm jumping in with the results of my inquiries. But first some backgroud info... (By the way I apologize if my english writing is not very good, I'm french canadian and I never really took english writing lessons )

Basically I've been working wood as a hobby for most of my adult life, building decks, outside furniture and the like. But I'm getting a lot of demand for house furniture and giving it a try, I realized that the level of precision needed, the type of wood used, and the fact that people are expecting much more when it comes to this type of product is not compatible with my actual machinery and set-up. As of today I work with a Bosch mitter saw, DeWalt portable table saw, hand power tools and basic hand tools.

Starting january 2015, I will be working full time as a woodworker and I'll spend 75% of my time doing house furniture and 25% (mostly summer) doing decks and garden furniture. I'll be working in my garage for now and hopefully be able to have a dedicated shop soon enough. As many of us do, I'll be sharing garage space with my wife's car at night so I'll move my equipment around, available space being 13x17. But I'm okay with that. Below I'll share my choices and my priorities. Please feel more than welcome to share opinions, insight, questions, anything that could help avoiding big mistakes. Also note that for some reason I don't seem to find dealers for Delta, Jet and some stuff from Grizzly among others. Canada is a pretty small market I guess.

Here we go...

priority #1 - table saw - my choice: Sawstop professional

priority #2 - jointer /planer - my choice: hammer A3-31, unless you suggest I go with 2 separate machines

priority #3 - bandsaw - my choice: Grizzly G0555LAN (as you can see, less $$ available lol)

priority #4 - press drill - my choice: Shopfox W1668

priority #5 - router - my choice: PC 7518

The only thing I was not able to decide on is the right dust collector. Powermatic 1300tx? Grizzly G0703?...

Did I miss something, a piece of equipment I didn't think of?

As I said, all insights are welcome and thanks for reading the whole thing

[Wade Lippman]

There are no bad choices; it is a matter of what you need and what you have to spend. I bought a cheap bandsaw and a cheap drillpress because I know they will be adequate. Someone else probably couldn't live like that.

Personally I would get a 2hp cyclone minimum and a separate planer and jointer. I am sure there are good reasons to go with a combination machine, but I haven't found one.

[Matt Day]

Quite a first post!

IMO, outfitting an entire shop with any amount of money (within reason) is nearly impossible. The amount of money that is spent on smalls, jigs, hand tools, fasteners, consumables, small power tools, etc probably adds up to half your budget.
If your question is "I have $10k to buy these 4 tools", then you've got some great choices there. You're just not going to outfit an entire shop with the machines you selected.
If it were me I'd figure out which tools I really needed and go from there. Good luck!

[Bill White]

I'm not a fan of multi-function machines. Go with separate joiner and planer. Good choice on the band saw.
All the rest sound like good machines.
Good luck on your new adventure.
Bill

[Andrew Gold]

Quite a first post!

IMO, outfitting an entire shop with any amount of money (within reason) is nearly impossible. The amount of money that is spent on smalls, jigs, hand tools, fasteners, consumables, small power tools, etc probably adds up to half your budget.
If your question is "I have $10k to buy these 4 tools", then you've got some great choices there. You're just not going to outfit an entire shop with the machines you selected.
If it were me I'd figure out which tools I really needed and go from there. Good luck!

I think the above is great advice, though you do have a really good list started. In many ways, I think the best approach is to start building the things you want to make; as you reach spots you can't work with what you have, you'll know what to buy. Not much help if you're hoping to work full time from day one, as this approach clearly leads to some downtime while waiting on a new piece of machinery to show up. For me, that trade off is worth it to know you're buying machines that align with your preferred style of work.

[Mark Carlson]

I like your table saw and jointer/planer choices and the router if you're putting it in a router table. Get the dust collector with the 1st purchase. Have fun.

~mark

[David Nelson1]

Gilbert,
I'm not crazy about combo machines as well but I have an A3-31 to reduce the foo print of larger machines. Having had seperate machines prior to owning the Hammer I found it bit frustrating to have to think well ahead of any operation to avoid converting the machine from one to the other. I had to change the way I worked ... not to much of an adjustment but it can be a hassle if gag a piece up and then try to rematch the same exact same thinkness. The tidbit I can offer is to not get the analog clock for thinkness setting but put that money to use on a byrde head, you be way ahead of the game.

