Anyone Use the HL850 Planer With Bench Top accessory?

[3PedalMINI]

Anyone? Thoughts?

How well does it work when attached to an MFT-Table?

How well does it work for basic "joining"? (roughly 1.5"-2" stuff.) Obviously it is no replacement for a real joiner but for basic stuff and small projects can you recommend it?

 

[sancho57]

Works good,  check the fence when ya set it up as part of the set up.

I got rid of my 6" jet jointer, I use either the 850 w/ bench top, CMS w/ router or  a TS 55 to joint boards depending on  what Im doing at the time.

Bench accessory fits perfect into a syst 3

 

[3PedalMINI]

Works good,  check the fence when ya set it up as part of the set up.

I got rid of my 6" jet jointer, I use either the 850 w/ bench top, CMS w/ router or  a TS 55 to joint boards depending on  what Im doing at the time.

Bench accessory fits perfect into a syst 3

Wow really? Thats a pretty big testament too if you felt it was good enough to sell your joiner!

In my field we do alot of custom stuff and for the smaller projects where its not worth bringing in a contractor we do it and of course for things around the house.  Today I ordered the MFT table, Thinking about getting the CMS extension too (although this is more for my home projects)

I also love the rough hand hewn cutter they have for it, especially with the craze of Arhause and Potterybarn look!

 

[Kodi Crescent]

I use it for edge jointing.  Feeding is a bit tricky.  You have to get the pressure and hand holds correct to avoid snipe.

One trick I found is to take a Sys2 and add a piece of 3/4 MDF on top as infeed support.  You should probably do it for outfeed, too, if you have the room.  This limits the amount of tipping and balancing of the piece while you feed it.  Less snipe this way.

The bench unit stays on the MFT just fine without clamping...at least for me.

I don't like how close my fingers get to the cutter.  I'm going to look into a pair of those Grripper blocks to feed to get better control and keep my fingers away from the blades.

Keeping steady outfeed pressure is kind of tricky.  Some sort of roller attachment would work great.  Maybe there's a way to rig up one of those JessEm router table roller support things they just came out with for both the infeed and the outfeed.

 

[Holzhacker]

My 850 pretty much lives in the Bench acc on top of the MFT. Works great, just need to find the time to fabricate and in/out feed table for it

 

[semenza]

I would definitely say it takes a little practice to get a feel for feeding it.  But I have used it a few times and was successful each time.  It did a great job. Very smooth cut. And yeah, gotta watch  the snipe. Make your piece longer than needed so you can cut the snipe off later.

I have the Grippers. I haven't used them with the 850 bench unit, but I use them all the time on my router table. They are very good.

Seth

 

[sancho57]

Works good,  check the fence when ya set it up as part of the set up.

I got rid of my 6" jet jointer, I use either the 850 w/ bench top, CMS w/ router or  a TS 55 to joint boards depending on  what Im doing at the time.

Bench accessory fits perfect into a syst 3

Wow really? Thats a pretty big testament too if you felt it was good enough to sell your joiner!

In my field we do alot of custom stuff and for the smaller projects where its not worth bringing in a contractor we do it and of course for things around the house.  Today I ordered the MFT table, Thinking about getting the CMS extension too (although this is more for my home projects)

I also love the rough hand hewn cutter they have for it, especially with the craze of Arhause and Potterybarn look!

Remember I can also use the CMS and the TS 55 for jointing as well. Festool gives us a lot of options

 

[MrToolJunkie]

I find it works really well and I have no issues jointing material up to three feet or so.  I did some videos on it for the contest last year.

