rikon 25-010 or seperates

[sj2494]

i was looking at a rikon planer jointer combo that i can get from a local person near me i just wanted to know if i was better spending 475 on this or 300 on a 6 inch jointer and 150 on a planer i figured the rikon was a nice machine that would take up less space and it would work better for my set up so i guess what im trying to say is would anyone recomend this unit and is there anything to look for when buying a used machine like this i saw the other post on this machine but more needed advise on what to look for on used machines because i dont have the cash and cant justify spending big money on all new stuff

[PurpLev]

When I mill lumber I usually go back and forth between jointer and planer as such:

1. [Jointer] face 1 side

2. [Planer] plane parallel face to thickness

3. [Jointer] joint 1 edge 90 to face

I also usually batch all boards together so I dont go back and forth, back and forth between machines, but I do go from one machine to the other while milling, sometimes more , sometimes less.

That said - it really boils down to SPACE consideration. if you can fit 2 machines - it would make things easier on you. if not - the combo will give you the ability to mill lumber in less space.

one more thing to consider - if you have issues with the cutterhead/motor/blades/other - with 2 machines, you're still half functional, with a combo - you're out of luck until it gets resolved.

[wilburpan]

I've got the very same machine. I really like it a lot. The biggest advantage is that you'll have a 10" wide jointer for not much money. I'm convinced that for a jointer, width is more important than bed length.

For maximum efficiency, you will have to adjust your workflow so that you do all your jointing operations first, and then your planer operations. In theory this sounds like a pain, but in practice you get used to it quickly. The conversion is pretty quick -- less than a minute to go from jointer to planer mode or vise versa.