My motivation for buying this
jointer was that everybody on the Internet seemed to say that I needed
one. I've pushed a couple hundred board feet through it now and the experience I have had with this jointer has
been really positive.
I looked into the Sunhill, the Delta's, the Grizzly, a 6"
Powermatic, and of course the Yorkcraft.
The Sunhill was probably my second choice. However, the
shipping delays were backed up for over a month and it was more
expensive.
The DJ-20 was about twice the price of this Yorkcraft. I
couldn't see any reason to pay so much more. The other Delta, the
37-380 is exactly the same as the Yorkcraft but it's several hundred
dollars more. It's my understanding that they roll of the same manufacturing
line.
I didn't get the Grizzly because of all the quality control issues I
have been reading about. Extension tables that didn't line up,
welds that looked weak, etc.
In theory, the Grizzly G0500 should be a better machine. It's
heavier, it spins faster and it has 4 knives. All those cuts per inch
should result in a great cut. However, Grizzly really does have a rep
for poor quality among those who look for quality. After I did my
bandsaw review I got a letter from somebody who went to the Grizzly
showroom with the intent of bringing home their 17" bandsaw. He said the
blade guard was wobbly/loose, the wheels were a light aluminum, and it
didn't feel like quality to him. He ended up buying the Jet. Buying a
Grizzly is a risky purchase. I always consider them because their prices
and features are seducing but they haven't won any of my money yet.
Maybe someday?
Finally, the Powermatic was about the same price as my 8"
jointer but it has only a 6" bed. A lot of rough stock
is between 6" and 8" in width.
The assembly was fairly tough. I did it all by myself. I would not
recommend that to another person. As a matter of fact, I dropped
the bed while I was trying to put it together. No normal human can
lift the bed by himself. Also, it's not one of those "I'll
get my wife to help me" tasks either. It takes two healthy
men, maybe more to get the bed on the base. When I dropped my bed
it landed on my poor daughter's tricycle and crushed it. If it
wasn't for her tricycle, I suspect that bed might have been
damaged. I was lucky. My poor daughter
was not.
Once I got the bed on the base everything bolted up nicely. The
top adjust just fine. It's not quite as nice as raising and
lowering the blade on my Unisaw
but I rarely adjust the height of the infeed table anyway.
Getting the motor lined up and the belts tight was tough too.
There are four bolts that need to tightened while at the same time
keeping the motor lined up with the belts attempting to push the motor
out of alignment. However, that operation should be pretty rare.
Once the machine was assembled (3.5 hours of work) it's time to use
it. The dust collection works great. There are metal chutes that
guide the chips to the 4" dust collection port. Everything is
collected as you would want it to be.
The beds are completely flat and the fence stays put where you leave
it (in my case, 90 degrees). The beds are 72" long.
That's as long or longer than the competitive models.
It's a simple machine, when I push the wood across it a few times it
gets flat. What else can I ask for? The price is right and
the machine works very well and the quality is very high.
