Jointer; what do I really need

[TominZebulon]

B4, I got the 6" Griz last year for Christmas and I could not be happier! It took me about an hour to get it assembled and have not adjusted anything since. It is a very nice machine that I am pretty sure comes to the door right at $400. Check their website to be sure. And with my .02 thrown in, I think we are up to a dime !

[golfdad]

I've been looking at the Rigid too but I don't know if that Orange will clash with all the green in my Shop!! I was hoping to see it on sale pretty soon also .

[D L Ames]

Originally Posted by golfdad

I've been looking at the Rigid too but I don't know if that Orange will clash with all the green in my Shop!! I was hoping to see it on sale pretty soon also .

Golfdad, I think I saw a sale on cans of "Grizzly Green" spray paint at Wal-Mart this weekend if that will help.

D L

[b4man]

Merry Christmas to me! I figured if you guys were good enough to advise me I should let you know that I bought the Rigid jointer from Home Depot. I got it in Huntersville while at the lake yesterday. I asked if they were going to be on sale or offering a discount anytime soon and the salesman assured me that if it did I could come back and get the refund.Within a month. So, I've apparently come down with the dread "Woodguy" disease myself. And I thought this was a safe place to be!

Now, to get the 285lb jointer set up. Thank goodness for my Father! I spent today rewiring to 240v and putting together the base but had to stop when it came time to mount the monster. Thats when I called my Dad! If my back is not totally screwed I hope to be up and running tomorrow.
Thanks again
Barbara

[DaveO]

Excellent, you will enjoy that jointer. I run mine at 120v, I would be interested of your impression of it at 240v. I have the circuits to hook it up, my tablesaw is 240v but I am lazy, if you are blown away by it's performance, I might consider getting of my duff and running another 240v line.

Hey Golfdad, don't you know that the 70's are makng a comeback and orange and green are gonna be really hot. You could start the trend rolling
Dave

[wapitiscat]

I don't think anyone has mentioned this yet, but keep in mind that face jointing stock is more often than not the first step in stock preparation. So the width capacity of a jointer is important for this. I don't own a jointer but when I have used them, it is usually the width that is limiting. I tend to rough cut my stock to length first so I'm not so dependent on long beds for edge jointing. If you are routinely edge jointing 8 footers, you'll need a very long bed.

[Mountaincraft]

If you must get a benchtop but need 6 inches, take a look at the craftman cast iron one for $275. It weighs 100 lbs, so it is not the most portable. I got one, and the only (and major) problem was that the bars holding the fence were brittle and when clamped with enough pressure to hold the angle, stress cracked. The replacements were the same. I made some out of 1/4 by 1 1/4 flat steel bar stock. You will need a drill press, a few drills near metric measurements around 10 mm, a 10 mm x 1.5 mm tap, and a grinder. If you could find 3/8 by 1 1/4 bar stock, that would work well. The dovetail fence slide lock is made out of the same suspicious metal, but seems to be beefy enough. I think it is a pressed, sintered product where they do not use enough pressure, heat, or voltage to get the metal tough enough for bending loads.

Other than that, every thing else is as solid as a decent floor standing model.
Specs:

Blades (2) 6 1/8 by about 1/16 in thick, disposable, indexed (the jack screwheads sit in slots in the blades). Replacement blades are $15.

Infeed table is 13 in cast iron, but it is somewhat difficult to adjust depth. I just keep mine at 1/32 locked down, as I would for most any jointer.

Outfeed table is part of the cast iron base and similar in length.

Fence is 23 x 4 1/2 cast iron mounted to a dovetailed cast iron slide, all locked down by 10 mm ratchet handled bolts. Properly repaired, this is a great little fence.

Motor 12 amp brush type (kinda cheap looking, but should be adequate), cog belt driving the machined aluminum cutterhead mounted in sealed bearings.

Blade guard is aluminum with a smooth spring mechanism.

It has the trash can dust colletion system similar to the craftsman planers, and works pretty well. Mine gets hooked up to the dust collector and is virtually dust free.

I bought mine because there were no good quality bench tops anywhere. All the other fences completely suck. If craftsman would spend the 50 cents to use plain old steel to make the fence clamps, I would rave madly about how good this is. If they add a decent little induction motor with better belts for $300, I'd sell them for free. Nothing is plastic until you get near the motor. Even when I build my dream shop, I'll keep this around for small things.

If you have basic metal working skills and tools, and this fits your budget and space requirements, buy it. This is the best benchtop jointer I've found without spending $700 or more. It is in a completely different league than the grizzly, delta, et al, benchtops. And I don't rave about tools lightly. Perfection would cost craftsman $15 more per unit.

william

[junquecol]

One of my friends has a Delta 6" parallel bed jointer that he wants to sell. This is the baby brother to the 8" one that Norm uses. PM me and I will give you his phone #. Price he quoted me was less than a new 6" Grizzly. He is located about 5 miles south of I-40 at RTP. If you settle for Delta bench top, I have one for parts that I rescued from dumpster that you may have. By the way,he bought a new Grizzly four blade 8" jointer, so this is why his 6" is for sale.