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So, I picked up one of these after i saw Tommy post a bargain alert. I was able to get in store pickup, so i spent a grand total of 600 bucks for a 20" planer. Pretty much a no brainer for me since I regularly plane wide stock (table tops, chair seats, etc). I'm not a complete novice to modern power planes, as I've completely rebuilt my current grizzly 15" planer. Anyway, here's the lowdown, Eastwood style, along with a few performance enhancing tips.
The GOOD:
It planes wood.
HEAVY: no vibration in mine.
The Rockler all terrain mobile base i bought for it works great.
Machining and machined surfaces look good.
In and outfeed tables are surprisingly sturdy.
Socket cap screws everywhere.
3 HP motor took an 1/8" bite out of a 17" piece of walnut w/o complaint.
Looks like its adjusted well from the factory, aside from the chip deflector.
The manager at sears that helped me out was cool.
Duh. The price.
The BAD:
One of my blades came with a sizable nick in it. Lame.
Dust collection is piss poor. This is after I adjusted the chip deflector. Basically, the chip deflector doesn't fit well and was warped by a large spring that holds the rear pressure bar. Hammered the spring down flat and made a new deflector out of some 1/4" MDF. Substantial improvement. Still alot of air leaking out the sides. Anyone else figure out the DC? I've got about 600CFM at the machine, which should be adequate. I'll likely be adding some more foam.
The cord: Too short to be useful. Rewired in a longer cord.
The UGLY
The cast parts. Looks like they hired a squirrel to knaw out the casting molds and then paid porcupines to scratch off the slag. Even black paint doesn't hide much.
The crank handle. Crappy plastic. Never even made it on the machine. I turned a nice one out of walnut. Thanks for the lathe whaler.
Noise. Not that its overly loud, I just don't like the sound it makes. I like the whirr of my old griz better.
The manual. Has most of the adjustments in it, but lacks any DC info. Referenced other 20" planer manuals online in several instances.
The GOOD:
It planes wood.
HEAVY: no vibration in mine.
The Rockler all terrain mobile base i bought for it works great.
Machining and machined surfaces look good.
In and outfeed tables are surprisingly sturdy.
Socket cap screws everywhere.
3 HP motor took an 1/8" bite out of a 17" piece of walnut w/o complaint.
Looks like its adjusted well from the factory, aside from the chip deflector.
The manager at sears that helped me out was cool.
Duh. The price.
The BAD:
One of my blades came with a sizable nick in it. Lame.
Dust collection is piss poor. This is after I adjusted the chip deflector. Basically, the chip deflector doesn't fit well and was warped by a large spring that holds the rear pressure bar. Hammered the spring down flat and made a new deflector out of some 1/4" MDF. Substantial improvement. Still alot of air leaking out the sides. Anyone else figure out the DC? I've got about 600CFM at the machine, which should be adequate. I'll likely be adding some more foam.
The cord: Too short to be useful. Rewired in a longer cord.
The UGLY
The cast parts. Looks like they hired a squirrel to knaw out the casting molds and then paid porcupines to scratch off the slag. Even black paint doesn't hide much.
The crank handle. Crappy plastic. Never even made it on the machine. I turned a nice one out of walnut. Thanks for the lathe whaler.
Noise. Not that its overly loud, I just don't like the sound it makes. I like the whirr of my old griz better.
The manual. Has most of the adjustments in it, but lacks any DC info. Referenced other 20" planer manuals online in several instances.
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