Official Luthiers Forum!

Does anyone have any first hand knowledge about the Rikon 25-200 12" jointer/planer machine? I'm only interested in it as a jointer. It's compact footprint would fit nicely in my cosy shop. Maybe someone from Bow River (Canadian Dealer and sponsor) can chime in. Thanks for any direction anyone can give me.

Alex

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"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker

I have no experience with it but I have seen it at woodcraft. Looks very well made.

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Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust

Hi, Alex,

Thanks for thinking of us. I do have a 12" combo machine in stock, although I have not fired it up yet.

My first impressions are these:

-The machine is heavy and well made. I would compare it favorably to our [other name brand] 12" jointer.
-The 3hp motor should be enough to handle whatever you want to throw at it. (1/8" is about the deepest cut that should be done on a planer or jointer, anyway.) We have a 3hp motor on the other 12" jointer that we use everyday (which we bought before we became Rikon dealers) and it is quite adequate, even doing 10' fir beams 10" wide.
-I know you want it largely for jointing purposes, but switching between functions takes me 15 seconds if I take my time, and 10 seconds if I rush.

I'm not at work right now, so that's all that jumps to mind at the moment, but if you have a specific question, I will try to answer it as soon as I can.

The only thing I noticed on the spec sheet that would bother me is the length of the table. At 49", it would not be ideal for jointing longer stock. Most 12" jointers are almost 3 feet longer than that. That's 3 feet. Not 3 inches. If you're just using it for guitar sized stuff (like squaring a face to ready for resaw), probably not a big deal.

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sweat the small stuff.

A 49" table is about what my 6" jointer has. My problem is that anything over that would be hard to work around in my "L" shaped shop. I can joint a board a little over 8', and that is usually the longest that I need, and 10' if I move my planer. It would be used mostly for my cabinetry work, but I can see it being a real plus for guitar building.

Alex

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"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker