Jointer - 6-inch Benchtop Wood Jointer, Spiral Cutterhead Portable Jointer w/Cast Iron Tables & 4-Sided Carbide Tips & 10amp motor, Woodworking Tools for All Wood Types (50160CC-WHD)

Summary:I would recommend the Wahuda 8" jointer. Great for small shops, well priced, has features that compete well with jointers of similar size and excellent quick customer response and service.In spite of a couple of issues that I discuss in the "Detail" description, I rate this product with high marks, especially given the customer support and excellent performance. I am very pleased with thisjointer and glad I made the decision to replace my 6" Delta Jointer of comparable size.Detail:I purchased the Wahuda 8" jointer from Amazon. After assembling it, I noticed that the head had a defect that appeared as a lumpy piece of aluminum. I contacted Wahuda via e-mail. After several e-mail exchanges, it was decided that the head indeed was defective and that Wahuda would send a new unit to me. They also instructed me to send back the defective unit at my earliest convenience. They provided a UPS label - so no charge for returning the unit directly to Wahuda, I decided to wait to receive the new jointer before sending the damaged one back. The replacement jointer came in goodcondition. I assembled it, aligned it, had to rotate a couple of head cutters (more on this below) and it works wonderfully. I repacked the damaged unit and hauled it to the nearest UPS store.Comment on customer service:- my e-mails were quickly answered on the same day I sent them. Customer support is excellent!I bought the Wahuda jointer to replace an older 6" bench Delta jointer.The reasons I decided on the Wahuda:- steel infeed and outfeed tables, not aluminum like their competitors.- the infeed and outfeed tables are manually leveled (see comments below)- the head uses sixteen 4-sided carbide cutters, not 2-sided high-speed steel cutters like otherjointers of similar size. Cutters are 15mm X 15mm X 2.5mm x 30 degrees. These dimensions arenot in the manual. Wahuda provided them to me via e-mail. I wanted to know this before making adecision, knowing that the cutters are available from other manufacturers as well as Wahuda.- there is no leveling of the head or cutters required. The Delta jointer uses steel blades that must beleveled to the outfeed table.- profile is similar to the 6" Delta jointer. I placed it on the same wheelable cabinet as what the 6"jointer was mounted on.What I like about the Wahuda jointer at this early stage of usage:- No snipe!- Quieter than the delta jointer (but ear protection is still a must)- The head does not bog down compared to the Delta. It will slow slightly, butit feels like a smooth cut - easy to move evenly as the wood is pushed.- I cut between 4 to 5-inch wide hard maple, walnut, bloodwood and cherry with excellent resultsbut only after rotating two cutters. I noticed a couple of stripes on the boards. The stripes were dueto two cutters that had very shallow nicks. The nicks lined up with the stripes on the boards. Iidentified the nicks by carefully running a finger nail over the edge of the cutter and I couldfeel the nick. I verified this with a microscope. The nick on one cutter was 0.3 mm wide,the other about 0.25 mm wide. The nick depths were about 0.1 mm with indentation at the edgeof less than 0.1 mm. I rotated the two cutters and the striping is gone. Before and after the cutterswere replaced, I jointed two 14" long x 5" wide hard maple (i.e., with and without the striping).Placing the boards together required some force to separate them, only possible when each areflattened with good quality. A bit disappointing to have discovered the defective cutters on an initialcut, but not an issue once fixed.Comments:- Adjusting the outfeed and infeed tables:The most time-consuming part of putting the Wahuda jointer together was adjustingthe outfeed and infeed tables. I found that for both units I received, leveling was necessary.It took me two hours to level the tables on either unit. This is an iterative process. As the tables getcloser to level, the process must be repeated. I've worked on many woodworking power tools andin my opinion, this amount of time is not unusual when it comes to attempting anything having to dowith alignment. Once aligned, the reward was excellent results.As the tables come closer into alignment, a fraction of a turn on the height adjustment set screwsis all that is needed (not full nor even quarter turns!). A detailed explanation of the adjustmentprocess is at the end of this review.Cleaning the cutters:The manual states that