From Green to Gray. The Planer Cousins

[Ollie]

I had started to populate my new workshop with the green machines from Grizzly based on belief that the price performance ratio is very high. For the 15" planer, the selected model was G1021Z

. It is a really nice machine and comes with jack screw and knife setting kit.

Today, I got the gray Yorkcraft YC-15P

from Wilke Machinery. The first impression on the machine is very positive. Although, the quality of the manual is not impressive. It is usable, but some of the drawings should be sharper or larger. Compared to Grizzly, the Yorkcraft machine has significantly lower price, the cast iron in-feed and out-feed tables are more accurate and safer than the rollers in Grizzly, and the Yorkcraft has a built-in mobile base. The Yorkcraft shipping cost ($150) did include the lift gate service. With Grizzly, you have to pay around $70 for the lift gate in addition to the $128 truck freight.

The other candidates were:

- Bridgewood BW-15P

- Jet JWP-15CS Shop Fox W1692 Powermatic 15 Powermatic 15S on casual observations, it looks that these 7 planer cousins are from the same family, share the same design, and have most of the same components. Perhaps they are even made in the same factory and just painted with different colors. The main differences are the following:

1. PM 15S has spiral cutter head
2. PM 15S and YC-15P have full size cast iron in-feed and out-feed tables
3. PM 15S, BW-15P, and YC-15P have built-in mobile base

In this light the cheapest (YC-15P, $799) and the most expensive (PM-15S, $1,499) share most of the same components. After this thought process, it was not difficult to select the YC-15P.

Question to Yorkcraft users. Are you happy with the Yorkcraft products? I am still missing band saw, shaper, and dust collector. Would you recommend to get them from Yorkcraft?

Cheers, Ollie

[Dave W]

I recently bought an 8 inch Yorkcraft jointer and am totally pleased with it. Even without considering the fact that the price is significantly lower than the competators, Yorkcraft is a real bargain!

[RonB]

I personally do not think this is a wise approach to equipping a shop. Your best bet is to go on a machine-by-machine basis a pick the qualities and price that best match your needs.

I have owned a Grizzly 1023S for a few years and firmly believe it is one of the best cabinet saw values available - anywhere. After buying the 1023S, subsequent research on wood lathes and jointers led me to Jet and Powermatic respectively. I agree that Griz offers some very good value on many of their tools. However, Grizzly like Delta, Dewalt, Jet and everyone else, sells some dogs - or at least they don't offer the best choice for each individual need.

I run an equal opportunity workshop - Green, Beige, Grey, Black - yeah even some Harbor Freight Blue.

[Dave]

Many people (including me) are happy with the Harbor Freight bandsaw. It is currently on sale for $229 at my local store. I purchased the riser block and bearing guides but still haven't installed them.

The Harbor Freight dust collector is also on sale for $149. Many have given it a good rating.

At least one person discussed inexpensive shapers in this group a week or so ago. You could find that thread at groups.google.com - search for shaper.

Dave