NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 1983, No. 43, $3.50 Making ... - Wood Tools

duction motor, the Emco has plenty of power and never
stalled, even when pushed hard. At the slow feed rate, thicknessing
100 bd. ft. of 4/4 lumber will likely take the better
part of a day, and boards wider than the lO:Xs-in. maximum
will have to be ripped down.
The Emco jointer guard consists of a sheet-metal stamping
held above the cutterhead by an adjustable arm. For edgejointing,
it slides away from the fence; for face-jointing, you
shove the board under the guard, an operation requiring you
to lift your hands (or, better yet, push blocks) as you pass the
guard. This little shuffle leaves an unjointed bump in the
board, which the planer must skim off. I ignored the temptation
to work without the guard: 10 in. of exposed cutterhead
is too scary.
Because its tables are supported on both edges, the Emco
jointer is more accurate than the Belsaw, but still toO short for
truing long stock. Anyone accustomed to an expensive jointer
will find the movable, tiltable fence flimsy, yet it's solid
enough, and would be quite good if you bolted a wide board
to the fence to lengthen and stiffen it.
The Inca 343-190 jointer tables, bed and frame are made of
pressure-cast aluminum, generously ribbed for strength and
bending resistance, resulting in a tool that's very rigid, yet, at
114 lb., the lightest of the group. The tool I tested, which
should be available this fall, is an improved version of the
discontinued model 510. Its jointer tables are a usable
42Yz in. long, and it will plane and joint boards lOX in. wide.
The Inca has an unusual feature for a planer in this price
range: a two-speed feed 0l.5 ft/min., 16.5 ft/min., and
Inca 's combination is the only one of five tested that sports two
feed rates, which are controlled by the lever above the motor. The
flap screwed to the jointer fence covers the cutterhead when the .
fe nce is moved forward.
44
neutral) which can be changed by a shift lever while the wood
is being planed. When I wanted to shift speeds, however, I
always found myself standing on the side of the machine opposite
the lever. Anyway, even at its high speed, the Inca is a
slowpoke. I would have been glad to trade the speed changer
for a decent depth feeler gauge, which the Inca lacks.
The Inca does a beautiful job of planing, especially if you
take thin cuts, which you can do because the knurled feed
rollers don't mar the wood the way the Emco's do. On the
goncalo alves, the Inca tore out less than did the other
planers, perhaps because its cutterhead knives are supported
right out to their tips, thus limiting chatter. The Inca was
outstanding at planing very thin pieces of wood (less than
Ys in.). The standard 1Yz-HP motor is too small, however, and
prone to stall. Garrett Wade, the Inca distributor, says a
2-HP (220V) motor is a no-cost option. I'd recommend it.
The Inca converts from planer to jointer similarly to the
Emco. Also, like the Emco's, the Inca's jointer guard gets in
the way. When face-jointing, wide boards chatter unless you
press downward fairly near the cutterhead. I found this awkward
to do. The jointer fence is one piece of solid, heavy
aluminum supported on a ribbed pedestal a third of the way
down the infeed table. This arrangement isn't rigid enough,
and though it's stiffest where you apply pressure when edgejointing,
it deflects more than I like at the outfeed end. I was
able to rig my shop vacuum to collect the planer's shavings,
but couldn't do the same for the jointer-it dumps them on
the planer table. A new plastic hood developed by Inca supposedly
solves this problem.
Of all the machines tested, the Inca's knife-adjustment system
is the most accurate. Each knife has two slots into which
the head of an Allen bolt fits. Turning these bolts raises or
lowers the knife. This system is handy if you have knives that
are low at the center, as mine were. I raised both ends about
0.005 in. until the center was at the correct height, snugged
the center locking bolts, then lowered each end to the correct
height. To measure knife height, Inca supplies a very nice
$80 dial indicator with an aluminum base, although I got
just as close using the Emco method and a flat, straight piece
of wood.
The Makita 2030 is one of a half-dozen stationary woodworking
tools sold by Makita in the United States. Solidly
constructed, it shows how the Japanese are using cast iron
much the way Inca uses aluminum: relatively thin castings
with plenty of stiffening ribs. You can also buy the machine
with a 14-in. non-tilting circular ripsaw mounted alongside
the planer (model LM3001). If you already own a radial-arm
saw instead of a tablesaw, such a combination might be ideal.
The Makita will plane boards up to 12 in. wide and joint to
6Ys in. wide.
The Makita arrives ready to run (ditto the Hitachi), but
the two columns upon which the machine is supported elevate
it only 20 in. above the floor-uncomfortably low for my
6-ft. frame. I bolted the machine to a 2x4 stand on locking
castors, raising the jointer table to about 35 in. above the
floor. I included castors on the stand so that I could roll the
276-lb. machine around in my cramped shop.
Most Japanese stationary machines, including the Makita
and Hitachi combinations, are powered by universal motors,
not induction motors. Universal motors, which also drive
routers, are small and light, but must whine up to high
(continued on p. 46)