there may be oil residue on the cutters and if so, the cutters must be removedand cleaned. The jointer is shipped with the tables oiled and covered with a plastic sheet. Both thehead and the cutters on the jointer I received had quite a bit of oil on them. I removed the cutters andcleaned the oil from the head and the cutters.Extension arms:The extension arms may be used when jointing boards that go beyond the table. I've seen reviewscommenting on the difficulty of moving the extension bars. I did not have this problem on both ofthe jointers I received. There are four screws used to release/adjust play on the extension slider bars.One screw with a knurled knob is used to secure the position of the extension. This screw must beloosened to allow the extension arm to glide smoothly. There are three nylon set screws recessed atthe end of each table on the top side and one on the front side. The manual doesn't mention these, andthey are helpful in removing any play there may be in sliding the extension back and forth. Thesemust be adjusted so that they do not cause resistance to moving the extensions.The Fence:There are three main pieces to the fence: The fence itself, a right-angle bracket that attaches to thejointer body and a bracket that attaches to the fence and the right-angle bracket that allows sliding thefence into a desired position. The fence and these brackets are made of aluminum. There are twoscrew-handles: one to lock the fence into a desire position over the tables, the other to lock the fenceangle. The handles are a hard plastic-like material. This is an identical arrangement compared to myDelta jointer. There are also two screws useful in adjusting the left-to-right tilt of the fence so that itsits evenly above the table. Regarding the angle of the fence to the table: I had no difficulty aligningthe fence to 90 degrees relative to the tables (it was factory set), nor did the fence shift after use - justas with my Delta jointer.Adjusting the tables:The outfeed table is first leveled relative to two of the sixteen carbide cutters - one closest to thefence, the other closest to the front. There are four mounting bolts (positions) on each of the tables.There are also a pair of set-screws on each side of a bolt. I've removed both tables to understand thearrangement of the table-tops and their adjustment set screws and hex bolts. The picture attached is arough drawing of how the hex bolt and set screws are arranged. So, for each table, there are eight setscrews and four bolts. Leveling takes place by slightly loosening the four mounting bolts of a table. Theset screws are used to lower or raise the table in the vicinity of the loosened bolt. One set screw isadjusted to get the table at the desired height, the other set screw is adjusted (by feel) to thelevel same level of the first set screw so that it just touches the support below the table. The otherthree mounting positions are similarly adjusted. The outfeed table is adjusted so that when a level isplaced over the inner (or outer) cutter, the level just touches the cutter (checked by rotating the headback and forth). The head is moved back and forth from the front by placing a thin rod through thehole in the header shaft (I used an Allen wrench to do this).The infeed table is adjusted after completing the outfeed table. The instruction manual statesbringing the infeed table to the height that is level with the outfeed table (nominally the "0"position on the level indicator). Leveling is accomplished with the aid of a high quality straightedge. I bought a new 24" level for this. The trick is to obtain even-level so that both tables areat the same height at the "0" position. After leveling the infeed table with respect to the outfeed table,I found that a test cut of four passes resulted in an uneven cross-sectional cut. I discovered that as aresult of lowering the infeed table, the table was slightly tilted. I decided to re-level the infeed table ata position slightly lowered from the outfeed table. I used a disk from a hard drive - these are verywell machined to be flat (fractions of a thousandth of an inch). I straddled the level - some of it on theoutfeed table, some on the infeed table. I placed the disk under the level on the infeed table and raisedthe table until the level just touched the disk (on the side that was highest). I then shifted to the sidewhere the inner table was lower and adjusted the set screws to raise the table so the disk just touchedthe level. Iteratively, back-and-forth. Test cuts now worked at various infeed table heights with aneven cross-sectional cut!

