The 6 Best Planer Moulders
Special Honors
Wood-Mizer MP360 With five separate motors driving its power feed system and four cutter heads, this model can dimension all sides of rectangular stock simultaneously. Its central panel allows you to control the chip extraction system along with many other components, giving you plenty of complex profiling options. woodmizer.com
Editor's Notes
November 05, 2020:
Moved up the Shop Fox W1842 because of the great array of moulder knives that are available for it and because the cutter head is very accessible. It does produce remarkably little tear out given that it is a straight knife model. Unfortunately, so far even the high-end planer-moulders haven't incorporated helical heads into their designs yet. There are many very well-known advantages to helical heads over straight knife heads including lower cutter replacement costs, decreased tear out, and cleaner finishes - among other advantages. I suppose they are more difficult to incorporate into a machine that must also have a moulding system and having helical heads would mean that you have to swap out the entire head when you want to do some moulding instead of just swapping the knives. Nevertheless, there are aftermarket helical heads available for some of these models that you should consider investing in.
May 28, 2019:
Took price into consideration but planers and moulders in general are expensive pieces of machinery. Ultimately, you get what you pay for with wood and metal working tools. Both the Woodmaster 712 and 718 are built with high-output production in mind. It is reflected in the general construction and in the high horsepower Leeson motor that is built to last. While you can find motors on other machines with similar RPMs and current draw, truly well-built motors like the Leeson will typically use quality bearings, account for dirt ingress, and coat the windings.
One of the most appealing features of the Woodmaster models is that they have a designated component to vary the feed-motor's speed. The rest of the machines on this list require partial disassembly and a drive gear swap. However, the hefty price tag may be difficult to justify for non-commercial purposes. The Jet JPM-13CS and the Shop Fox W1842 are more affordable and would handle most jobs for low-output woodworkers. The Shop Fox W1812 has great build-quality but its 7-inch feed width severely limits its use as a planer.