PORTER-CABLE 12-in W 15 -Amp Benchtop Planer

Good economic choice for beginners and small proje

This planer does a pretty good job for small projects and especially thin strips of wood. For a lower priced tool it's not a bad decision but your quality will only go up with price. Likes: - Moderate weight allows for you to store it on a shelf and pull it out when you need it but be careful because it is still quite heavy. A rolling cart that allows you to have lots of room makes moving and clean-up much easier. - The integrated wrench and blade holder make changing blades pretty quick an...

Bought it, Love it.

I just bought the Porter Cable planer at the new reduced price of $259 less my 10% military discount, cheaper than any other planer I looked at and has good reviews. In the next year I plan on building a trestle table that I have designed and this planer is an essential tool for good results. I plan to move in a few months and will not use the planer until after we have moved and I have a workshop for it. I unpacked it and set it up to check out as the warranty is only 60 days and I wanted to...

Great for the money

I've had one for the last several years bolted down to a workbench and have really put it through the mill. Having planed hundreds of lineal feet of oak, mahogany, cypress, used pine and cedar, it finally gave out. And actually what broke on it was the cast housing that draws the table up because of years of abuse. Everything else still works great, but now can't be adjusted. I am going back to Lowe's to get the identical same machine because for the money this little unit has a heart. I did bui...

Perfect for me

I'm a weekend woodworker and recently purchased this planer for my shop. I researched several other models by different manufacturers, read all of the reviews and decided that for the money this was my best option. My time spent reading was well worth it. I am very pleased with this planer. Setup took only a few minutes to unpack, double-check everything, make sure all the screws were tightened and calibrate. The first thing I ran through it was some 1" thick rough cut walnut. It blazed through ...

AMAZING PLANER

I built a stand for this planer and fastened it down. Read the instructions very carefully because I want this to last a very long time. Once I turned it on I was already impressed by how quiet it is. I sent the first 12"x8' oak board through and it was the smoothest and I've ever witnessed next to a commercial planer. The cuts are even and it discharges the dust with massive pressure. I planed for 5 hours and I can't wait to get back in my shop and run it again. The roller on the top is so conv...

Great for the price!

First of all there are a couple things the realise when buying this planer. First it's cheap, it's like one of the cheapest with a decent brand reputation. Second it has a 3 year warranty which is pretty good. If you buy one and it has issues return it and get a new one, problem solved. For 300 dollars you are going to have to expect some QC issues from time to time. Now to my planer I bought, it functions as it should. Cuts are super smooth and I couldn't imagine needing a 3 blade cutter for ...

Works for Me

I bought this planer thinking that I would need it only for rough work on Osage Orange that I'm working with. FYI, Osage Orange is the hardest, most dense wood in North America. After running over 200 bd ft of this wood through the machine, it still makes a smooth cut and the snipe is negligible, although I did make an 18" infeed table and a 30" outfeed table extension for each side. Previously I was using an electric hand planer over the wood so I could make it flat enough to put it through the...

Owned it for two weeks, used it for about 12 hours

I like this planer, it works, but after about 8 hours of use on some 1” oak hardwood I wanted to flip the blades around and use the fresh sharp edges after I noticed some very minor lines appearing. I took off the exhaust cover, unscrewed the pressure plate that holds the blade in place, noticing the pressure plate was slightly warped/bent upwards. I proceeded to lift the blade off, but one of the blade holding/alignment pins came off with the blade. I was shocked, thinking OMG that thing cou...

3 1/2 - Good Value and Worthy Of Purchase

After now having and using this planer for some months, I'm comfortable in saying that it's a good value, and worth the spend. This would not be the unit to buy if you intend on paying the bills with your work, though - but it's not intended for that. If too aggressive of a cut is taken, you increase the chances for 'sniping'. Planing longer boards will require extensions to feed and receive the material - and to take care in the level of these, as it will impact the frequency of snipe. C...

a quality power tool, easy to use

This is my first planer, and indeed the first planer I've ever used. I found the setup process easy, and it seems to make very flat board right out of the box. Checked infeed and outfeed height but didn't have to change anything. Underway, the motor is powerful and capable of planing hardwood boards without slowing down very much. Noise is manageable, and the chips are contained in a reasonably easy to sweep pattern although there does not seem to be a way to attach dust collection to this m...