Jointer/Planer combination

Craig Eick

New User
Craig
Good afternoon. I hope this finds you all well.
I am considering purchasing a jointer/planer combo for a small shop. I currently have an 8” powermatic HH jointe, a DeWalt DW 735 planner and a Supermax 19-38 drum sander. I am a hobbyist at best; however, as my skills get better i would like a larger planer 15” or 20”. The 8” jointer is great and works most of the time; however, there have been times when i would have liked to have a larger jointer. i would not mind having a 12” minimum as i have enjoyed working on some larger projects. The cost of a 12” jointer and a 15” or 20” planer got me to thinking about a combination unit. As I look towards slowing down in my professional life i would like to have a my shop set up when that day comes. I got started in woodworking 3 years ago. Therefore, i am trying to make good purchases one time. I don’t mind spending more if the value is there.

To that end i am looking at the Hammer A3-41 and the SCM Minimax 41C or Minimax 41E. I have found some information about SCM but not much on the Minimax 41C. There is more information about the Hammer product on YouTube etc which has been helpful. I don’t have the experience at this time to do a thorough side by side comparison between the two. The minimax with the xylene cutter lock is more expensive; however, close enough to consider. The 41E may get out of my price range. I live in northern wake county. If anyone has one of these machines that would not mind letting me look at in person; that would be appreciated.

Any thoughts, guidance etc you would care to share would be appreciated.

Thank you

Craig
 

Oka

Casey
Corporate Member
I have used the Hammer, nice unit. I think Makita also makes one may not be sold here but should be available.
I think you should answer this question first:
Do I have space for both a jointer and a planer. If the answer is yes, then by all means get two separate units. The only advantage I see in the combo units is if you have limited space.
The advantage of 2 tools is the jointer will have a better table longer and you can set to an elevation of your liking. Remember when you have a combo unit, you end up with a setting only one tool elevation and the other you have to live with. My 2 cents........
 

Craig Eick

New User
Craig
Good afternoon. Thank you for the response My shop is 24 x 28 at this time; however, I am hopeful to have something larger one day. I believe i can make the space work out. Current dust collection should be adequate for both machines. I have adequate 220 power for two machines. The costs for a 15' or 20" planer and a 12" jointer (~10.6K - 12K for Powermatic equipment before any discounts) which is what got me to looking at a combination unit.

Thanks again for the feedback. Much appreciated.
 

Hmerkle

Board of Directors, Development Director
Hank
Staff member
Corporate Member
I wasn't going to say anything because my experience is LONG ago with an INCA combo - I sold quite a few of them and people were happy... until they realised that you did have the height problem Oka pointed out AND if it was in one mode and you needed to put it in the other one... it was a PITA!
BUT, if you planned your work-flow well (jointed everything, converted to the planer, then planed everything) it wasn't so much of a problem and it was a REAL floor-space saver and as you point out a significant cost savings! I do not have one, but have heard horror stories of the newer models (Jet, etc.) but you are looking at a MUCH higher level machine and I would guess they are more on the (quality) order of the Inca machines...

I am looking forward to your review if you end-up choosing one...
 

Oka

Casey
Corporate Member
I would really look at other brands instead of thee Powermatic. Today, most primary parts are from the far east and assembled in North America. So there are other brands that are plenty good enough to meet your needs. The Powermatic IMHO is valuable if you are doing production work, otherwise it probably would be overkill.
Also, look at auction and other used outlets for equipment like this. Often, it can be bought cheap enough to rebuild the unit add a helical head and still be money saved. So that is another idea as well.

Good afternoon. Thank you for the response My shop is 24 x 28 at this time; however, I am hopeful to have something larger one day. I believe i can make the space work out. Current dust collection should be adequate for both machines. I have adequate 220 power for two machines. The costs for a 15' or 20" planer and a 12" jointer (~10.6K - 12K for Powermatic equipment before any discounts) which is what got me to looking at a combination unit.

Thanks again for the feedback. Much appreciated.
 

Mark Johnson

Mark
Corporate Member
I have the Hammer and it has been fantastic. I'm too far for you to come visit probably, but if you contact Hammer, they will usually steer you toward someone local that will let you see the machine.
 

Robert LaPlaca

Robert
Senior User
Craig, first I will say that you probably cannot go wrong with a Felder, Hammer, Minimax, SCM or Martin jointer planers.

Having said all this, I have owned a Minimax FS41 Elite for 17 years. I build period furniture, so having the ability to process 16” boards was very appealing.

I can give you a couple of observations. Buy the widest heaviest j/p that you can afford, i am sure there isn’t a owner of a j/p that has said jeez, I wish I bought a smaller machine. If I had the space, I would love to upgrade to a 510 mm + machine. My machine is equipped with Tersa knives, I personally would rather pay the up charge for a wider/heavier machine over the spiral cutter heads, the Tersa knives just leave a beautiful finish.
 

bob vaughan

Bob Vaughan
Senior User
When I looked at jointer/planers a few decades ago, maybe things were different. I found that when going from jointing to planing, the lowering crank had to be turned some 50 or more revolutions because the bed had to be so far down to get the dust collector and other things hooked up.
I also found that the beds were not all parallel and the cutterhead was skewed slightly with either the jointer beds or the planer beds. I had to set the knives to either one or the other.
The jointer beds on those early models swung out of the way sort of like gull-wing car doors and wouldn't come back to the exact spot they needed.
It was my opinion at the time that the promise of the space-saving convenience was betrayed by the lack of precision in the machine's performance.
I hope they've improved since then.
 

gamiller3rd

Pappy
Senior User
I got the Jet JJP12-HH recently while on sale and it has been fantastic. I wish I’d gotten it 10 years ago. Takes maybe 30-45 seconds to make the swap between machines. beautiful results and very quiet.
 

Mark Johnson

Mark
Corporate Member
Bob,
I have certainly not had precision issues, and thus far have found that my original calibration of the depth wheel on the planer portion remain dead accurate after several years of use and two moves! I can repeatably plane to within .005", and maybe I could get closer, but have never had the need to do that. However, past performance does not necessarily indicate future.
 

Mrfixit71

Board of Directors, Treasurer
Rich
Staff member
Corporate Member
I've had the Jet JJP-12 for about 10 years. Bought it when I had a smaller shop, less disposable income, and needed other big ticket items. It has regular jointer blades, not a helical head. Woodworking is just a hobby so it doesn't get constant use but it's been a great machine for me. I've moved twice and had no problems with accuracy, other than getting the knives set properly when I sharpen them. I wish I'd had the $$ for a Hammer.
 

HMH

Heath Hendrick
Senior User
Not jumping on the bandwagon at all, as I'm historically an OWWM guy, but to come up w/ a workable tool layout that didn't involve me constantly wheeling in and out separate tools - I went w/ the Jet JJP-12 a few years ago. For my use, it's been a rock-star, and once setup has held it's calibration very well w/ no issues, (and I'm picky). I have the straight-knife version, and have been toying w/ swapping in a helical - which is another benefit, and one that drove my initial decision, as the 1 cutterhead would upgrade both my jointer AND planer vs. having to buy 2.

The infeed table is well shorter than my previous Powermatic longbed 8, but that's rarely been an issue for the type of work I do. The few times it's come up, a few minutes to setup a roller stand in-line w/ the tables quickly resolved.

As above, there was an initial workflow shift, as it's much more convenient to get all of the jointing done before switching to planning mode, (which really only takes maybe 30 seconds - very quick), but for me anyway, that was very easy to "train" into practice. Essentially, (1) Face joint, (2) edge joint), (3) switch to planning to get parallel surfaces, (4) rip opposite edge. My shop time is generally limited, (crazy career, and 2 young boys), so that generally does it for a day, and I'll let everything sit for a few days before coming back and re-planning to final thickness across the board.

Again, it's been a very workable tool for my use - w/ "very good" fit and finish in my experience. That said, the Hammer is a certainly a notch or 2 above, (think Sierra SLT vs Denali), and I looked at them hard, (even the used models which they have from time to time), but when I was buying, I just couldn't justify the 2x+ cost for my limited/ hobby use, (at the time, I got great deal on a lightly used Jet, which made the cost upgrade to the Hammer approx $2500). If the Jet was garbage I would have sprung, but again, I would rate the Jet as "very good" in my review. The transition from "very good" to "excellent" will generally always draw out a few hundred more from me, (I'm an engineer, and appreciate quality, potentially more than the average guy), but the quality difference wasn't enough to justify the big leap here - again, in my opinion. You're assessment may certainly differ.

From a space perspective, (not necessarily a decision maker for most if you've got the room, but it weighed heavily on my decision making - as I'm setting up the new "permanent" shop tooling in 1 bay of a 3 car garage), I keep the Jet on the left hand side of my Unisaw. When in jointing mode, and w/ the fence removed, the blade-guard is about 1" below the top of the table saw, so no issues w/ longer crosscuts/ sleds, etc. I can also use the same ~1' wide infeed/ outfeed path for both the jointer and plainer, (opposite direction of course), which runs parallel to an outfeed table/ assembly bench, so nothing is ever in the way.

Again, when my boys are grown, I retire, etc., and set up a dedicated free-standing shop out on the property, I'll likely step-up to separate machines, (an OWWM Yates 20" planer would be sweet), but for my current "advanced weekend warrior" multi-hat wearing needs, it's a great setup.
 

