# Harbor freight planner



## woodworkergreg (Dec 27, 2010)

Hello everyone

Does anyone know anything about the harbor freight planner (2-1/2 HP 12" Planer with Dust Collection). How is it? any problems with it?


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## Locodcdude (Oct 24, 2010)

Ryobi makes one for less money. I'd stay away from the HF stuff. I do own a dust collector by HF and it's fine. But if you can get a more reputable brand named tool for even cheaper, go for it. I have the Ryobi planer and love it.


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## dbhost (Jan 28, 2008)

I am far from a Harbor Freight hater, I have their 2HP DC, Jet 1236 clone lathe, 14" band saw, 12" sliding miter saw etc... So I am not automatically opposed to Harbor Freight's tools. 

Having said that, I have looked at the HF planer and after careful consideration, felt that the build quality of this tool is just not there. The Ryobi AP1301 has more easily available knives and maintenance parts than the HF, has better capacity, a better reputation, and costs considerably less. So the HF unit should get scratched off of your short list quickly. If I were buying a new planer, and didn't have the $$ for a top shelf model like the DeWalt DW735, I would snap up the Ryobi. Pretty much every planer in the sub $500.00 category will snipe, and the Ryobi is no exception, so no sense in paying more to get the same results, and have a harder time replacing knives...

Another advantage of the Ryobi is the Rapid Set knife system. They pretty much just drop in and lock down... Not a lot of fiddling with knives on these...


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