I am ready to buy a 4″ or 6″ portable bench jointer to use at job sites. I’ve found several brands available, but the reviews aren’t very positive, and the specs on them all seem quite similar. Can anyone share any GOOD experiences and recommendations? Thanks! Sue
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Kinda depends on what you're using it for.
The workers on my sites complain about the portable ones saying---- table too short & not enough power.
Mine is portable if you can bench press 300 lbs.
I had to have my neighbor help me set the top on mine.
I have a couple of jobs coming up where I'll need to make LOTS of jamb extensions, all of them different, and most of them tapered. I have a good jointer at home, and in the past have taken dimensions home every night, made them there, installed them the next day.... it gets old. I'd like to be able to make them on site. Sue
I'd make an adjustable jig for my table saw for the tapers. Then a portable (3-14") planer to clean up the cut. Or am I totally off the mark?-----------------------------------------------------------
FT Job Wanted: Chicago, north side/North Shore burbs. http://forums.taunton.com/n/mb/message.asp?webtag=tp-breaktime&msg=70809.1
I don't have a table saw on the site, and many of the jamb extensions are too narrow to easily clamp and plane.
I've had great luck with a portable 3 1/4 planer (Bosch 18volt) for this type of work.It's a heckuva lot faster than trying to cut them down with a circ saw, and usually 3-5 passes will take them down quite a bit.Very easy to do the tapered cuts as well.You might check out the Ridgid 18 volt planer at HD.I'm no fan of Ridgid, try and stay away from the stuff in general, but their planer has a spiral blade and they were clearing them out for $99 with batt and charger. Might be worth a look.I have a 6" shop joiner, and the thought of trying to plane down smallish jamb extensions on it is a little wierd - might get close to the fingers...JT
If it is that severe, someone is a asleep at the wheel. Get the right windows for the wall thickness, or pooch the sheetrock tighter on the jacks.
Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
" the best investment in life, is a handle on love''
Yes... SOMEONE is asleep at the wheel, but it's not me. One of my three current jobs was done 25+ years ago, but never trimmed out. Another was framed by a carpenter who walked off the job two months ago, and I'm finishing up. The third is a log house with necessarily tapered jambs. I can't undo the situation, I just need to finish it correctly. What would you think of mounting a bench jointer in a miter saw stand? It seems the biggest objection to them is the short bed length. Sue
Sure ya can do that, because you are not trying to get a perfect edge. Go for it.
BTW, I am in a seriously old log home, and have a good jointer..the EZ guide will save you many hours.
Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
" the best investment in life, is a handle on love''
Here's what I use,
http://www.idealtools.com.au/category1656_1.htm
It's the third last picture from the bottom of the page.
Edited 3/14/2006 3:33 am ET by Richard1
I can see exactly why a small jointer is handy on a job.And rather than tell u how to do ur job id tell u ive hauled my cheap Grizzley 6x48 jouinter for many jobs but like another poster said its a bear.The small delta is okay for short stuff and wWorkbench in one of thier books gives a good way to adapt a extension fence to it. Personally for alot of the finish work i do i wish there was a jointer attached to my table saw.
Well... I never claimed this task was "complicated"... it seems that I started asking for a recommendation for a bench jointer, and most of the responses came back telling me not to use a jointer at all, but to use a guide with a circular saw, or any of a variety of other methods. I'm always happy to learn new and better ways of doing something, so that's fine. From my experience, when I've done this in the past, and had my entire wood shop to use, my first choice has always been to use the jointer (in combination with the table saw, which I don't have on site, but can use a circular saw instead). The jointer can both make a taper, pare down the board to exact size, and clean up the cut. So my inclination was to do it the same way on site. I have a portable hand planer, yes, but thought it more efficient to move the wood over the jointer than to clamp it and use the hand planer. Thanks for ALL the replies -- now maybe I'll try some other ways to do it. Sue
suzy,
to answer your question....
we have a Delta 6" bench jointer which I bought about 8-10 years ago. for doing what you are doing, extension jambs, board edges that are 3/4" and 1", it works great. usually extension jambs aren't that long anyway so the short bed length isn't a big deal. jointing long stock does not work well. I have a PC 126 handheld power planer as well, and planing ext jambs with it is a royal pain.
the tool is light, maybe 25 lbs very easy to move around. I'm not sure if Delta still makes such a thing.
the knife setup was actually not bad. the only thing I never tried was carbide knives. carbide knives would be a big help when planing hardwoods. for some reason the steel knives didn't hold up that well when we planed oak.
found it, here are more reviews for you, both good and bad:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00006K00R/002-1127117-1936858?v=glance&n=228013
carpenter in transition
Edited 3/14/2006 7:26 am ET by timkline
well put. sometimes people tend to jump down your throat on this site if you're doing something different from the way they do it.
Hey doc, just a month and a half 'til MerleFest...you gonna be there? Hey, pocket doors can't come off the track if they're nailed open
I have one of the Delta portable jointers like BiteMe posted a link to. I think it's fine, but it has it's limitations. It's hard to do anything over about 4' unless it's pretty light. Heavy pieces and/or really wide stuff is hard to keep on the table like you need it. But I think it would be fine for jamb extensions. I know I've used mine for them more than once.
Why is it that at class reunions you feel younger than everyone else looks?
Check out the photo below. It shows a hand held stykle planer mounted on the EZ Smart. Use this along with your circular saw and the tasks you are talking about will become EZ.
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Edited 3/14/2006 8:54 am ET by Burts
Okay....okay. You guys seem to be of one mind about the EZ-Smart. You must bring them a lot of business. I'll check it out. Will the "150" package get me started with lengths for doors and windows, and accommodate both a circular saw and a planer? Or do I need to add more components? Sue
Sue,
The "150 package" will give you everything you need for using a circular saw. To use the planer you will also need the router kit (SRK). These are the minimums for what you need.
You might find it interesting to view "Dino's Gallery" on the EZ Web site. This shows a lot about how the EZ is being used.
Burt
Hey Suzy, I bought this for doing a houseful of tapered jamb extensions...it shines at cleaning up saw marks, but stinks if you really need a jointer. Did pay for itself on that job, though.Hey, welcome to Breaktime, fill out your profile, and sign up for Tipi Fest<G> Hey, pocket doors can't come off the track if they're nailed open
Taper cutting jamb extensions (or parallel for that matter) could not be easier than with an EZ Smart setup. No jointer required.
The EZ is the ideal way to solve these problems.
Here are a couple of links that will give you a bunch of information. The first one is for the smart clamping system and a circular saw
http://eurekazone.com/gallery/GCU-with-SCS
The second link is to the smart clamping system and the Smart router kit with a Bosch planer..
http://eurekazone.com/gallery/the-ez-smart-edge-jointer
Either will help .
Burt
save your money.
Unless you're looking to only run 4' or less stock through it.
I once added extensions to my little Delta jointer to straight-edge 10'+ lengths. Power was never an issue since it was only cutting 1" width (it was 5/4 stock).
So you have to run the edges of the stock as I'm guessing, or thickness? I'm having trouble understanding why you need a jointer on the job. Unless you're talking about thickness, you should be able to do everything you need with the basic site tools. circular saw, straight edge, maybe some clamps. I'm assuming you have the space to setup a work table, since you're asking about setting up a jointer. -----------------------------------------------------------
FT Job Wanted: Chicago, north side/North Shore burbs. http://forums.taunton.com/n/mb/message.asp?webtag=tp-breaktime&msg=70809.1
It's the edges of the stock I want to run through. Cutting them with a circular saw and then planing them requires taking time with clamps, and many of the jamb extensions are less than 1", which makes it next to impossible to clamp them and run a saw along them. Having a jointer there would speed up the process considerably.
At the risk of sounding like an infomercial, you might check out the EZ guide from Dino at Eurekazone. It's a perfect tool for making tapered jamb extensions, and if you've spent time aligning it correctly, the cuts come out glass smooth with only a $15 dollar blade. There's been many discussions here about it here.
Certainly more portable than a joiner too!
we have an old belt driven craftsman 6" that works very well for jam extensions. it's heavy, but it's mounted to a wheelbarrow style cart that sits on two shortened saw horses. I wouldn't want to trim a house without it.
You could use a router table with offset fence.
I was thinking jambs, not extensions. Yes, clamping would be quite a hassle in that case. Still, I'm still having trouble seeing why this is so complicated.
When you say tapered, I assume you mean the jamb extension is narrower at the top or the bottom. I've installed windows and prehung doors in lots of old buildings, where I run into crooked and/or bowed walls. I simply hold the extension in place, scribe it, then do whatever is the most convenient at the time:
A - lay it on a table with a stop block at one end to keep it from pushing away, cut it with my circular saw
B - Cut it free hand on a table saw, the kick-back preventer thingy is helpful
C - Cut it on a tabletop bandsaw, prefered choice when available
Then I clean up the cut with a portable planer. In fact, when I first did this I only had a hand planer.
Am I missing something?
-----------------------------------------------------------
FT Job Wanted: Chicago, north side/North Shore burbs. http://forums.taunton.com/n/mb/message.asp?webtag=tp-breaktime&msg=70809.1
Edited 3/14/2006 1:02 am by Ted W.