Powermatic 209 planer

[Jonathan Spool]

I'm getting tired of the lack of performance of my Dewalt DW735. Served its purpose for a while, but I'm tired of its inconsistant feeding of larger stock. Time to move up. I'm thinking of going 5HP 20". Any opinions on the Powermatic 209?

[Michael Simpson Virgina]

Sorry there is no way I would ever recomend a Powermatic product. For the money you would spedn I think you could get a better bang for your buck elswhere.

See my PM joiner and drill press threads.

[Rod Sheridan]

Jonathan, is there a reason you want a 20" planer?

Do you have a 20" jointer?

The reason I'm asking is that I went from a General jointer and planer (High quality made in Canada stuff) to a Hammer 12" jointer/planer and couldn't be happier.

I would suggest that you look at Felder/Hammer/MiniMax and get a high performance, high quality machine with excellent cuctomer support.

Regards, Rod.

[Paul McGaha]

Hi Jonathan,

I bought a 15" Planer last year, A Powermatic 15HH. It's been fine. No problems with it.

If I was to do it again though I think I would take a very hard look at the 15" Byrd Head Planer from Grizzly. It does seem to be very comparable to the Powermatic and priced about a $1K less. Lot of bang for the buck with Grizzly and many satisfied Grissly owners here on the creek.

I went from a lunchbox planer (Rigid TP-1300) to a full size planer (w Byrd Head) last year. You are going to love the upgrade. Dust Collector is louder than the planer. You're not going to believe it.

Good luck with it.

PHM

Just my $.02.

[Jonathan Spool]

Rod,
You asked why a 20" planer if I didn't have a 20" jointer:
If I never did glue ups my planer would not need to exceed the width of my 12" jointer. While it does not make sense to purchase a jointer that exceeds the width of your planer, I find it convienient to run glued panels
and even sometimes cabinet doors (if I did a poor job on them) through the planer prior to the sander. So with a 20" planer I can run reasonably wide panels through, and then sand out any imperfections on the 16/32 drum. I could just use the 16/32 but then I would go through a lot of paper, and have to make more frequent grit changes.
Also, when I have a bunch of lumber to plane, I will start one length down one side of the planer, then pick up another length, and get it going down the other side. Cuts planing time in half. My 13" planer limited me to two 6" boards at a time. With the 20" planer I will run 3 of those, or a couple 8" pieces at a time.

[John Stan]

I have not had particularly good luck with my PM15 HH planer and especially with Powermatic's customer service. If it was my money, I would buy a Grizzly - they seem to stand behind their products much better.

[Zach Callum]

I have seen a couple of 20" SCMI planers for sale recently for a good price. There was one on ebay a couple days ago...

[Van Huskey]

I have a 15HH and have had 100% great luck with it. That said the Grizzly only lacks a small amount of the PMs value added features/warranty so I would probably look in their line. I know I am taking about a 15" planer and you ask about a 20" but to me the 20" is a waste of money...

I know, I know glue ups you say. BUT, my opinion is get a smaller planer (obviously as big as your jointer and the 15" four post generic planers are the "best buy" for a heavy smaller machine) AND get a drum sander. If you are talking about a 209 with a helical head (I wouldn't consider buying a planer without one) you can get the Grizzly 15" helical head planer and have over $2,000 left for a drum sander. In my view you will have a shop with more capacity and versatility for the same price. Currently the Jet 22-44 and 22-44 OCS are on sale and get you out with a Griz planer well under the cost of a helical 209.

[Jonathan Spool]

Thats not a bad suggestion Van. I'll have to think about that.

[Cary Falk]

Thats not a bad suggestion Van. I'll have to think about that.

I have teh G0453Z and an 18/36 drum sander and like the combination. A 22/44 would be even better.

[Jason Raksnis]

I went from a 6 inch delta jointer to a 12" grizzly jointer. I went from a 13 inch hitachi planer to a 20 inch griz. Ive never heard of one person that said, man I wish i would have gotten a smaller machine. This thing is just to big! Ive had times where i wish i would have gotten a 24 inch. Im on the lookout for a good 16 inch jointer to replace my 12 inch. I'll keep you informed!

[Mike Heidrick]

I do not know an owner of (and an owner with the space for) a well running and tuned 12" jointer and 20" planer who wishes for a 15" or 12" planer or a 12" combo machine of any quality.

Chances are if you can afford a 12" jointer and a 20" planer you can also eventually afford a drum sander.

My advice - buy the best tool you can afford - even if it takes you longer to buy all three. In the end, if you have room for them, high quality large seperates will be the best plan.

[Chip Lindley]

Jonathan did not specify that he wanted a spiral cutterhead. BUT, Buy Once, Cry Once! Regardless of head type, I would not throw my hard-earned $$$ away buying a new Powermatic. If you were to find a good bargain on a clean, used machine, that's wayy different!!

The Grizzly 20 with helical head would give you great results for around $2500. (watch for sales) The comparable PM 209HH with Byrd head is about $1300 MORE! There is arguably not $100 difference between the two machines if you dissect them! Many say these two planers roll out of the same factory in China.

A spiral-head 4-post 20" planer would be very useful for planing glue-ups before final sanding. (I am 99% sure that a 15" planer could handle 99% of most raised panels) But, I have had too much heartbreak of tearout to trust a knife-type planer to this task. Those cause even more work instead of adding convenience.

With a spiral carbide head, the panels could be planed within a "hair" of final thickness, then quickly final-sanded. If time is money, the spiral insert head will pay for itself in short order. That, IMO, is the 20" 4-post planer's strong suite.

Where all these planers fall short is the fact that none include segmented infeed rollers or pressure bar. If multiple pieces of stock are fed through together, all must be same thickness. A thicker piece will raise the infeed roller and thinner pieces will stop feeding. That is a real bottleneck!

The ideal 20" planer would include a spiral insert head AND segmented infeed rollers, etc. These do exist, but are the "industrial" machines, bigger, heavier and more expensive than any of the 4-posters.

[Bryan Cowing]

I bought the 20" 209HH a year ago, after having a 4 blade 20" for nearly 20 yrs. Very quiet when running, don't need hearing protection anymore! Planes large knots without ripping chunks out of the board, (test pieces) Hard maple comes out perfect. I used to use the drum sander to thin the last 1/16th on maple to stop all the tear-out .

[Mike Heidrick]

Chip, I have not yet been convinced to buy the byrd for my DC580 but I am NOT giving up my segmented infeed rollers for sure.