Rwe2156

DrBob
Senior User
It's all dependent on the type of work you do and depth of pockets. But even 12" won't get you into 16" wide antique reproduction single board panels. (Besides they look better book matched).

My hard-learned rule #1 - don't EVER buy a tool because you "think" you'll need it one day. A Jet 42" lathe and horizontal router table are constant reminders.....

The times I have to joint a board wider than 8" I use the trick of removing the guard and then insert 1/4" ply underneath, then run through planer.

Matter of personal work methods, but for me as many times as I go back and forth b/t plane and jointer I couldn't imagine ever using a combo machine. I certainly wouldn't buy one just to get 4 extra inches of jointer capacity.

For the money, I'd stick with the jointer and go for a helical head planer. I have a 20" planer but rarely ever have use for that capacity. I rely on my open end drum sander for that.

Your choice to make!
 

Bas

Recovering tool addict
Bas
Corporate Member
J/P combo machine owner here (JJP12HH), very happy with it for 10 years. Sharing the helical head for both jointing and planing is very nice, and yes, that helped keep the cost down, as well as saving shop space. The changeover is not a big deal for me, but there's times when the short infeed table is a challenge.

I can't help you decide between the Hammer and SCM, but I don't think you can go wrong with either one. I'm a big fan of the helical head with carbide cutters, primarily because they last forever, and tearout is practically nil. But conventional knives tend to give a smoother finish, and changing knives in the higher end machines is a lot easier.

Given that you are mostly happy with your jointer, a more practical upgrade might be to get a good 20" planer. For the occasional wide board you can use a planer sled, and keep the 8" for most of the operations. But that only works if you have the space, 24x28 is not exactly a ballroom.
 

Craig Eick

New User
Craig
It's all dependent on the type of work you do and depth of pockets. But even 12" won't get you into 16" wide antique reproduction single board panels. (Besides they look better book matched).

My hard-learned rule #1 - don't EVER buy a tool because you "think" you'll need it one day. A Jet 42" lathe and horizontal router table are constant reminders.....

The times I have to joint a board wider than 8" I use the trick of removing the guard and then insert 1/4" ply underneath, then run through planer.

Matter of personal work methods, but for me as many times as I go back and forth b/t plane and jointer I couldn't imagine ever using a combo machine. I certainly wouldn't buy one just to get 4 extra inches of jointer capacity.

For the money, I'd stick with the jointer and go for a helical head planer. I have a 20" planer but rarely ever have use for that capacity. I rely on my open end drum sander for that.

Your choice to make!
DrBob
Good afternoon. Thank you for your feedback and the reminder of rule #1, I tend to forget this rule at times. Thank you to all of the others who have commented as well. These responses are the reason that i reach out. This is not a tool I need today. In reality i do not need any of the tools that I have as this is a hobby for me as well. I like the tag line of Bas " I do not need it, I just want it" How true those words are; at least for me.

Prior to considering the combo unit my plan was to move forward just as you describe with the 20" planer and use the sled as others mention or the trick that you mention for the rare occasions when need to joint something larger than 8". I believe I can make the 20" planer work from a space perspective. The potential cost of the two machines is really the only thing that got me to thinking about the combo unit.

Thanks again DrBob. I will continue the research on which way to go and look forward to what others may have to say.

Best

Craig
 

zapdafish

New User
Steve
i've got the grizzly combo and really like it. The only thing I miss is in planar mode the bed/wood is raised to the cutter so outfeed/infeed tables are not really possible. I rarely work with really long boards but there are a few times where I wish I could use extensions.
 

Mike K

Mike
Corporate Member
I have the Mini Max FS35 Smart. It is a beast at 1000lbs but it is the best purchase that I have made. 14 in planer and jointer with Tersa knives. It makes taking rough lumber to smooth and straight a breeze. If you want to come and take look I am in Pittsboro.
 

Mike Wilkins

Mike
Corporate Member
My jointer and planer progression is as follows: 6" Jet jointer and bench top planer, then a 12" Parks planer. Went to a 12" jointer/planer of Asian origin. Now I have a Hammer A3-41 16" jointer/planer and love it. It has the Silent Power cutting head which is Felder/Hammer's version of a segmented cutting head. Nick a knife and it is an easy fix to just rotate the offending insert to one of the 4 good sides. Leaves a smooth finish ready for some 150 grit on the random orbit sander. If you are ever in the eastern part of the state, let me know if you want a closer look. Nice having 16" of capacity for both jointing and planing.
 

Oka

Casey
Corporate Member
I missed out on a Laguna Combo Planer/joiner.......... 2nd caller ...........it was 800.00 bucks :oops: :( oh well..........
 

Premier Sponsor

Our Sponsors

LATEST FOR SALE LISTINGS

Top