HF 4" Benchtop Jointer (Large Picture Warning)

[vanguard]

Well, I was in the market for a jointer and I didn't know exactly what I wanted or how much I would use it, so I opted for a benchtop 4" HF Jointer (46734). This model is not available in the retail stores so I was forced to order it via the internet. I didn't want to spend the money on the benchtop delta and I didn't like the look and feel of the orange 6" HF Benchtop Jointer. I did some other research and this seemed to be the same unit sold by Grizzly and Sunhill so I figured I give it a shot.

It was priced at $99 before tax and shipping. A harbor freight coupon brought that down another $5 and got a small file set thrown in.

It arrived yesterday night and was well packed in styrofoam. Included were the fence, fence hinges, two pushblocks, a safety key, assembly hardware, assembly tools and the manual.

I had thought the body would be cast iron, but instead it's a heavy double walled plastic. Not was I expecting, but substantial. The tables are cast iron and were straight and the included hardware was better than you might expect from HF.

Assembly was quick at about 5 minutes. I checked the fence for squareness- it was fine and did a few quick passes on a scrap 2x4. It did a nice job and had no problems even planing the wide dimension.

Here are a few pictures:

Front


Back



2x4 Before machining


2x4 After machining

[vanguard]

Some extra pictures

Depth of Cut Adjustment



Bottom

[Wood_workur]

Looks great. I hope you have fun with it.

[Ken Massingale]

Looks good. If a tool does what you want/need it to do, the way you want it to do it, that's all that counts. Anything more is fluff.
ken

[tmaceroli]

Looks pretty nice for $99 bucks. I might take the plunge myself. Like you, I probably don't have the need to justify an expensive purchase. I would generally only use it for edge jointing work, and I can probably buy it with the proceeds of the "loose change jar." Thanks for posting.

This is probably asking too much, and probably showing my inexperience, but can this unit do a rabbet?

[jbalders]

This is probably asking too much, and probably showing my inexperience, but can this unit do a rabbet?

It doesn't look like it. Normally units that can do a rabbet will have a lip on the front, which is used to recess the wood into as you cut the rabbet. The grey base is only slightly below the table on this unit.

[gsmittle]

Looks pretty nice for $99 bucks. I might take the plunge myself. Like you, I probably don't have the need to justify an expensive purchase. I would generally only use it for edge jointing work, and I can probably buy it with the proceeds of the "loose change jar." Thanks for posting.

This is probably asking too much, and probably showing my inexperience, but can this unit do a rabbet?

IMO, there are much safer ways to rabbet. Dado blade/sacrificial fence on the TS, or rabbeting bit on the router.

g.