| Review by rwyoung | posted 324 days ago | 1324 views | 0 times favorited | 11 comments |  |
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- Sunhill Machinery SM-150B
- Brand: Sunhill Machinery | Category: Jointers
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I decided that I would like to have a 6” jointer for my garage shop. The combination of limited working space and the size of my expected projects pointed me to a benchtop jointer. Depending on what review you read, most of the models in this class are limited to 3 ft or 4 ft workpieces. That length limitation was not an issue for me as most of my projects in the queue are cabinets and small furniture.
I received the unit in good order and the packaging was quite well done with two large pieces of styrofoam molded around the unit, a heavy poly bag and sheet of rust inhibiting oil paper on the bed. By the way, the beds are cast iron and the fence is aluminum. And I was a little bit worried that the fence would be flimsy but it is quite rigid and true.
The manual is a little bit lacking and I found what I felt are a few typographical errors and mislabled diagrams. However use your head and think about what you are doing and it will be fine. Interestingly, the unit came with the three sizes of hex wrench needed, a combination wrench (8 and 10mm) size and a screwdriver with flat and philips heads. Considerate of them. It also comes with two of the grout style push blocks.
The fence was easy to align and set the stops (this is where the pictures in the manual are a little bit lacking). On my particular unit, the blades were well aligned with the outfeed table. And the infeed table was coplainer. However if this was not the case, all are adjustable.
As with all little benchtop machines, the AC motor is a screamer but it does its job. I found that it could take a full 1/8” off some cherry I had (about 4” wide) but you could hear the motor bogging a bit. At 3/32” and 1/16” cuts I could take the full 6” from a piece.
So far I’ve only run maybe 10 linear feet through. A mix of line, cherry, birch and black walnt. All did fine, the blades are quite sharp. And I had no problems with a 3 ft chunk of pine as I wanted to test a longer piece. Did not have something longer to test.
The true test will of course be after 100 board feet of hard wood have been run.
All in all, I’m quite pleased with the result and considering it was $99 before shipping this was quite a good deal.
-- Don't sweat the petty things and don't pet the sweaty things.
11 comments so far
Routerisstillmyname
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115 posts in 408 days
posted 324 days ago
Thanks for the review.
I’ve been thinking of ordering the same thing but they seem to have a few loopholes in their shipping policy that’s made me stay away from them.
I’ve never heard of company making the buyer responsible for a lost shipment.
-- Router è ancora il mio nome.
rwyoung
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167 posts in 370 days
posted 324 days ago
That policy isn’t really too unusual. Some times it is called “FOB” or “Freight On Board”. Basically it means that once the product leaves the dock, it is the receiver (buyer’s) responsibility for insurance, etc.
They shipped the unit to me using Fedex Ground and emailed a tracking number. I have had generally good luck with Fedex Ground shipments. I rent a box at The UPS Store for receiving packages and mail. They will accept Fedex (and at least at my store I don’t think they spit on the box) packages.
-- Don't sweat the petty things and don't pet the sweaty things.
AaronK
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409 posts in 363 days
posted 324 days ago
thanks for this review and the one of the planer.
when you say that a benchtop jointer would suit the size of the work you do, what size work do you mean?
rwyoung
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167 posts in 370 days
posted 324 days ago
I am gearing up for a kitchen and bath remodel as well as building a darkroom (I do my own B&W processing and printing including some 19th century techniques). So lots of face frames and raised panel doors. This means most of the stock would be in the 4’ and shorter range for initial milling. Those pieces that would be larger (say a longer run of base cabinets) that need long pieces, I have some limited access to a much larger jointer. But I don’t want to impose on my friend for all the little stuff.
And there is the usual compliment of small stuff like cutting boards and boxes I’d like to work on.
-- Don't sweat the petty things and don't pet the sweaty things.
AaronK
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409 posts in 363 days
posted 324 days ago
cool, thanks.
Routerisstillmyname
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115 posts in 408 days
posted 324 days ago
Once the product leaves the dock, it is the receiver (buyer’s) responsibility for insurance, etc.
Well, that policy is costing them customers. Customer pays for shipping so it is the senders’ responsibility until the item is in customers hands.
Or they can offer different options for shipping that includes insurance against loss if th eoriginal shiiping cost does not include that. Even if that were so, only the sender can claim the loss, so this policy is bad all the way around for the buyer no matter what.
Every place I have done business with since the dawn of internet has had the shipping responsibility with the exception of few shady eBayer sellers .
For all I know, they can take my cash and tell me the item was shipped.
I’m glad the shipping has worked out for you.
-- Router è ancora il mio nome.
rwyoung
home | projects | blog
167 posts in 370 days
posted 324 days ago
Freight On Board shipping terms WAAAAAAAAYYYYY predates the Internet. ;)
-- Don't sweat the petty things and don't pet the sweaty things.
rwyoung
home | projects | blog
167 posts in 370 days
posted 196 days ago
I’ve now had this little bench top model for a while and I’ve run plenty of wood over the blades. It is still performing well although I have managed to nick a blade. The good news it is out at the edge so unless I’m working on a board wider than about 5-1/2” it doesn’t get in the way. Sometime this summer I should take the time to deal with the nick but right now I can live with it.
The outfeed bed seems to be holding steady relative to the knives. And the fence has stayed quite true relative to the beds even after moving the planer from the bench shelf to the top and back to storage several times.
Lots of white oak for a project and quite a bit pine for some shop projects
All in all, I’m satisfied with its operation
-- Don't sweat the petty things and don't pet the sweaty things.
a1Jim
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17115 posts in 476 days
posted 196 days ago
I’m glad it’s working out for you. good reveiw..
-- Jim from Heirloom Woodshop, custom furniture ,maker, woodworking school, heirloomwoodshop.com
AaronK
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409 posts in 363 days
posted 196 days ago
yes, thanks for the review and update.
dbhost
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625 posts in 131 days
posted 73 days ago
I also have this jointer, and have been very happy with its performance. Sunhill unfortunately has discontinued this model, which is a pity, it really is a great little jointer. This jointer was made for Sunhill by Geetech, and it is still available as the Wilton 6-1/8” Benchtop jointer where only the colors of the plastics change, or as a Craftsman 6-1/8” benchtop jointer, where the plastics color, AND the dust chute location changes. Mind you, the Wilton and Craftsman variants are both substantially more expensive than the Sunhill was on sale. Shop around, you should be able to find the Wilton go on sale cheap though…
A word of warning with this particular jointer though. You can NOT get away with just letting the shavings fall. The dust port NEEDS a shop vac or DC connected and running to work right. I found this out the hard way…
-- Trying to follow the example of the master.