Powermatic 5-HP Woodworking Shaper (1280101C)

I have been using a 30+ year old, inherited, Bridgewood (now Grizzly) shaper for 10 years. Halfway through building two grandfather clocks, I needed a shaper that was more versatile and efficient. I found everything I wanted in the Powermatic PM2700, and more. Although I needed to have a solitary 40 amp circuit installed, it was worth it. The 5 hp motor never hesitates or bogs down during the heaviest cuts. The digital readout is highly accurate and allows me to duplicate depth of cuts from one piece to another with ease. Cutter changing is a breeze, and the very large top surface of the shaper provides ample room to move around the machined during template cuts. One of my favorite features is that both fences move together, but either one can be finely adjusted independently. The cutter guard is clear and provides a safe and easy way to observe the cutter in action. Most of the tools in my shop are from Powermatic. I have never been disappointed in the quality of any of the PM machines (8 " jointer, 15" thickness planer, PM2000 cabinet saw, drill press). The need for a rare question to the technical support has been met with expert and patient advice. I highly recommend the PM 2700 to anyone who is interested in a heavy duty, accurate, and professional shaper.

So delighted when I found my shaper was going to arrive in record time so I could start using this beast much sooner than expected. It's a wonderful addition to the garage full of powermetic machinery The staff at Max Tool kept me informed of the shipment progress and had the best price available. So glad I went with them as the crate arrived in perfect condition (albeit heavy as heck @600+ pounds) . Looking forward to doing more business with them as I could not be happier with the service, timeliness and attention to my order! Thanks again Max Tool for a beautiful experience

Can’t say enough oof things about this machine. It’s powerful, accurate, engineered perfectly and beautiful. Comes almost completely assembled and packaged well. No issues. It’s heavy, make sure yo have help, but the built in rollers are lifesavers once it’s unpackaged and in the shop. Wiring it up is easy, even if you have minimal electrical skills. I used a 40amp breaker with #8 wire. I used 10/3 for the power cord for the machine. I was able to get everything I needed at the blue box store near the house.

This machine has it all: power, rigidity, accuracy and ease to set/adjust. The digital readout is especially helpful when setting cutter height.

table casting was much more robust than i expected. spindle runs true with no runout that would cause any concern.

This is my first shaper. I've had it for two years. Powermatic has some great features on this shaper that have been very useful. I do like the retractable casters. They work great on my floor. You have to turn the wheel a few dozen times to get the thing up as it's geared really low, making it easy to turn. The digital readout is very useful. No, it's not set to any particular height. There is a tare button that allows you to set your own zero point. I find where I want the cutter on a piece of scrap material, then lower or raise the blade for the first pass. I can quickly find my zero point after successive passes. The digital readout reads to the thousandths of an inch, and it is anything but sloppy to dial in. The fence takes a bit of work, and patience, to adjust. The aluminum extensions slide back to reveal a four bolt adjustment system. Two bolts turn to orient each wing vertically, one against the other, and two bolts likewise adjust each wing laterally. It took me about an hour to make all the adjustments and set up for the fence. I run a Steff 2034 power feed that mounts perfectly in the threaded holes on the top. I also check the fence periodically. I think I've only had to readjust it once, and I will sometimes remove it to shape arches. I've run some pretty big cutters on this thing, including a Shelix 4" diameter x 4" tall straight cutter and bearing to shape a sweeping 20' radius 4x10 cedar arch (the fence was off for this!). The motor drove the cutter really well through that cedar! Problem with dust collection? That really depends on your DC system. Most guys run 4" duct from collector to machine. After all, that's all you can find at hobby stores. You will need to move some air to displace the dust that this thing produces. My system is rated to 2700 cfm, with a 7" feed. I run 6" spiral pipe to the gate, reduce to 5" hose that reduces to 4" at the machine. No problem with dust! The starting capacitor blew after running the shaper about 12 hours. Powermatic has it mounted directly on the motor. I don't suppose that's uncommon, but the motor was running hot. Which is to say, you'll need some power for this baby! I've got it on a dedicated 40 amp 1ph 230V circuit. I run a long 6 guage double insulated cord to it. It has plenty of juice, but if something's going to go wrong, you can expect it will happen right in the middle of a project. A tech at Walter Meier (Powermatic's parent company) referred me to a local technician that does their warranty work. I needed help right away, but the best they could do was two weeks out! Who works like that?! I ended up calling a local electric motor service shop, and replaced the cap myself. I had it running again in four hours. I left the cap off the motor, setting it in a large wood block on the floor inside the house, making sure to shrink tape the connections. Haven't had a problem since, and hope I don't because I can probably forget about the warranty! Walter Meier did send me an OEM cap. I keep it for back up. I've never heard of any manufacturer supplying a power cord with a machine like this. I would have replaced the power cord anyway as I roll it into the middle of the shop to shape arches. The cast iron table is threaded on the ends for extensions. Those come in handy. But the quality of the casting is poor. One of my guys didn't fully sink a screw on the bottom of a template and it easily scored the cast iron top. It seems soft to me. I've been looking for another shaper. I would like a tilt spindle, but a used PM2700 showed up for sale. I'm considering it. That gives this review 3 stars instead of 2. Who knew?

I bought this shaper about 6mo ago. I was sold on the digital readout,thinking it would save me time when changing cutters.The digital readout was a dissapointment. The height adjustment does not have a true positive stop when lowering down, making it extremely difficult to set up new cutters quickly and makes the digital readout pointless. The digital readout will change readings randomly like it's possessed,but the spindle hieght will not change,again making the digital readout pointless.The next thing that sold me was what looked like the state of the art fence compared to the competition.It had micro adjustments on the fence worm gears on the whole head etc. This is the worst fence system I have ever used. It does not stay parallel to the miter slot and forget adjusting it.The adjustment is behind the fence and is near impossible to get it within .010 . Then after you use the shaper a few times the fence is all out of wack again and your back to more down time trying to adjust the fence.I have since then had the fence modified by a machinest just so it will stay square.I had a wire come loose in the switch/control box that caused a headach and more down time. The tables are not ground as nice as other machines causing you to have to wax them very fequently.I bought a 1 1/4 spindle that was out of balance and scared me half to death when I started the machine.The built in castors seemed cool but they only raise the machine like 3/8. If you have any imperfections or tapers ( like a drain )in your floor you will get this machine hung up.The dust collection set up is very poor. I have a 5hp dust collection system on this unit and chips are flying everywhere.The miter slot had a curve in it. Any jig you used in the miter slot would get stuck in the middle. I had to have the miter slot ground out.When this machine arrived it did not even come with a power cord.Do not buy this machine unless you like poorly designed equip, bad customer service,and hours of downtime in the shop.Powermatic is not what it used to be.I own a custom furniture shop and need machines I can count on to make me money.... I will never buy or recommend Powermatic ever again!!

I’m giving it 5 stars just by the quality of the delivery. I was shipped with ABF. The box look like it had never left the warehouse. And as for the machine. This this is a beast! Weighting it at nearly 700 lbs. The precision is incredible. Not set up yet but maybe follow up at a later date