Well first off, I am NO PROFESSIONAL WOODWORKER. It is a hobby and my wife has a consignment booth where she sells some stuff I make.... I was EXTREMELY RELUCTANT to purchase this unit after the reviews I saw. About it being plastic fence ( NOT.... it is ALUMINUM ) and this that the other thing..... if your breaking handles, yes they are plastic, you are tightening toooooo much. Yes the tables WERE NOT ALIGNED WORTH A CRAP and I spent quite some time adjusting, readjusting and more adjusting and more fine tuning.... I now have a TOTAL KICKASS JOINTER THAT EATS WOOD FOR A SNACK ! Seriously, I had on loaner PORTER CABLE 2 blade unit, it was AWESOME an it worked fine....... LOUD AS HECK TOO !!! I absolutely had to wear my ear muffs.... this unit is baby snoring compared to the PC ! I ran OAK 6" wide through it and was NOT AS LOUD as the PC just running with NO WOOD CUTTING !!! YES, as you can see by this post this is a no holds comment... I have nothing to loose or gain, just wanted a REAL PERSON to put it in REAL TERMS about this unit ! I am SORRY AS HELL I DIDNT GET THE 8" now that I see how well this unit performs. YES, metal handles for the fence adjustment would be nicer..... just dont torque them too much. I love that the table can be adjusted and the unit is SOLID BUILT ! I absolutely love how quite it is cutting..... it is almost SCARY QUIET... make sure you aren't taking too much off the stock !To address the WEDGE cutting fence side to front side..... make sure your OUTFEED TABLE is true to the cutter blades. ONLY adjust 1/4 turn each time as I found that the table really moves when you loosen the big screws. Once that is done, DO THE SAME ON THE INFEED TABLE !!!!! I adjusted the outfeed over an over, to find out the infeed was NOT true to the blades.... guess what, if you feed too heavy on the entrance, you will be cutting wedges !!! Test by multiple passes on a scrap 6" board at least 12-18 inches long. DO NOT ROTATE, only flip end to end keeping the SAME EDGE to the fence...... after many passes...... measure the fence side and other side of stock... if your not far off, you did good ! IT IS NOT A THICKNESS PLANER, if you want that, BUY ONE.IN CLOSING....... this machine is AWESOME ! Packaging was FABULOUS.... SETUP WAS EASY..... WORKS GREAT.So So So sorry I didn't get the 8" model for WIDER cuts now that I see how well this unit performs........ buy it, adjust it, and LOVE IT !!!! And again, this was not a paid or solicited review... this just is ME...... chow !

EDIT 2: Well I gotta say, Wahuda support came through. Doug over there sent me an entire new machine which just arrived and it seems to work great! He included a postage-paid return label and the first one is going back. It was a frustrating month trying to get that first one to work but you know, stuff happens and I gotta hand it to them, they stuck with me till the problem was fixed. Recommend!EDIT 1: Wahuda support got back to me. It looks as though the issue is a dip in the tables that's causing the problem. They're sending a replacement. Will update further once that happens. Hopefully that will fix the problem.I really wanted to like this jointer. I'll get to the dealbreaker first: the infeed and outfeed tables are a nightmare to try and level. Maybe someone with greater skill than I can pull it off but I've been trying for a month and I just can't get it to work right. I finally gave up...3 days past the return window. I emailed Wahuda support and not only haven't gotten a reply, I didn't even get an acknowledgment that my email got there. (My email outbox says it did.) I've watched scads of setup vids, operational tips, etc. I am absolutely, definitively doing everything right.There's a lot to like about it, the cutter is awesome, it's pretty quiet, the fence is square but if you can't make a jointer do what it's supposed to do then none of that matters—hence the one star.Also, if you're jointing long-ish boards like I do for my guitar necks, the table's too short and the extensions don't really help much.Live and learn. This is going on Craigslist and I'm going to spend the money for a more pro machine.