Popular Woodworking 2004-12 № 145, страница 58
Grizzly 800-523-4777 or grizzly.com GRIZZLY Spiral-head Jointers Every shop should have a j ointer and planer to prepare rough lumber. But even with the best planers and jointers you still end up working the finished surface (whether sanding, planing or scraping) to remove machining marks. Industrial shops have been using spiral cutterheads in their planers and jointers for years to reduce this tedious task. Spiral cutterheads have individual carbide inserts that are arranged to cut on a skew, reducing the strain on the motor, cut quieter, and more importantly, provide a cleaner cut that requires considerably less sanding. As if that's not significant enough, the inserts require no set-up jigs and are four-sided so they can be quickly rotated 90° to remove nicks. The carbide ensures they will outlast any high-speed steel knives many times over. Grizzly did the home woodworker a favor this year and decided to add spiral cutterhead technology to both a 6" (G0526, $850) and 8" (G0543, $1,195) jointer. Both of these machines are proven designs in the line offering a good value to begin with - Grizzly simply added the upgraded cutterhead. These two jointers are a step up in price from the base Grizzly models, but if you start to compare other 6" and 8" jointers from other manufacturers the math quickly starts to even out. And that's not counting the money (and time) you'll save between sharpenings. Oh yeah, then there's the sanding. - DT INFINITY Dadonator Dado Set Testing tooling is tough to do. The premium and mid-price tools usually come out of the box and work very similarly. It's only after months of cutting that you start to see the differences between the really good stuff and the OK stuff. After six months of testing the new Dadonator stack dado set from Infinity Cutting Tools I've concluded this tooling acts like a premium set with a slightly less-than-premium price ($180). The Dadonator makes smooth cuts with bottoms that are flat and clean. And even after a couple hundred cuts, the teeth were sharp enough to crosscut birch plywood with little or no splintering - just like the higher-priced tools. One interesting feature of the Dadonator is that the chippers have six teeth instead of the four found on other premium sets. These extra teeth, the tooth geometry and the precise grinding make for very smooth cuts in both plywood and solid wood. A couple of things to note: This 8" set isn't exactly 8" in diameter, more like 7 %". And the joints produced by the Dadonator (without shim s) were between .008" to .01" undersized on our saw, something that is readily remedied with the included shims (and is common among other stack dado sets, too). Here's the bottom line: This dado stack has earned the right to remain on my table saw. - CS Infinity 877-872-2487 or infinitytools.com JET Variable-speed Mini Lathe Jet 800-274-6848 or jettools.com Months ago at a turning class I overheard one student say that Jet was coming out with a variable-speed mini lathe. The student was ecstatic. Well, Jet did indeed come out with a variable-speed mini lathe, and it's fantastic. Professional and hobby turners have been impressed with Jet's JML 1014 mini lathe. The variable-speed version (JML 1014VS) is the same lathe with the added electronic bonus. The machine features three speed ranges that work like gears on a bike. The variable speeds are controlled by a knob and the position of the belt on the pulleys. Moving the belt is simple work. It's quite difficult to bog this lathe down in use. When turning larger pieces, you will want to use a lower gear in order to have enough torque. But this minor trade-off is well worth the convenience of the electronic variable speed. On top of all that, the lathe is top notch. The levers are made using high-quality metal and don't interfere with one another. Included is a beefy faceplate, a live center, spur center, safety goggles and a knockout bar. The handwheels' configuration is good and the tailstock and toolrest, once adjusted, tighten down well. Our only complaint is where the knockout bar is stored. Get a magnet and store your bar on the back of the machine, out of the way. — Kara Gebhart popwood.com 101 |
