Jointer/Planer Questions

Re: Jointer/Planer Questions

Tom Norton

I will weigh in!

I have had a Inca since 1987 and it is still a great machine. I built many kitchens and other projects as a woodworker/finish carpenter. About 12 years ago I bought a 1966 Powermatic 100 12" planer. Mainly because I wanted a vintage tool. It got a lot of use but for finish work I used the Inca. Last year I sold the Powermatic as I am scaling back.

Check I can Yahoo group. Good deals show up.

Re: Jointer/Planer Questions

Brian Holcombe

Worth it just to wait around until a Minimax comes up for sale. I have an FS41ES and it’s a very decent machine.

The smallest of the group are a touch light duty for my interest, but typically serve the hobbiest fairly well.

Re: Jointer/Planer Questions

Dick Coers

I bought a Minimax Lab30 combination machine decades ago. It has advantages and disadvantages. You don't want to make a mistake on a part that will require milling new stock. You loose your setup, have to flip some tables and dust chutes around, and it takes a fair amount of time to reset. I have never liked the amount of cranking it takes to drop the thickness planer beds to get the dust chute to flip over to use the jointer. You have to drop the bed something like 4". Just really annoying to crank and crank. I'd suggest you stay with separate machines, but go with an 8" jointer. Based on my experience nearing 5 years retired, after a couple of years of retirement, you find a lot of other fun things to occupy your time besides woodworking.

Re: Jointer/Planer Questions

Hank Knight

Brad,

I had an Inca 570 with the Tersa cutterhead for over 20 years. It's a great little machine and it has earned something of a cult following. The Tersa cutterhead is wonderful. I loved it, but it is a very lightweight machine. Several years ago I had an opportunity of buy a lightly used Hammer A3-31 12" J/P for a very good price. I jumped on it and sold my Inca. As much as I loved the Inca, it doesn't compare with the Hammer. The Hammer is much heavier and more powerful than the Inca. Often the Inca's planer feed mechanism would bog down and I would have to pull the workpiece through the machine. Not so with the Hammer; it's feed mechanism is solid and nothing bogs it down. Of course the Hammer cost considerably more than a used Inca, so I guess you get what you pay for. If money is a limiting consideration, I think the Inca beats any comparably priced machine, hands down.

If you decide to go the Inca route, see if you can buy a spare set of the gears for the feed mechanism.They are made of plastic and are prone to failure. I had my machine for 20+ years and replaced them once, so it's not an everyday thing. But if you don't have a spare set, when they fail, your planer is out of business.

Hammer A3  Jointer/Planer Questions

Tom Colligan

Thanks, Dick, for offering your critique of going from planer to jointer.

Hank, is the Hammer machine also a tedious affair to change from one operation to the other? (I have my eye on one in the next 6 months or so.) Thx.,

Re: Hammer A3  Jointer/Planer Questions

Derek Cohen (in Perth, Australia)

Tom, it is a one minute process. The jointer table, which is two parts (one on either side of the cutter head) is linked, and lifted/dropped as a single unit. It is spring-loaded to make the process easier. 30 seconds to lift or drop the tables, and 30 seconds to wind the planer table up-or-down.

If you aim to purchase a A3-31, get the spiral "silent" head (it is truly silent), and the digital gauge is a must (makes for precision and repeatable thicknessing).

Regards from Perth

Derek

Re: Jointer/Planer Questions

Brad Chenoweth

Thanks to everybody for the replies. I'll ruminate on this decision for a while, I suspect. Happy New Year to all!

Re: Hammer A3  Jointer/Planer Questions

Hank Knight

Tom, My Hammer A3-31 is an older model than Derek's. They redesigned the machine when they came out with their "Silent Power" cutterhead and made the changeover process simpler. My jointer tables don't lift as a unit. I have to remove the fence first and then lift the tables. Even so, it's a quick, easy process. It takes less than a minute, including repositioning the dust chute and cranking the planer table up. I agree with Derek, get the Silent Power spiral cutterhead and the digital readout. That are worth the extra $$$ and you will like both of them.

Re: Hammer A3  Jointer/Planer Questions

Jason in Denver

I have the same machine as Derek and agree that changeover is a minor task. But, that sort of thing is subjective and depends on your work flow.

Two things about these combo machines that nobody mentions. Not necessarily drawbacks but things to know when upgrading from a lunchbox:

1. You change planer thickness by moving the bed. If you do a lot of long, heavy boards that require infeed/outfeed support, then you need to raise your supports each pass. I've only run into this when planing the two halves of my bench top. (5in x 12in x 8ft)

2. You need to have proper dust (chip) collection. These machines are not designed to blow out the chips like a DeWalt lunchbox. I had to upgrade from a shop vac to a cyclone when I bought my A3.

A spiral cutterhead is really the only way to go.