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Featuring a top-of-the-line helical cutterhead for smooth cutting and fine finishes, the Powermatic 15HH 15-Inch Planer is ideal for precision wood dimensioning. Accurate and dependable, this planer's powerful motor, smooth feeds, precise depth-of-cut adjustments, robust construction, and integrated dust hood set a new standard in wood planing.
Byrd Helical Cutterhead for Smooth, Quiet CutsA top-of-the-line woodworking tool, the 15HH features Tom Byrd's famous helical cutterhead. The Byrd cutterhead is made from stress-proof steel for unrivaled durability, and it is ultra-efficient thanks to 74 carbide inserts that are arranged in spiral-shaped rows. These inserts have a four-inch radius ground into them and are mounted to approach your workpiece at a 14-degree angle, so you'll get a true shear cut every time you use it.
While the 15HH is capable of 3/16-inch-deep cuts on most stock widths, a limiter plate at the center of the cutterhead limits full-width cuts to 1/8 inch or less. This helps avoid applying excessive strain on the machine and prevents damage to the wood.
To top it off, the Byrd cutterhead is incredibly quiet. In fact, you may not realize it's cutting wood until you see the remarkable results!
Powerful Motor for Reliable Performances
The 15HH owes its robust performance to a three-horsepower (continuous duty rating), single-phase, 230-volt TEFC (totally enclosed fan-cooled) motor. This motor is mounted in the planer's base cabinet, and it is operated by a true magnetic switch located on the head assembly. For trouble-free maintenance, the motor features an easily removable, full-length belt cover.
Smooth Infeeds and Outfeeds
The 15HH features a serrated steel infeed roller and a smooth steel outfeed roller that allow for positive feeding and non-marring of the wood upon exit.
What's more, the 15HH has two material feed rates: 20 FPM used primarily for rough dimensioning and 16 FPM used primarily for smooth dimensioning. The two-speed gearbox features an automatic chain tensioner and a push/pull knob makes shifting between feed rates as easy as can be.
Durable, Adjustable, and Maneuverable
The 15-HH's tables are made of cast iron with smooth, precision-ground surfaces for durability and easy feeds. Measuring 15 inches wide by 20 inches long, the main table provides ample space for larger projects. A pair of cast-iron extension tables (15.75-inches wide by 14 inches long), means you can expand the table to 48 inches in length.
A large cast-iron handwheel positions the table quickly and easily, and four posts give you optimum stability. And built around a fully enclosed welded steel base cabinet, the 15HH features machined iron casters that ensure durability and maneuverability--a foot-operated brake lets you lock the casters into place.
Dust Hood Deflects Debris away from Your Workpiece
To help protect components and improve visibility, an all-metal dust hood diverts debris from the cutterhead. The hood terminates with a four-inch diameter port that is conveniently angled to the side, so the dust collector hose does not interfere with the exiting stock.
Dimensions and Warranty Information
The 15HH measures approximately 48.0 x 28.0 x 43.5 inches (WxHxD), weighs 502 pounds, and is backed by a five-year warranty.
What's in the Box
15HH 15-Inch Planer; dust hood; two cast-iron extension tables; handwheel; handle; four hex wrenches (3.0 - 6.0mm); two open-ended wrenches (8 - 10mm and 12-14mm); three bags of fasteners; 1-1/4-inch drive screwdriver; TP25 Torx Plus drive socket adapter; 10 extra knife inserts; manual; and warranty card.
Zdenek
Reviewed in the United States on February 13, 2025
First impressions: It is no longer made in the USA. It comes from Taiwan. Delivery came from Seattle and there was 30 seconds advanced notice for delivery. Not kidding. The delivery guys had it laying on a little dolly on its side, which bent the belt guard cover and base. Paint was scraped from transport in multiple locations. No label on the crate to keep it upright. The pallet itself broke apart, low quality of wood. It was actually surprising that the machine didn't get damaged more than that. I took the guard and the guard plate off and hammered it back to shape, doing more damage to the paint, but it it not visible. I decided that dealing with replacement parts was more hassle.Assembly went fine, not much required. The outfeed tables adjustment could be designed better to provide a screw adjustment for height, but I managed to get it to 0.0005" drop on each step.Quality control could be better. One outfeed table was considerably rougher than the main machine table and the second outfeed table. How this passed quality control, hard to know. For now, I hit it with fine grit sand paper to take the high spots off and waxed it, so it is not great, but manageable. One would expect better from this price level. But this is what venture capitalists do. Cut corners to maximize profits.Initial operation was nice, relatively quiet and finish smooth with some ripple pattern, but nice and smooth on straight gain, small tear outs on difficult grain. I was expecting a little better. Snipe was initially too deep. I measured the table rollers at 0.003-0.0045" on the front and 0.008" on the back. I adjusted that to 0.001" on both and snipe is hardly noticeable.The belts initially wore out quite a bit of rubber dust off and loosened a bit, will see if it is only the initial break-in.
