Question
I am going to be purchasing a new jointer and planer for my workshop in the next few weeks. Any thoughts on the best new machines for under $5000 each? I'm thinking about the Powermatic 209 and 1285, the Laguna Tools Platinum series, or the Delta DJ-30 and their 20" planer. Are there any other choices out there?
Forum Responses
(Furniture Making Forum)
From contributor J:
If I was going to spend up to 5K apiece on these two machines, I would look at used because I wouldn't be able to afford what I wanted new. While I'm not familiar with the machines you suggested, anything Powermatic has made since moving overseas is junk compared to the old stuff, as is Delta. The Laguna stuff is made by Robland I believe and is decent, but you can do better. You can get a very nice used Northfield or Oliver or Porter jointer for that kind of money, 16" wide if you want it. Maybe an old Powermatic 180 planer? There is a lot of beautiful used equipment out there, and this stuff will last forever, unlike the crap they are building in China.
Admittedly, today's PM is not the PM of 20 years ago, but I think in this price range you would be hard pressed to do better. The castings all come form the same place, but WMH seems to do a far better job trimming out the Powermatic line. I would definitely take PM over Delta.
It seems there is really no middle ground between these and the 20k commercial machines. We have a Laguna TSS (this machine is actually made by Zimm Stomana in Bulgaria) which has been solid, but I have to wonder if we would have fared better by spending a bit more for a Felder.
I looked seriously at a lot of used machines before making these purchases, and it seemed like there were few true bargains. Good machines command serious money no matter what, and the bigger they are, the more careful you have to be about the moving and setup. You never know what you may inherit. At least the new WMH machines came with a warranty.
