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I have the much maligned Jet JJP-12  . It produces flat uniform thickness boards and that's what I need it to do. I have seen quite a few complaints about jointer bed alignment. I know I can joint two boards, lay 'em side by side and have no gaps with very little pressure. I don't usually joint boards longer than 4' or 5' which might make a difference. At the time i bought the Jet the Grizzly J/P required the fence to be removed in order to switch from jointer to planer. I don't know if that's still the case; Grizzly did change their fence mounting mechanism. The Jet planer bed has to be lowered to 6 1/4" in order to swing the dust hood - that's the reason for lowering the planer bed. If you budget permits I'm sure a Hammer, Felder or MiniMax has superior fit and finish and probably a better quality motor. I know that my Jet will produce straight flat boards of uniform thickness which is why I bought it. I doubt the Jet would stand up to commercial usage, I suspect the motor might get hot if run continuously under load for extended periods, say over a half hour. It's pretty small for a 3 h.p. motor. I doubt many commercial operators in the U.S. use combo machines though there may be some.
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We have a Hammer A331 that we use to plane exotics with. It has the Tersa head which is by far superior to the Byrd/segmented cutter heads. I have yet to see a wood grain it couldn't handle be it ebony,african black wood, quilted mahogany,rosewood or any of the other exotics used in guitar making and the curly maple we use comes out perfect with a shine to it.
"...cuttin' your presidency off right now. Just quit. Because if this is you helpin' us, then stop helpin' us."
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AlanBienlein said:
We have a Hammer A331 that we use to plane exotics with. It has the Tersa head which is by far superior to the Byrd/segmented cutter heads. I have yet to see a wood grain it couldn't handle be it ebony,african black wood, quilted mahogany,rosewood or any of the other exotics used in guitar making and the curly maple we use comes out perfect with a shine to it.
Interesting comment on the Byrd Head. I have not heard that before. I am not familiar with the Tersa Head, I will have to read up on it. Gary
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Location: Eagle River Alaska
AlanBienlein said:
We have a Hammer A331 that we use to plane exotics with. It has the Tersa head which is by far superior to the Byrd/segmented cutter heads. I have yet to see a wood grain it couldn't handle be it ebony,african black wood, quilted mahogany,rosewood or any of the other exotics used in guitar making and the curly maple we use comes out perfect with a shine to it.
I had an Inca 570 for a number of years with the Tersa head. The Tersa head made it very quick and easy to change knifes. Other than the quick change advantage I didn't see any difference it cut quality or durability over any other straight knife machine I have use. I use similar 2 sided throw away knives on my Felder planer, the difference is the Felder has registering hole and the Tersa knife had registering bumps if you will. When I did my Blood Wood kitchen I went through 4 set of knifes. Blood wood being 2900 on the Janka scale. That being said, I never use a Byrd head.
Alaskan's for Global Warming
Eagle River AK
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I bought the grizzly 634xp and could not be more pleased. The machine was in perfect setup condition. It runs very quiet and the results are more than acceptable. If you look at the hammer you will see a similar control placings? I know the Grizzly is German designed. I love Grizzly's parts and service. This is a very high quality machine. I just bought their 17 in bandsaw with a motor brake.
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The tersas we use are carbide. It's been over 7 months since I last changed them and they are still on their first side.
No special tools required to change them. Just put a flat blade screw driver on the gibbs and lightly tap it with the palm of your hand. Slide the knife out and flip it over to the second side, slide it back in and rotate the head to the next one. When you have done all 3 or 4 knives just turn the machine on to set and lock them in place.
"...cuttin' your presidency off right now. Just quit. Because if this is you helpin' us, then stop helpin' us."
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I have the Jet JJP-12 and bought mine after I saw that Kurt had one. It has served me well, and I am sure I have had the motor running more than 1/2 hour at a time. I did convert the handle so that I can use a drill with a nut driver to move the bed up and down. At the time, the only other competition in that price range was the Grizzly, and as Kurt said, the changeover for the Jet was much easier. I don't mind the aluminum fence, and I never set it to anything other than 90 degrees. If you were going to change that setting, you might not like the Jet as much.
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Not long ago I looked at Jet and Griz, ended up getting solo machines, but I would definitely take the Griz over the jet. That said there was a guy used to hang out here (Phil Hirz) who had the Hammer, very very nice tool if you can pay the freight. Haven't seen the MM, SCMI, Felder, or others named here, but all of them come from good companies known to make fine equipment. This was Phil's machine I coveted heavily  It has quick change knives, Phil said just minutes to change. Product info page lots of tempting video 
Worst thing they can do is cook ya and eat ya 
GW
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These machines change as the years go by - when referencing a machine you have experience with it's nice to know vintage and configuration. The Grizzly Polar Bear had a 60 insert head and center-mounted fence, now it has a 32 insert head and front end mounted fence. And there are other non Polar Bear models of this machine. The old Hammer A3 31 had separately lifting tables and required an after market Byrd head if you wanted helical. The new Hammer A3 31 has tables that lift together, is a lighter machine, and if you want helical they supply their own proprietary "Silent Power" spiral head. And if you buy it without the spiral head they say it can't be retrofitted. The new Rikon has tables that lift together and a 56 insert spiral head. So If you report that you are happy with your machine please tell the configuration.
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GDay said:
[blockquote]AlanBienlein said:
We have a Hammer A331 that we use to plane exotics with. It has the Tersa head which is by far superior to the Byrd/segmented cutter heads. I have yet to see a wood grain it couldn't handle be it ebony,african black wood, quilted mahogany,rosewood or any of the other exotics used in guitar making and the curly maple we use comes out perfect with a shine to it.
Interesting comment on the Byrd Head. I have not heard that before. I am not familiar with the Tersa Head, I will have to read up on it. Gary
[/blockquote] I am a big fan of Tersa as well. I had a 20" General planer with a helical head, and a jointer with a Tersa.. I recently restored a planer and put a Tersa head in it. Tersa is more convenient. If you get a nick, you slide 1 knife 1mm and your off and running. The best part is that because you can change knives in just a few minutes, I do .. The helical was nice too.. Quieter, better for figured woods than the Tersa, with the exception of the first 100 feet on a fresh set of knives. I am restoring an old Jointer next and will put a Byrd head on it instead of a Tersa because in this case, the Tersa is just too much money.. To me they are both top notch..
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