combination jointer/planer

Very satisfied with my Jet 12HH.

I have had the Jet JJP12-HH for a couple of years and it does exactly what I want it to. The Hammer A3-26 is a 10 inch wide planer and that is too much of a disadvantage for me to consider as an alternative.

I have a Hammer A3-31 12” jointer/planer and I love it. It is powerful, very well built and precise. I don’t think you can beat it for a hobby shop machine.

Take a look at the SCM Minimax too. It’s pretty much in the same price category as the Hammer, but more readily available.

I bought the 12in FS30CX with the Xlient head. It’s very capable in both jointing and planing. The carbide cutters leave an exceptional finish and it’s quiet. I think it has the better fence design of all of the combo machines. Chip extraction is pretty good too. The machine is well made and heavy at about 800lbs. It’s is packaged amazingly well too and came ready to run. From what I understand, the machine is calibrated and then crated for shipping on a per order basis. The way it’s designed provides for mechanical lockdowns of key components so they do not go out of adjustment durning shipping under normal handling.

The cons of owning a combo is the change-over. However for a home shop it really isn’t an issue. Perform all of your jointing first then switch over and plane. Even if you need to go from one to the other a few times for what ever reason, the change-over is relatively painless and quick. The only other aspect of a combo machine is the chip extraction. The dust collector port connection needs to change when switching over from one operation to the other. For me, having limited space, this was the way to go.

-- Bill, Yo!......in Brooklyn & Steel City :)

In terms of performance does the jointer perform as well as a stand alone and does the planer perform as well as a stand alone? Also: what do y’all think of the Rikon 25-210H?

-- Woodworking is like a vicious cycle. The more tools you buy the more you find to buy.

Of necessity, the infeed and outfeed tables on a combination machine are shorter than those of a stand alone 12 inch jointer. For this reason, jointing won’t work as well for extremely long stock. In actual practice, it hasn’t been a problem for me.

The planer works exactly like any other 12 inch cast iron planer.

I must be stupid but can’t understand how any of these jointers work as a planer as compared to a dedicated planer! I can see how a person could surface one side of the board but not keeping how to make the other side parallel.

-- "PLUMBER'S BUTT! Get over it, everybody has one"

Jack the unit has the ability to cut/joint on the top surface of the knives, and then it switches over to a planer cut on the bottom side of the knives with a flat reference surface below the cutter. Process is to joint the board across the top and then put that jointed surface down going through the planer, in the same fashion if using two machines. Here’s a video review on You-tube to see it in operation.

-- I've decided 1 mistake is really 2 opportunities to learn.. learn how to fix it... and learn how to not repeat it

Jack, you need to study how these machines are built! They are more complex than you are assuming.

In terms of performance does the jointer perform as well as a stand alone and does the planer perform as well as a stand alone? Also: what do y all think of the Rikon 25-210H?

- dbw

I had stand alone machines. Sold them off primarily because I didn’t want to move them, but also because I wanted to reclaim some shop space by having just one machine for both operations.

The Minimax is every bit as good as any stand alone machine IMO. The jointer bed is 60” with a 51” fence. The bed is basically 12” shorter on each side of the cutter than a traditional long bed 12” jointer. (Powermatic 12” jointer has an 84” bed) In most instances, I’ll have stock broken down to manageable sizes before jointing. If I do need to joint long boards, I’ll use rollers. The same goes for any planing operation.

The motor is rated at 4.8hp. Not sure how they arrived at that number, but it hasn’t flinched once in any jointing or planing operation. It’s a real machine that can perform as intended without issue. It’s soon going to be getting a real workout as I have a few larger projects planned.

-- Bill, Yo!......in Brooklyn & Steel City :)

I have the Jet JJP-12 with the straight blades. I talked with the guy at Woodcraft and he said most people buy the straight blades. I can sharpen them myself and it’s no trouble to sharpen them.

-- Michael Dilday, Suffolk, Va.

Question: on these combo machines, is the depth (thickness) setting of the planer exactly maintained when you switch over to jointer mode? Or do you loose that setting?

Question: on these combo machines, is the depth (thickness) setting of the planer exactly maintained when you switch over to jointer mode? Or do you loose that setting?

- unclearthur

You lose the setting on all the ones I have used, you have to drop the planer bed down below a certain height, 6” for the Hammer machines) in order to flip the dust chute over. This is one of the reasons the analog-digital handwheel readout available for some Euro machines is quite useful. They come in a wide variety of budgets from a few hundred dollars to $20K plus and a wide variety of sizes from 8” to 20+” so there is something for everyone.

If you have the room and budget for separates that meet your size and quality needs I think separates are always a better option. I particularly like having a larger planer since you can plane multiple boards at once and even different thicknesses if the planer has segmented infeed rollers and also gives you the ability to use a sled to face joint boards wider than your jointer.

I have a 16” combo unit (Baileigh JP-1686) and I hate it. I have a tiny shop and I’d still rather have separate machines.

-- Woodworking from an engineer's perspective

Question: on these combo machines, is the depth (thickness) setting of the planer exactly maintained when you switch over to jointer mode? Or do you loose that setting?

- unclearthur

On the Jet 12” combo you have to lower the planer bed to about 6 1/4” to rotate the dust collector so yes you do loose the planer thickness when switching to jointer. It has not been an issue and I really hadn’t thought about it.

-- Michael Dilday, Suffolk, Va.