Customer Reviews

Powermatic 1791209 Model 15 15-Inch 3 Horsepower Planer, 230-Volt 1 Phase

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Purchase from ToolCrib Amazon. They sent it Federal Express and it was here in 40 hours. It is a workhorse. Esay set up and the wheels make it very esay to move about. I have put through over one thousand board feet of maple and cherry in the last month. It is cutting better all the time. Never had to align the blades, they were right on the money from day one from the factory.

Fit and finish is very good. It looks like the Jet 15 Planner and is also made on the little Island.

I just order a Model 66 5 HP Powermatic Table Saw with Sliding Table based on ths quality of the Planner. My shop will turn from gray to gold if this planner is an indicator of the other Powermatic tools.

I purchased this Powermatic Planner5 months ago. I am happy that a truck with a lift delivered it. The shipping weight is 420 lbs in one wood crate that protects the planer well. This was a very quick set up. Everything works, little adjustment required. No damage upon arrival. Ready to plug in at 220 Volt 3-horsepower, single phase, with a magnetic switch. I did additional fine adjustments quickly. I purchased this for the purpose of planing rough hardwood. It is doing very well, I have run several hundred board feet of charry, maple and oak through and the blades are still sharp but will need sharpened soon. The 3 HP motor does well. There was plenty of power on 12" wide hard maple, even for cut that is far too deep. You will need wheels if you are moving this sidewise. The wheels on the machine are only able to move forward and backward. Bad design. For no additional cost I told them how to change this feature. I rated a base that is great but would not be needed if they added 4 holes for the wheels to be mounted the other direction. I tried every base on the market. There are many dogs out there. Dust collection is a must because of the volume I rated the best book on this subject too. I would not consider a smaller stationary planer. I considered the 20" but chose this for cost reasons. I have had a 24" Powermatic for over 20 years that was used very heavily and is still in use. Delta's machine this size is not nearly as reliable based upon a friends machine. I have not been happy with the quality from Delta. I currently have 4 of their tools. I had a prior large full shop of Powermatic machines and I am happy that I gave them another try. I was concerned about made in Taiwan, but it seems true and solid. The only design flaw I have seen is the wheels I mentioned above This machine has delivered the same quality I saw 20 years ago from Powermatic. I would buy this same planer again today. Now in 2011 I still agree that this is a great planer, I am glad that I bought it 9 years ago!

I have compared the jet, delta and powermatic. I liked the design of the powermatic...I bought it from a dealer and had it delivered assembled.(as I do all my equipment) We put a piece of cherry through it and other than some grease that was used for protection against rust, the cut was perfect. The dust shoot is to an angle which is grat for keeping the 4" hose out of the way. I traded in a 18 month old Delta, which I did not like since the day I got it. The new Delta has rollers in place of the table that was on mine, but by the time I got the rollers, the cost of changing was less than two hundred dollars. I felt is was worth the two hundred dollars to have the best. The Powermatic also has rollers on the top of the unit for placing wood. I thought this was a great touch. The wheels used for adjusting the cut either up or down worked easly and are very well finished, which of course is trademark of Powermatic. I was somwhat disappoined taht it is not made in the United States but wouldhave had to go to a 20" model, and I just don't have the room. If you are looking for a very solid, heavy duty machine at a reasponable price, you would be doing yourself a great injustice if you didn't look a this machine. it is great.

I stepped up to this unit last year after starting with a Delta portable, then moving to a Minimax 12" planer/jointer. Don't get me wrong, the Minimax was a excellent piece of equipment, it was just too small to accept the larger lumber I have access to. I was very pleased with the crating of the unit, all wood, and the planer is very securely mounted. Next to no chance of shipping damage with the way it is crated. The unit is delivered with plenty of Cosmolene on it to prevent rust. Fit and finish is very good. Set up was simple and the manual is adequate. You must use a dust collector with this planer, it produces prodigious amounts of chips in short order. I would recommend 1000cfm at the least. Snipe is almost non existant.
2 speed drive is very handy, high speed for initial passes and low speed for finish passes. My only "complaint" is that the infeed and outfeed roller tables should be made of heavier flat stock or have a mounting boss welded to the end that bolts to the planer.Fine thread mounting bolts would also ease setup. Setting the rollers up correctly requires a 4' level or straight edge and a fair amount of tinkering to dial it in.
Looking forward to buying the 20" or larger next!

