Woodmaster planer/ shaper/ sander

[Timo]

Has anyone used the Woodmaster planer/ shaper?

http://www.woodmastertools.com/

I have a portable mill, and am looking for some secondary processing equipment. I am not yet perpared to fork out $10,000 on a Logorsol (sp?) or other industrial planer, but the woodmaster is in my price range. I am always a bit suspicious of 'do it all' tools, but this one does look fairly well built, and I could make use of it's features in producing flooring boards and other finished lumber for my house, and for sale.

Just looking for some owner feedback....

thanks

[oakwood]

timo,,i have owned a woodmaster for about 8 yrs. i have a small cabinet shop and have been very pleased with its performance. the varible feed rate is an excellent feature. the only suggestion i would give you is order only the planer itself. all the accesories i have are setting in a cupboard unused since they arrived.    oakwood

[Timo]

Oakwood,

Have you tried the drum sander? what about the shaper blades (I was interested in doing T&G flooring). Has it been reliable? It seems to me a bit like half way between a cheap portable 12 inch table top unit and a proper commercial grade production planer. thanks for the feedback.

cheers,

[FeltzE]

The one thing I wouldn't recommend doing is edged products like T&G. First you need to plane the stock to thickness, running a pass for the top, another for the bottom another for bottom relief if needed then another pass set up on edge with a guide block system then another pass to finish the second edge.

Running edged materials through these machines is incredably tough on the feed rollers and may wear a grove in them in a short while.

That being said, they will do it ... and produce a fine product. I'd consider one of those Sears or "magic Moulder" heads for a table saw for your edging if you don't have a 4 sided machine.


Check out the other threads here on FF for more discussion...


Eric

[yieldmap]

Timo,
You might also consider setting up a router table or shaper for the edging.  I run a little T&G over my "homemade" shaper table and it works great.  Just setup your featherboards, dust collection, and let 'er rip.  I think I got the T&G cutters from MCLS or Pricecutter.

This thing actually is "homemade."  2HP motor, bearings and blocks from Grainger.  Buddy milled a 3/4" shaft, homemade fences, top and stand.  Works like a charm.

[rvrdivr]

Timo, I too am looking at one of these. I am cautious also and will be watching and listening to this thread. Looks good though ???

[PhilD]

Timo,
We just got ours a couple of months ago and have had good results so far.  We ran some pine and maple through both the Woodmaster and a 15" Jet.  The WM gives you more control and a very nice finish.  We also ran the same wood through with a 3.5" molding pattern.  Both pine and maple came out pretty close to stain grade on the first try.  We have not tried the sanding head, yet.  Unless we run into the need to plane boards wider than 15", we will probably keep the WM set up as a molder and sanding unit and use the Jet or small Grizzly or DeWalt for planing.  We have also been experimenting with gluing up curved molding and have run them through the planer, but have yet to run a section through with a molding head.  We are seriously looking at their extension feed for a router head to make T+G.
-PhilD

[woodmills1]

I have a belsaw which is a very similiar machine and I regularly use the molding feature.  It produces a good product considering it only uses one molding knife.  I make all of my V match and tounge and groove on a shaper and the only problem is the table size so longer boards can be hard to produce.

[Timo]

Thanks for the feedback!

I haven't really spent much time looking into shaping/ planing machines yet. I read a recent review of the WoodMaster in a boat building magazine, and it was very positive.

Just got the mill, and trying to learn one new thing at a time. There is a local kiln/ planing service that will do just fine for now. However, I do see quite a good market producing finished grade (F4S) lumber and flooring. The flooring required T&G shaping, so just trying to see what I will need to purchase to handle that service if I decide to go that route.

Any other products out there that spring to mind for this type of service? thanks again.

[karl]

I have a 725 that I have used and abused for 15 years or so.
It does a decent job of planing and moulding for the money, just keep it sharp, the bed clean and waxed and take your time.
As far as the sanding head- save your money for a wide belt sander or a stroke sander- a spot of pitch or glue will burn the paper and the wood.
Also have a 712 that I use only to gang rip stakes and stickers.
Can't complain for the money invested.

[Captain]

I've been considering a 712 for straight line ripping and the occasional moulding job.  Any comments on the straight line ripping capabilities??

Captain

[Gary_B]

  I bought a Woodmaster 718 about a year and half ago, And it took a little while to get around trying the acc. package out, the molder and gang saw were the last two and its amazing how much you can do with a 718, the gang saw can be set up to make your blanks and then thru the molder. It takes like 20 minutes to change from one acc. to another. The 5 h.p. has plenty of power. I would highly reccomend one.

[karl]

It took me a while to get the straight line ripping down- finally set up a fence that was as long as my longest stock and set an aluminum angle in line with one blade to keep stock going straight on outfeed.
Keep in mind that the small blades will only allow you to rip 1" stock, don't know what the larger blades will do, but I doubt it is over 1 1/2" .
Green /wet lumber will not feed well as this is mainly a finish planer/saw.
For the money it is a good setup- just don't expect industrial quality or speed.