HL 850 as a Jointer

[ForumMFG]

I did some searching and found 1 thread that had a little information on this planner and the bench unit.

Does anyone use the HL 850 with the bench unit as a jointer?  Is there any modifications to make the in-feed and out-feed longer so you can run long pieces of wood through them and still be accurate?

Does anyone have any experience with using this planer as a jointer?  Using long and short boards?  What do you think about it?
-Dave

 

[greg mann]

Do a search on woodshopdemos.com. I think John Lucas has some onformation on just what you are asking. I have the setup and have used it satisfactorily for relatively short pieces but no longer use it that way since I have an 8 inch long bed Powermatic jointer.

 

[ForumMFG]

The only thing I could find was a quick look at how to set up the planer with the bench kit.

 

[Neill]

Do a search on woodshopdemos.com. I think John Lucas has some onformation on just what you are asking. I have the setup and have used it satisfactorily for relatively short pieces but no longer use it that way since I have an 8 inch long bed Powermatic jointer.

Greg,

Show off.    Beautiful piece of equipment.  Good luck using it.

Puts my Delta 6" benchtop jointer to shame.

Neill

 

[ForumMFG]

Neil,

How do you like that?  I seen that jointer at woodcraft the other day.

 

[Neill]

Dave,

For what it is, it is great.  I don't use it a lot.  I have had it for about 10 years and the blades are still very sharp.  I use it almost exclusively for edge jointing although I have used it to smooth out the face on some pock marked boards.  In general it produces a very smooth finish.

My concerns would be that some claim Delta is not what it used to be.  So I am not sure that a new one would be as good as an older one.  It also could be better.  It also has a relatively short infeed and outfeed beds, so longer stock can be a challenge.  There is also no dust collection.  The dust tends to stay pretty close to the exhaust so it is easy to vacuum up.

The pluses are cost.  I think I paid about $250 for it 10 years ago.  It is also very easy to adjust the cutting depth.  The fence seems to stay where I put it.  I always keep it at 90* but it also seems easy to adjust.  As I said previously, it does cut very clean.

Neill

 

[mwhafner]

I have the HL850 and the base also, and it is great for site work.  It couldn't replace a stationary jointer for me, but I have still has decent results on boards up to about 42".  I haven't tried any modifications to extend the infeed and outfeed tables, so I can't be much help there. 

I would think that you could rig something up on the outfeed side pretty easily.  If you are working with longer or wide stock, I seem to get better results using the planer without the stand.