Mastercraft 12-1/2-in. Planer
3.9
5
36
36
great machine
I bought this for my husband and he is totally impressed with its performance. We are doing renos in the house and this planner has been a great help.
Runs great, easy to use.
May 15, 2013
Planer
Bought this planer a few years ago, its a good little planer. It does the job, and is fairly simple to use.
May 13, 2013
I like it!
I had borrowed a Delta planer from a friend for a project and having never used such a beast I was exstatic with the results so had to buy one. Saw this one on sale for $199 and thought ...Buy it, try it. I couldn't afford the big boys. Wow this is great, powerful no, easy to put together, not too bad. Had to take two tries at the stand (better directions please) but it does eventually fit together great. Really love the dust/shavings collection on this unit. Great value for hobbiest to increase skill and not break pocket book
March 10, 2013
Assembly of planer. Not used as of yet.
Read many reviews and for the price and light use it will be used for plonked down $227.07. Box had a few dents and one hole on outside. Item well packed with styro top and bottom. Everything there right down to the last flat washer and lock. Everything lined up and assembly was a snap.Tomorrow I will
Check all nuts/bolts on the machine itself to insure all is tight plus check blade height. Storage on the top is nice. I did silicone the rubber stand feet onto the legs. Two friends have this model and are happy. Will not run wood through for at least two months. Then will return with comments. Oh -replacement blades are far too expensive ($66.)
March 9, 2013
Good Value for the Money
Bought it on sale $159.00 , used it frequently and pleased with results. Check the other reviews regarding recommendations for planing and how much to take off in a single pass you'll get consistent results.
March 8, 2013
Mastercraft 12-1/2 -in. Planer
We have run into a problem.
The gear has broken. We have found a new gear but can not find a chain to replace the old one.
Any suggestions?
March 6, 2013
First time user of a planer
Bought this unit for $169 on sale. I have planned over 30 board feet of material, mostly hard wood.
So far so good. I don't have anything else to compare with but I got best results with several passes and the trick was to do 1/64 " planning for wider boards and 1/32" for thinner boards. I did an end grain chopping block and when I passed 10 inch wide, crossgrain through it, the motor was straining itself unless I did 1/64 at a time.
The quality is good for the price and I like it
The only complaint I would have is that the base of the unit and the stand has 4 bolts and I could only align 2 of them to put the bolts thru. I think someone didn't calculate the right spacing when they built the stand for it.
January 2, 2013
My review of Mastercraftâs thickness planer
Do I list the pros and cons first or tell a story??
Ok, story time. A couple of days ago, Canadian Tire had there grand opening here in High Level, Alberta (way up north), although they had been open for a week previous, I knew they had this thickness planer in stock and sitting on the shelf, at regular price of $299.99, but for their grand opening, the price was $199.99, so guess what I just had to do, the Tool Gods said âbuy itâ so I did ï, (yea Tool Time was my most favorite TV show of all time). Anyhow to keep this story short, I got a stock clerk to help me load it up into a cart, and guess what, the strangest noises erupted from the box (the sound of nuts & bolts and all matter of things tumbling around inside), but being brave (and not to bright) I took it up to the checkout and made my purchase. Fast forward to today, I managed to get this thing out of the box by myself, along with all the loose parts.
And away we go, two bags of hardware parts had broken during shipping (leaving China and making the trip across the Pacific Ocean in a container, banging/bouncing around via Overland Express??) whatever the mode of transportation, and the packing of parts, caused these plastic bags to break, and as they say, the rest is history.
So now I get to look for all the loose parts before I fire this puppy up, and yes I did find all the parts.
Ok on with the pros first.
Pros:
⢠Awesome planer, works great, be gentle with it. Donât take a big bite, I ran a piece of spruce 2x4 through several times that had a bow along its length, and this planer straightened it out in fine style, finished thickness was 1 inch, and the cut was superb.
⢠I made passes in 1/64th increments and it worked just great.
⢠How many stars you ask??
⢠For construction, I give it 10/10
⢠For operation, I give it 10/10
Cons:
⢠The packaging of parts is the big downfall, somebody wants to start getting there ducks in a row on this one for sure.
⢠And what score do I give this problem you ask??
⢠Minus 0000000
⢠Sorry Mastercraft you just gotta do better in this department.
Bottom line, if you want a thickness planer for small jobs, or just for a hobby machine, this is the one for sure. But DO NOT and I repeat DO NOT expect to dump this puppy out of the box and start making wood chips. Read the manual (several times if need be), check the piece count with what is supposed to be in the bags of parts, and if you are short in your count, DO NOT fire this thing up until everything is accounted for.
Bottom line 2 it is a great thickness planer, be smart.
I almost forgot, check the blade height, it is factory set, yes, but you just never know, and also make sure the locking bolts are tight (I found a couple of loose ones).
Did I have fun making shavings?? Oh yea :-)
November 11, 2012
Hmmm
Bought one on sale May 2012 loved it nice finish, Aug 2012 something came loose in the head and near blew the head apart, so I went back they gave me a new one now Sept 2012 same problem I assume it's a screw or bolt as it made violent noises and bulged the plastic housing. Also if you get one be sure to loctite all the stand screws or they we surely fall out from the vibration. Note I have always taken light cuts with these machines .
September 16, 2012
Decent home use planer
I have read the reviews on this thickness planer and decided to go ahead and buy 1 on sale for $199.99. After setting it up, running a few test pieces through I started planing a 2 1/4" thick X 12" X 24" maple cutting board I'm making for a xmas gift. I took it easy and made small cuts with each pass and in no time I had it down to the final 2" thick measurement I wanted. The unit worked great with no sniping at all. I think if pushed to make deep cuts it may have been a problem but taking the machine for what it is, it worked great and I'm very happy with it. My only recommendation is to not use the supplied dust chute unless you have a shop vac attached as it plugs easily. If your not happy with this machine then perhaps you should be looking at a more commercial style for a LOT more money.
July 22, 2012
- More Mastercraft 12-1/2-in. Planer Reviews
- Mastercraft 12-1/2-in. Planer reviews (page 2)
- Mastercraft 12-1/2-in. Planer reviews (page 3)
- Mastercraft 12-1/2-in. Planer reviews (page 4)