Scot

 

[Tinker]

I bought the 850 several years ago.  For the most part, it just collected a lot of dust.  If I had more every day type of experience, i am sure I would have used it a lot more. I only used it for truing up one face of rough chunks of wood rescued from the wood pile.  With one face flattened, i then ran the piece thru the planer and bandsaw to true up other face and edges. 

eventually, i got the bench frame and fence.  VOILA!  ;D  The 850 became an almost every project edge jointer.  I have used the straight cutter as well as both of the "ripple" cutters for making picture frames.  I have used it for making beveled edges to make boxes and beveled face and picture frames.  When i have the time to work in the shop, the 850 is no longer a major dust collector.

with a couple of dogs and a single clamp, the whole thing works great on my MFT's.  It can also be clamped onto any board or a saw horse for use when my MFT's are tied up for other projects (usually for assemble purposes while glue is setting)  As others have mentioned, I, too, am contemplating making infeed and outfeed benches to mount at either side of the bench frame.  I am sure that by doing so, the longer tables will eliminate any of the snipe that creeps in now.

I can pick it up and carry anywhere for occasional use outside of my shop.  I could not do that with any 6" jointer i know about.  Of course, I cannot face plane as wide as with the 6" jointer, but for anything within the capacity of the 850, it is, for me, indispensable.  Anything larger, I use my ATF 55. When (IF0 i make the infeed/outfeed benches, I am sure the capacity for truing straight edges will increase a whole lot more when working outside of my small shop.
Tinker

 

[rmwarren]

I find it works really well and I have no issues jointing material up to three feet or so.  I did some videos on it for the contest last year.

Scot

Scot, where can those videos be viewed? I am trying to convince myself that I "need" the planer, those might help.

Thanks,

RMW

 

[upscale]

Scot, where can those videos be viewed? I am trying to convince myself that I "need" the planer, those might help.

Don't know about Scots videos, but there's a number of them on Youtube. Maybe some of them are Scots.
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=hl850&sm=12

 

[peter halle]

Scot's videos?



Peter

 

[rmwarren]

Scot's videos?



Peter

Thanks Peter.

Scot - great job on the videos, the 2 demo's showed me exactly what I wanted to learn about the planer before taking the plunge. It just got added to my "Tools I Really Don't NEED But Want Anyway" list. Perhaps Santa will check that list this year...

Thanks for making the videos.

RMW

 

[Saxtonlad]

I haven;t used the planer with the bench top accessory,  I have the 850 and having seen the videos of the set up I intend to buy the bench top and fence system, excellent value compared to the full jointer for small stock.
A little off topic. -
Apart from the rebating I use the HK82 RW curved rustic planing head and appropriate curved blade HS 82 RW with the setting at 0 or below i.e. even used in the parked mode for super shallow cuts which only uses the centre curved part of the blade. Great for shaping the surface of oak fireplace beams. I have sometimes used a scrub plane but can't keep enough pressure on to prevent tear out. The planer is much cleaner and means less sanding. I tape up the rear lip foot and start at one end and sweep gradually along the beam. Then use infill sweeps gently from the sides to sculpture. Taping the rear foot stops it catching on the sides of the work and getting an unwanted notch snipe cut in the middle of your beam. [embarassed]

 

[upscale]

Apart from the rebating I use the HK82 RW curved rustic planing head and appropriate curved blade HS 82 RW with the setting at 0 or below i.e. even used in the parked mode for super shallow cuts which only uses the centre curved part of the blade.

Kreg has used the HL850 to do fireplace mantles.

 

[MrToolJunkie]

Scot's videos?



Peter

Thanks Peter.

Scot - great job on the videos, the 2 demo's showed me exactly what I wanted to learn about the planer before taking the plunge. It just got added to my "Tools I Really Don't NEED But Want Anyway" list. Perhaps Santa will check that list this year...

Thanks for making the videos.

RMW

Thanks, Richard.  I am glad that they helped answer some questions for you.  I really do like this set-up and find I use it more than my large jointer.  It is just so handy to have it available for little odds and ends during a project.

Scot

 

[Clay]

I can verify the concern for how close your fingers are to the blade. I just got my hl850 with bench top setup on Thursday and by that evening it bit me. Friday morning I ordered push pads. I would post the pictures but they are not for the squeamish. Hopefully this will make me think more about safety when working with power tools for many years to come.