Popular Woodworking 2005-02 № 146, страница 86

What's the Difference?

Beyond the motor and capacity, the features found in both large and small planers differ mostly in material and size.

The weight ofthe 15" cast-iron machines is significantly greater than benchtop planers.This weight is an advantage for stability when running larger boards. If you put a 6/4, 10" board that's 6' long in a benchtop planer, you're going to flip it off the bench. The cast-iron planer will not only support the board as it passes through, but its mass and solid construction will hold the board tightly in place throughout the cut, reducing the chance of snipe.

Meet Our Contestants

We tested eight planers with the intention of keeping the price of the machines below $1,500. We broke our own rule with the Pow-ermatic. This was mostly so we could take a look at the unusual spiral knives on this model. Other than that, all the planers are less than $1,100 and some are significantly less than that.

All the machines have 3-hp, 220-volt, single-phase motors. Each planer has steel bed rollers and serrated steel feed rollers. All offer two feed speeds to offer a slower "finished" pass and all have dual column locks to hold the head (or table) solidly in place to avoid snipe.

Three of the machines have the motors mounted below the table, and the table moves up and down to adj ust the cutting height. The other five machine s have the motors mounted above the table, and the cutterhead assembly and motor raise and lower to adjust the cutting height.

We found that the planers with moving tables rather than motors made for slightly smoother height adjustment, though all the machines were pretty smooth.

With the motor mounted above the cutterheads, we found it more difficult to access the knives to change blades. While this isn't a daily concern, changing knives isn't all that much fun anyway, so why make it harder?

On changing knives, all but the Powermatic employ jack screws to adjust the three highspeed steel knives for height after replacement. This requires a jig and extra time, and (except for the slight advantage of those with the motor mounted below) all suffer from this necessary evil.

The Powermatic planer has three flexible steel knives that lock into position without requiring setting for height. But more on these knives later.

Back to the weight thing: Cast-iron planers are best located in position and left alone. But in the realities of today's space-challenged woodworking shop, planers do get moved around. Three of the machines have integral mobile bases (coincidentally the three with the motors mounted below). This is a pretty nice perk, even if you're j ust moving your planer to clean around it.

Other similarities among the competitors include four machines with remarkably similar three-roller infeed and outfeed tables. Three other machines had solid cast-iron tables. All seven used threaded hex-head screws to adjust the table height, in conjunction with the bolts to attach the tables. The adjustment required a fine balance between the screws and bolts, and it made me feel like a cat burglar picking a lock. You needed to use two tools simultaneously. This was awkward and a little frustrating. Though the Delta tables also used bolts and screws, it was much easier to adjust.

Some other features of note were the lifting bars included on the Bridgewood, Powermatic, Yor-

kcraft and Jet machines. When it was time to lift the machines onto the bases, four guys on the lift bars was much easier than lifting with lumber run under the head (the other recommended lifting procedure in the manuals).

Also, two of the machines (the General and the Yorkcraft) offer a safety cut-off switch that requires you to twist the off button before the machine can be started. If you're not used to this type of switch it may seem awkward at first, but there won't be any accidental starts.

All of the machines came equipped with dust collecting ports. Some were plastic, some were metal. All appeared interchangeable (side deflection, 4" port) except for the Delta. It sported a 6" port and ejected the chips straight out.

The Test

We tested each of the machines for noise levels (dB), rpm and amperage draw. These three tests were made with the machines running idle and while taking Vki" passes on 5"-wide ash boards.

We also checked the cutting heads for parallelism to the tables (all were within acceptable tolerances for woodworking), checked for snipe (after running the machine at the higher speed without the head locks engaged).

We then made a final pass with each planer set at the slower, finished feed rate with the head locks engaged. Afterward we had the staff evaluate the boards (the boards were only identified by letter to avoid favoritism) for the best finish, asking them to take snipe, knife marks and tear-out into consideration.

The Winners:

This was a tough one. Many of the planers are very similar and all performed well enough to be

The Powermatic planer has the standard scale found (nearly identically) on all the planers on the post. But it also has a digital scale. This scale can be set to absolute zero and gives the accurate distance from the cutter head to the table. It also gives relative distance, such as when removing Vi6" from a board.

happy additions to your woodshop. We had to scrutinize features and performance, and even then the decisions were very close.

In the end we're awarding our Editor's Choice award to the Pow-ermatic, though it was a difficult decision. The Powermatic has the best performance in most of the categories plus great features, foremost being not having to set the blade height after replacement. But its quality of cut didn't live up to our expectations for the spiral cutter (though it was a good finish) and it's expensive at $1,599.

Our Best Value award goes to the Yorkcraft, which has the undermount motor, faster slow-speed feed and a good quality of cut. The scale could be better and the value price of $799 may increase a little when you include shipping, so check first. PW

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