The machine is metric no surprise there right. Well the clock can be ordered in metric or imperial measurements. So far so good right.... one rotation is 2 mm or .0787... still no real big deal right. What got to me was the hand never rolls back to TDC to complete a cycle. At .500 the sweeping hand could read anywhere on the face and you have to add the tick mark to find the numbers. It works after you figure it out but jeez they could have changed the gear ratio to correct that problem so the face read in normal matter.

Other than those two comments, it's a great machine and pretty quiet for a straight knifed machine. I would recomend it if you had a small shop.

[Gilbert Grenier]

Thanks Mark, duct collection will definitely be part of the initial purchase.

[Gilbert Grenier]

I figured the same, more on key components, less on these 2 items. Not sure i'll have the $ for a cyclone but i'll definitely keep it in mind.

[Art Mann]

My advice is to move slowly and let your projects dictate what equipment you should buy. For example, the Grizzly band saw seems to me to be a very well respected cast iron machine, at least on SMC. However, I would not buy that model. For many years, I managed just fine with only a high end jigsaw to cut curved pieces. Recently, my woodworking has taken a direction where I need to resaw boards to specific thicknesses that aren't widely available. The 555 just doesn't have the re-saw capacity I need. I have a 14" steel frame saw but I am looking for a 17" or 19" saw with a 2 or 3 hp motor.

Here is my experience with dust collection. I started with a strategy of using multiple small capacity mobile machines to do the job. My strategy was that I could add capacity incrementally as required. I now think that was a mistake. When I build a new shop, I am going to budget for a single high power cyclone system.

One more thing - I agree with Wade that if you have the space, buy separate jointer and planer machines. A multipurpose machine requires more planning and discipline than I have. I would spend half my time changing the machine from one configuration to the other.

[Gilbert Grenier]

Thanks Dave, that's exactly the kind of feedback I'm looking for. Metric is not a problem for me, Quebec has been metric for some time now so I'm used to see both (my kids are 100% metric). Foot print is indeed important, that's my primary reason to look at this machine. Also, unless I'm mistaken, I would have to spend close to 4k for a good 8" jointer and 12" planer so I figured I could go with the hammer for the same price (ballpark) and save on the space. Reviews being usually great, I basically just need to figure out if I can deal with the hassle.

[David Kumm]

You will get lots of opinions, here's mine. I'd go separates for jointer and planer as there are lots of options, new and used for less $$. My most used machines are my table saws and my short stroke sliders are by far the most versatile for furniture work. My preference is old iron but there are a few made today. Hammer is one. Lock the table and you have a traditional but the ability to accurately size to length on a slider is huge in my world. Key is to not have the table protrude in front of the machine on a short stroke or ripping gets less comfortable. Even my little Hammond gets use on every project. Depends on the type of work but my sliders make a traditional saw ( I have several ) collect dust. Dave

[paul cottingham]

I would definitely be looking at a mortiser. One of the power tools I wouldn't be without.

[Gilbert Grenier]

Need vs want...are you my wife under another name?

Seriously, that's where the problem lies. I need to figure out today's need, my potential need in the future and take out what is overkill and what is "emotional" over rational.

I think the table saw is the right choice to cover for my future needs. Dust collection is a must since I'm working in an attached garage. Jointer and planner are also must have but maybe I can do fine with a 6" jointer and 12" planner instead of the bigger stuff. Bandsaw I could probably wait and keep going with the jigsaw for a while. I don't believe I'll resaw anything thicker than 2 inches for now. Press drill are pretty cheap and my wife wants to turn pen so I guess it's no big deal to include it.

[Brian Kincaid]

Since you are now a fine furniture guy:
Get a tracksaw cutting table setup (I like Eurekazone, Festool is a good choice).
Real shopvac (Fein or Festool)
Festool domino
Stop fence for your miter saw

Next
Get a jointer and planer or J/P combo with a byrd style head. It is MUCH less noisy.
Dust collector is required for J, P. An Oneida 3hp Superguerilla is a good future-proof choice. You can eek by with a 25' 5" flex hose and some fittings until you claim a permanent workspace.

Save the rest of your money until you identify a need on an actual project. In my shop I have a dust collector, jointer, planer, and tracksaw table. Sold the table saw long ago and the bandsaw recently. I might purchase another bandsaw at some point but I don't need one in any project I have planned at this point.
If you will NEED one hold out for a nice bandsaw MM20 or maybe MM24, purchase a good carbide tooth blade like the Laguna resaw king.

Decide if you really NEED a table saw or if it is just what you are used to having...

-Brian