Customer Reviews

Powermatic 1791242 Model 208 20-Inch Planer

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

 

 

I am General Contractor for Timber Frame construction projects. You can't beat the Amazon.com price with free shipping. Even Ebay prices used don't beat the price/performance of this machine.

The mechanics on the planer are good with excellent finish results, but I wish the infeed and outfeed roller tables were as heavy duty as the machine itself. We have planed hundreds of board feet of 6x8 and 4x6 lumber with outstanding results. I bought the 20 inch planer over the 15 inch so that we could plane 6x12 cedar timbers that were 12 feet long. For the first couple of runs we had to power plane by hand the surfaces to allow the Powermatic planer to feed the stock . . . it would hand up while infeeding even though we supported the ends.

On that note, I was sorely disappointed that the infeed and outfeed tables not only bend under the weight (250 lbs) but they also deform the roller mounts. We are going to have more solid supports for the custom infeed and outfeed tables custom built. If Powermatic simply added vertical bars to the ends of the infeed or outfeed tables that swing down to suppor the ends, I would give this tool 5 stars.

The installation and setup instructions are weak and Powermatic does not offer a tech support number in their paperwork, but we figured out most of the stuff. We still have a 1/2 inch bar with three lock washers left over . . . the price you pay to save a few dollars.

Most of the aspects of this planer are good except for "chatter". This has been a real problem for me with this planer. I can run something like a 1 1/2 inch oak cuting borad top and get NO "chatter" or dishing and then on the last pass get waves in the surface like a rough 2x12 at Home Depot. Powermatic has sent in a local expert that they hire and he did all the adjustments and declared all fine. When I ran a 7 foot board with less that 1/2 inch bow he then declared my problem as "operator error" for trying to run such bowed material. He has no answer as to why it would also do it on straigt material since he "didn't see it happen". My problem is you never know when it's going to show. Run a borad, smooth as glass, run again and it's full of ripples. This happens about 25% of the time. Plus, there was NO, NONE, NOTHIING AT ALL as to follow-up from Powermatic. Rest of my powermatic equipemnt has been GREAT. Get anything else but I'm very sorry I got this planer.

I'm not the poster of this review. Just wanted to let him know that the powermatic manuals have the 800 service number in the back of their manuals. Just in case anyone was concerned about this. Their customer service is outstanding

I gave this product 4 stars only b/c the review I was adding this to gave it 4 stars. I have not used this product.