I've been using this planer for over three years now. The machine was an easy set-up. It's a must to have a dust collecter attached to it. After set-up I can plane lumber for about 2 hours, then it's time to ajust it again. I plane heavy oak boards that are close to 100 years old from old barns. The height ajustment will not stay locked, and the bottom rolls don't either. First time using this machine the lock screws for the bottom rollers fell out. I am not pleased with this machine at all.

whoa! this tool is without description in performance. I don't think you could throw anything at it short of a steel bar that it couldn't plane. It eats right through woods from tiny resawn pieces to wide slabs of hard maple and huge recycled timbers from an ancient trestle bridge, all with no detectable snipe. that said, it can be a bit finickey to get everything locked in right. I had a little bit of trouble getting all of the rollers aligned just so, but my woes were remedied once I went out and purchased an apropriate dial indicator, an investment you should probably make if you're going to spend this much on a planer. I ended up positioning my bed rollers just 0.001" above the bed and friction has been no problem at all. The fit and finish of this machine is excellent! pair this with a jointer like the delta DJ-20 (another tool I love) or similar and you can probably flatten anything! The only thing I think Powermatic could have done better would be the outfeed roller, I know it needs to be smoth and solid to prevent snipe but some kind of hard rubber tire or something might help it keep friction better. I accidently got some lubricant on it when prepareing the bed and my wood started stalling inches from exiting with the outfeed roller just spinning on it. after I cleaned it up it was not a problem again but just seems like it dosn't take much to start it slipping. Overall however this is the best planer I have ever seen! and if you can swallow the pricetag you won't be disapointed!

I purchased this planer to be my primary planer, counting on my already owned Dewalt portable to be a back-up tool. Upon arrival, I was duly impressed by the beautiful finish and the seemingly high quality which one should expect from Powermatic. After 8 hours of running fir through the planer,I had almost the same number of hours invested in trying to tweak this thing to make it run like a $1k+ machine. In short, I am now using my little Dewalt while this potentialy great machine sits idle (the wheels in the base are great for pushing it into the corner!). I suspect that I have a lemon, but the weight of this thing makes returning it a MAJOR hassle, and packaging the machine would be a huge ordeal.

I would expect more from Powermatic, but what can you expect when its coming from Taiwan. After using this several times, the 3 V belts were always getting hot and smelled like burning rubber. After 3 phone calls to Powermatic and NO answers on how to solve the problem. I finally checked the motor allignment and the pulley alignment, only to find out it was off by 1" or more, causing the belts to bind when running a long time. Also, my brother owns this same planer and he has had to replace the upper gears up/down crank handle 3 times because the castings are so bad that the gears don't mesh well and eventually wear out.
My only suggestion: BUY an older planer made in the USA. We have an old Rockwell 18" that is built like a tank and has never failed us.

This is my first/last planer. It does a fine job of planing, but: the shipping box had a fork lift tine punched through resulting in a minor dent in vent cover. Not enough cause me to refuse shipment. The manual is HORRIBLE. Certainly not what I'd expect from Jet/Powermatic and no where near what I received with my Jet tablesaw or Powermatic 60B Jointer. Looked like something you'd get with a Harbor Freight tool. No trouble shooting or detailed setup/adjustment instructions were included. My biggest gripe is the lower table sticks going up and down. The drive chain gets tight and then the table moves freely again. I've tried cleaning/lubing/ loosening bolts and tapping w/ a rubber mallet to get thing back into alignment; all to no avail. I'll be calling Powermatic tech support. And, installing the 3 roller infeed / outfeed rollers is a MAJOR pain/joke. I will either remove two rollers from each side (as is done on 16" Jet, see if I can purchase the CI tables from Powermatic (included w/ the 15" Deluxe Planer, or I'm make infeed/outfeed tables from plywood and melamine. And finally you MUST have a dust collector; Period.