Planers?

[Curt Harms]

http://woodworking.jettools.com/Resu...px?cat=2560693. I have no knowledge of these machines aside from what's on Jet's site. For preparing rough stock it's sure useful to have a jointer wide enough to face joint most of your stock. The beds are fairly short-around 36" I believe-and I suspect the motor is a universal so they may be loud. You'd need infeed and outfeed support, like roller stands. Too much of a "toy" to be useful? Still, for around $400 for a 8 to 10" planer AND jointer..........

I have a friend who has a Delta TP305. It's a 2 post machine no cutterhead lock and is a sniping little rascal. I'm sure some of the sniping can be adjusted out but expect snipe on both ends.

[Dave Parsons]

If you are looking at the Dewalt, you might want to check out Steelcity's new 13" portable helical head for $599.00. I'm saving money to by that planer right now.

The planer is not on there product page yet but it is on a sneak peak link on the front page of there website.

Well I was hoping not to spend that kind of money, but to get into a helical cutterhead for $600 seems pretty good. I guess they are supposed to be available in April, I going to give this one some serious thought.

[Eric Franklin]

Well I was hoping not to spend that kind of money, but to get into a helical cutterhead for $600 seems pretty good. I guess they are supposed to be available in April, I going to give this one some serious thought.

I talked to a Steelcity Rep a week ago and he said they are shipping now.

[Eric DeSilva]

Taunton's Fine Homebuilding mag just did a review of a bunch of lunchbox planers, including the SC. My recollection was that they weren't impressed by the helical head. Top overall was Dewalt's 735, top value was the Rigid.

[Shawn Honeychurch]

Is the TP305 they have on the lowe's site for $239 good enough?

Hey Dave;
I have this exact planer and it is great. Easy to adjust, holds adjustments well and double sided knives (real easy to change and self positioning) to boot. No snipe at all, it just plain works fantastic. With good knives the surfacing is perfect, no need to even sand. It's loud but they all are. Get it!.

I built a sled to allow me to use it as a jointer as well and it is great, I am seriously considering getting rid of the jointer to open up some more space in my shop.

Shawn

[Jim Rimmer]

Don't know how much work you're going to be doing. As a hobbyist, I recently purchased a Ryobi surface planer (as well as a Delta jointer) from eBay. Only problem was the knives on the surfacer had nicks but they are double sided so I just flipped them over. These machines are not for folks who do a lot of planing but work fine for me. Much better equipment is out there for more $ but these fit my needs.