RM
Reviewed in the United States on October 20, 2014
I purchased this planer from Amazon a year and a half ago, and as other reviewers have stated, I feel it to be a first class piece of equipment with one major exception.This past week I was planning a piece of white oak and noticed a 1/4 inch wide grove approximately 5/16 inches deep along the full length of the board. After removing the top of the planer, I noticed one of the screws that holds down one of the knives in the cutterhead was working its' way out, and this was what caused the grove. If a board didn't pass directly beneath this screw, no grove was created. But what makes this even more interesting is the fact that there was no knife located below the screw. Since the screw was still attached to the cutterhead, the knife should still be there.My initial thought was that the screw worked loose because it was not tightened properly due to the fact that no knife was ever attached at this position. However, upon contacting Powermatic, they felt that I had hit a knot in a piece of wood which broke the knife into pieces and it was sucked up by the dust collection system. I plan to drag a magnet through the 4" underground pipe to see if I can locate any remains of a knife. I don't feel it entered the dust collector because the turbine fan never made any noise which would have occurred if metal parts had passed through.It is a little disconcerting that one of these knives could come apart due to hitting a knot in a piece of lumber, after all this is a woodworking machine. I also have Powermatic's 8 inch jointer with a HH head, and you would be a lot less protected from flying metal if a knife came apart. Just a warning about either machine.If the knife was never attached and the screw had worked loose, it might be a good idea to verify that all knives are present and all screws are properly tightened in order to prevent possible future problems.Again, this machine does a great job surfacing wood, just keep the Kevlar handy.
Michael Brock
Reviewed in the United States on December 2, 2010
I have waited for a few months to post a review of this machine to get aquainted with it and fine tune it. I ordered the machine from Amazon and was pleased with the price and shipping method/time. Upon unpacking I did find that the motor inspection door had been dented, but not badly enough to warrent a return. Assembly was a breeze, as the in/outfeed tables have allen head set screws to aide in leveling prior to tightening the mounting bolts. A 220V cord is provided.I was amazed at how (relatively) quiet the machine is. It runs smooth without a load, no vibration or rattles to speak of. Under load this machine is amazingly quiet, this alone nearly justifies the cost of the Shelix head. After a short time, I noticed I was getting unacceptable rippling in the test wood. I soon traced this to the belts. I had to tighted the belts about once a week for the first month, as they seemed to strech before finally finding a set. This was a very easy process with no dissassembly save the removal of the access panel. I plan to replace the 3 belts with the segmented type after they wear out.After the belt/chatter gremlins were solved, I moved on to the snipe issue. This machine as delivered had a pronounced snipe problem at about 1/32". Since the infeed and outfeed tables were true I turned my attention to the bed rollers. There are two full length rollers located in the bed of the table to aide in planing rough wood. These rollers are shipped a few thousanths of an inch proud of the table. I spent some time adjusting them flush to the table as I have most of my stock delivered S2S and had no problem with binding. This adjustment eliminated the snipe entirely.I have now run several thousand board feet through it and I have found the cut to be very good. While not quite the mirror smooth finish of a helical head it is quickly finished with a few passes of the D/A. The Shelix head really shines on highly figured woods. In fact I was blown away. Softwood perfomance is merely average. As for heavy cut/quick dimensioning performance I have to say this thing is a beast. Even at 1/8" depth with a full width hardwood board there is virtually no bogging down. The Shelix head will not give you a truly glass smoth surface but the overall performance, lifespan and low cost of the cutters (no more sharpening or knife setting!), reduced motor and belt wear and amazingly low noise levels a very worth the $1000 upgrade. The anti-kickback pawls are supurb.After months of heavy use I have rotated the cutters once. This was an easy yet time consuming process. The four sided knife inserts are indexed so used edges can be documented.I gave this machine 5 stars based upon its value to performance ratio. While more of a brute than a ballerina this is quite literally the last stop before $7000 or more falls out of your pocket for an 1800 lb. 20" unit. I highly recommend this tool for small to midsized shops.
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