Looking for new planer

[** Frank **]

My little 12.5" portable planer disintegrated when the board got jammed in the cutter head. Roller bushing and sprockets shattered and the sprocket keyway torn off part of the drive shaft. Parts are on order and hope to have it running in a few weeks.

Anyway, I'm looking for something more heavy duty, maybe 15" or 20" floor models. Been looking at Grizzly with good prices. Any recommendations?

[George]

The 15" Grizz at school was a good planer. Had problems with all the other Grizz tools, though the company was kind in sending replacement parts. Has bed rollers, serrated infeed and a decent motor. Learn to avoid getting your hands pinched with those aux in and out rollers, because they're easy to hurt yourself on.

[Leon]

And speaking of in feed and out feed rollers, the Delta's in feed and out feeds have steel between the rollers making it virtually impossible to pinch your fingers.

[SonomaProducts.com]

Frank,

This baby might be more than you need but I was just at the AWFS show in Vegas and I looked at every 20" planer on the floor and they had them all. This one from Woodworkers supply is the best of the bunch. Nottvhe cheapest, just the best. I'll own one in the future.

$2799 but worth it if you need it. I suppose its the same as the Griz G5850Z 20" but they didn't have that on the floor. The big win on this is the adjustable bed rollers. On most of the 20" planers out there the bed rollers are adjusted by using a set screw to hold an ecentric cam. It is a crappy solution. Very hard to adjust and once you crank it down one time, it creates a detant and you can't adjust it to anywhere near that spot or it just goes back to the orignial. The Steel City guys are the only ones who have improved on this with a little wing lever on the end of the roller to more easily adjust the roller but it uses the same set screw bad design.

Pro industrial planers (Like an Invicta) have front lever adjustable bed rollers. The big Griz and the Woodworkers version have the same. It allows you to move it up when doing rough stock and set them down low to the table for fine or prefinished work. Plus 5hp means you can do a wide board.

I don't think the "spirial" knives are worth the extra $1k. I just have not been impressed with the helical or spiral setups when they use the little squar carbides. If it was a true helical that would slice, then it's worth the extra, if you actually need it.

BW

[Max]

I've had one like this for about a year and am well pleased.

[B A R R Y]

I know someone with a really nice Parks for sale in CT.