Planers Reviews

I have owned this planer for about 4 years now. I have modified the machine to include a Byrd Tool Shelix cutterhead which has made life much easier. I haven't had to even rotate a single four sided carbide cutter insert after over a year. The planer is quite particular when it comes to precesion adjustment of the infeed roller, chip bars, pressure bar and outfeed roller. I have purchased a micrometer "Z-axis" setting tool (commonly sold to setup CNC routers) to make these precise adjustments with very good results. In addition, the bed rollers are quite difficult to adjust precisely, and the use of the micrometer feed/beed roller adjustment gauge is a blessing. The bed rollers would be far easier to adjust if the had used a fine thread adjustment bolt (like is used on all the rollers above). I guess my next modification will be to find a way to enable an easier, more precise bed roller adjustment. If you want to get a 20" planer that doesn't require all this attention, be prepared to spend to spend several thousand more $$. The only manufacturing flaw I have found was that one side of the outfeed pressure bar was tight in it's sliding fitting which caused it to stick sometimes. That resulted it occasional feeding problems when the pressure bar was stuck. I had to disassemble it and polish the mating surfaces to get a good sliding fit: problem solved. In comparison to the generic 4 column powermatic/general/grizzly/etc Taiwanese (hobby) planer, this thing is easily worth the extra $$. My brother has the 20" generic Powermatic (with a solid infeed roller) and he would like to turn it into a boat anchor. He said it is "IMPOSSIBLE" to accurately set the bed rollers, which renders it useless for precision work, and for preventing snipe.