Powermatic 1610050 8" Long Bed Jointer

Product Description

Amazon.com Review

If this Powermatic 8-inch jointer were a little wider, you could practically sleep on it. After the 8-by-72-inch bed, the next most noticeable feature on this jointer is the table adjustment lever: the large knob and long handle are easier to adjust than the traditional crank and provide more accurate results. There's a production lock that prevents table movement during operation. We also like that the cutterhead guard easily swings out of the way for rabbeting operations and that there's a key behind the fence that allows you to skew it when working with tough woods (such as maple) so they won't chip. The three high-speed, heat-treated, M-2 tool steel knives make impressively smooth cuts and kick back less because of the minimal blade exposure above the surface of the cutterhead. The cutterhead itself is precision-ground, balanced, and made of high-quality carbon steel. We've come to expect the best from Powermatic, and, with this long-bed jointer, they deliver in a big way. This is an excellent-quality jointer, perfect for any shop that frequently works with long or unwieldy stock. Made in the USA. --Dori Anvinson

From the Manufacturer

This long bed jointer features fully adjustable infeed and outfeed tables, mounted on dovetailed ways to form a king-size-capacity 72-inch table surface. For rabbeting, the infeed table has an extra-long extension rest. The full-length, self-aligning fence locks rigidly in any position and features plunger-type lock at 90 degrees, positive stops at 45 degrees right and left, and single lever adjustment to full width of the tables. It also features a patented 'controlled chip,' quiet running speed, and accurate, jackscrew-type knife adjustment. It's equipped with three high-speed, heat-treated M-2 tool steel knives, and a rugged cutterhead made of the finest, precision-ground and balanced carbon steel. It comes complete with a 1-1/2 horsepower one-phase motor, a manual switch, and a stand. Made in the USA.

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 584 pounds
• ASIN: B0000225TV
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

98 of 98 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars excellent in all aspects, June 12, 2000

By 

"scotthz" (Lake Tahoe, California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Powermatic 1610050 8" Long Bed Jointer (Health and Beauty)

I've been pleased with my experience since I ordered my Powermatic model 60 jointer this spring. It shipped two days after my order, well within the advertised availability. It was delivered a few days later by a lift-gate equipped truck. This kind of delivery service was one of the reasons I ordered from Amazon.

Assembly and setup was straightforward. The jointer itself was completely assembled, and just needed to be bolted to the stand, and the V-belt installed between the motor pulley in the stand and the cutterhead pulley on the jointer.

Another reason that I chose this jointer was its table size and cutterhead specs. The cutterhead is spaced closely between the tables, so the workpiece is supported close to the cutterhead. I haven't had the knives out for grinding yet, but anticipate the replacement process to be smoother with the jackscrew height adjusters for the knives. The 3-knife cutterhead turns at 7,000rpm, yielding 21,000 cuts per minute. If you take your time, you can get a very smooth finish. Both the infeed and outfeed tables are adjustable for height. The infeed table is adjusted by lever, the outfeed by handwheel.

The 1-1/2 horsepower motor seems to be a good choice. Even taking heavy cuts (for me, a heavy cut is 1/16") off a 7" wide tropical hardwood (sustainably harvested!) or oak, I didn't experience any bogging down of the motor. The jointer is available with larger motors, though. A larger motor wouldn't be a benefit to me, but someone who needs to quickly hog off a lot (e.g. 1/4") of hard or green wood might be able to get something out of a larger motor.

The fence is straightforward to adjust. Once adjusted, it is also stable and holds its position well. It has a positive stop at 90 degree that really works, i.e. it repeatedly returns the fence to 90 degrees. After the first couple weeks or so, I realized this and stopped feeling the need to frequently check it for squareness. The fence can be set at an angle across the table for skew cutting, which can be helpful in some situations.

This is definitely not a high-tech machine. Its design and construction is simple and basic, using time-tested iron castings and steel. However, I suspect that Powermatic utilizes some high-tech grinding equipment when machining the table and fence surfaces and dovetail ways. Since I don't get to buy new equipment too often, I have some experience measuring things like table flatness, parallelism to cutterhead, etc.. Those things are useful when evaluating the condition of a used machine. When I unpacked this jointer, I thought I'd measure everything carefully, so that I could keep track of wear and tear over the years. I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the machining. The tables and fence were flat to within .002" longitudinally and within .004" diagonally. I have more measurements, but they're all boring. Nothing stands out. The cutterhead is parallel with the outfeed table (well, within plus-or-minus .001"). The tables are parallel, the fence is flat. Etc.

Like they say, that's the good news. There's also a little bad news, but it all came out well in the end. The motor is supported in the stand by an adjustable mount. The mount pivots around an axis that is parallel to the motor shaft. This permits the belt tension to be adjusted. The supports for the pivot are welded to the frame. When I went to install the belt, I discovered that both welds were broken. My guess is that the welds weren't up to snuff and the weight of the motor on them, in the pre-assembled stand, caused them to break in transit.

At any rate, I reported the problem to Amazon. Their response was the best customer service I've had in recent experience. They needed to ask a couple of questions to ascertain some details (e.g. the fact that the stand was a welded assembly, so it wouldn't be easy to just replace the motor mount). They then had Powermatic send me a replacement stand. The fact that Amazon interceded between me and Powermatic was very helpful. The replacement stand arrived in a timely way, comparable to the jointer's original shipping time.

Since then I've used the jointer fairly heavily and it's served me well. I considered other products, mainly Delta's DJ-20 jointer. In my research, I'd heard of some quality concerns about the Delta DJ-15 (that it had gone down in recent years) and was concerned that the DJ-20 might also be affected. I'd used an older Powermatic model 60 jointer at a woodworking school. It was used heavily, and sometimes abused. It held up well, and produced good results consistently. That experience, plus not hearing of any problems with recently produced machines, and Amazon's delivery service led me to my final decision to order my jointer from Amazon. It's worked out well for me and I recommend it to others.

34 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best 8" Jointer, December 22, 2000

By 

James E. Boundy (WILLIAMSVILLE, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Powermatic 1610050 8" Long Bed Jointer (Health and Beauty)

Before I purchased this 8" jointer, I researched all manufacturers to find the best quality and features. The American woodworker magazine conducted reviews on 10 different models (April 1997 issue). The Powermatic model 60 is the only 8" jointer made in the USA. Its weight is listed at 584 lbs. The next heaviest was the Jet. It weighed 466 lbs. A difference of almost 120 lbs! The weight ratings go down from there for the other models. The castings are thick with ribbing for additional strength. The extra weight deadens vibration. Powermatics outstanding feature is its cuts/minute. 21,000 to be exact. This provides a very smooth finish. Much superior compared to other models. My jointer arrived 9 days after placing the order with Tool Crib of the North with no shipping damage or problems. It was crated all around with 2 x 4's to prevent shipping damage. (An excellent pre-cautionary measure). The 1-1/2 HP Baldor motor is wired for 110 volts. I rewired mine to operate at 220, which runs much more efficently. An easy procedure...just follow the schematic on the motor. The infeed and outfeed tables were "deadflat" and have true "parallelism". Overall, I rate this Jointer at the Top. It's very heavy duty and produces excellent work. The price is high, but if you want a top rated machine, this is the one to get. The competition sells for less, and you get what you pay for (dont buy junk!). I'm very satified with my purchase.