Which 20" jointer to buy

[Jason Roskey]

Hello, I'm in the market for a new European 20" jointer. I will probably be going with Tersa knives vs. a spiral cutterhead. This is an upgrade from a 12" grizzly, and will be paired with my 20" SCMI planer (with byrd cutterhead). We do a lot of large dining tables so a long infeed bed is very important. I've narrowed my choices to the following, and am wondering what others opinions are. I'm not interested in old American iron and the Martin is more than I want to spend.

SCM 520 Nova - $11k
SCM 520 Class - $13k
SCM F7 L'Invincible - $17k
Robland S510 - $15k
Format-4 51 L - ???

Has anyone had any experience with the Robland and the Format? Felder has it's fans but plenty of detractors, too. Robland seems to be a smaller market player. Thanks so much!

Jason

[Larry Edgerton]

I have a SCM 520 paired with a Minimax F310 and I am currently making a pair of large tables. Ironic......

My jointer is only 12", but I am happy with it other than I am going to install a Byrd head at some point. I have Tersa in the planer and love it but I want to be able to clean up rough stock with the jointer. I had a Powermatic Jointer with a Byrd and loved it. I don't see a jointer as a finish machine anyway and it was nice to be able to run suspect stock across the head and not worry about buying another set of Tersa knives.

That being said, if an F410 was to show up at my door with a Tersa I would not be at all sad.

Larry

[David Kumm]

What differences are spec'd between the SCM models? I'm sure the base is heavier but how much. Is the cast iron ground to a tighter tolerance on any of the three? Robland would not be on my list. Is the electronic infeed or spring joint important? Format and L'invincible will come with electronics but would like to know the other build differences. Dave

[Jason Roskey]

David,
The weights are as follows for the SCM - Nova 1,587, Class 1,658 and F7 is 1,885. The weight difference between the class & the nova is probably just the electronics above the machine. They look to be identical with the exception of a couple of bells and whistles like the fence and electronic infeed table. The Format was 2,024 lbs.

[Gregory Stahl]

I have the f520 nova--very happy with it. I tried buying a SAC 20" with the longer bed, but I had a hard time finding someone that could import it.

When talking with my SCMI rep, he told me they rarely ever sell the higher-end jointers, and if I wanted one, it would be built to order. The nova machines are stocked--they usually offer a great sale price on them. He then offered me the 20" for the price of what dealers are asking for a used 16" and shipped it to me for free!

The steel base on my machine is over 5mm thick--much thinker than the k900 series Felder saw I owned at the time.

I too had a 12" grizzly that was replaced with this-- I'll upload a pic with the two next to each other later tonight.

[David Kumm]

SAC was a little heavier build than the Nova but they aren't in business. SCMI is by far the largest player in the industrial game today. Dave

[Jim Becker]

I'd likely be considering the SCMI for the reason David mentions...

[Gregory Stahl]

Here are some pics of the delivery of my F520 and some shots next to my Grizzly G0609 that it replaced. I had a very difficult time getting this machine off the truck--the pallet under the machine collapsed and the crate itself had many holes in it. I could not get forks under it nor could we move it on the truck. I ended up using my neighbor's dock and dragged the pallet off with a chain. Finally, we used one forklift to lift the pallet from the end and the other to get under it! The machine was not damaged at all.

F520-2.jpgF520-3.jpgF520-4.jpgF520-5.jpgF520-6.jpgF520-7.jpgF520-8.jpg

[David Kumm]

Maybe Erik will post the differences among the SCMI models. Dave

[Jason Roskey]

Gregory, thanks so much for posting the images. Who did you order from? I had the same issue with an SCM sliding table saw. It wasn't palletized at all - just thrown on a truck with a tarp over it. I'm actually replacing the exact same grizzly...actually will save it for back up. That thing is a monster!

[Andrew Joiner]

Hello, I'm in the market for a new European 20" jointer. I will probably be going with Tersa knives vs. a spiral cutterhead. This is an upgrade from a 12" grizzly, and will be paired with my 20" SCMI planer (with byrd cutterhead). We do a lot of large dining tables so a long infeed bed is very important.

I have no experience with 20" jointers. I can only think what a luxury problem it must be. To have lots of wide long boards to face is a woodworkers dream! Good for you Jason.

The biggest boards I flatten are 13'' wide by 9' long. I do it with a planer sled. Every time I do it I'm so glad I don't have to push it down onto jointer tables. With a sled, gravity is your friend and you have power feed already on the planer. You could make a nice stiff torsion box sled for your wide boards.

[Rick Fisher]

I have a 12" Griggio which I am going to sell one of these days, and a 16" Griggio which I am going to restore one of these days.

The build quality is probably in the same class as the items mentioned.. a little older technology .. Griggio however does use the grooved cast Iron, which I really prefer to smooth.

The other day I got an email from Martin USA saying they where over stocked on Jointers and planers. I would buy the Martin if priced close to the ones mentioned. Martin also uses the grooved cast surfaces. Not sure what a martin is priced at..

[Rick Fisher]

Grooved cast iron is my words.. I am talking about this finish..


My old SCM bandsaw has that same surface .. I quite like it .

[Larry Edgerton]

Ha! When I was in my 20's I bought a Minimax SC10 with a planed top and not knowing the difference I had the top ground smooth like my Powermatic. Silly me.......

Larry

[Robert LaPlaca]

The other day I got an email from Martin USA saying they where over stocked on Jointers and planers. I would buy the Martin if priced close to the ones mentioned. Martin also uses the grooved cast surfaces. Not sure what a martin is priced at..

IIRC I believe the price for the Martin T54 is in the $30k range, it's a beautiful machine. I actually visited the Martin showroom to look at another machine, one tip I can offer is to never visit the Martin showroom with SWMBO, seemed like a good idea at the time....