planer/thicknesser recommendations?

Hello,

With the sales and VAT cut all going on, I wondered if now was the time to buy a thicknesser. I have been replacing some floorboards and keep asking the timer merchant to plane down some 5"x1". Modern day floorboards seem to be 18mm, whereas in my imperial house they are

16mm (IIRC that's 5/8").

So can anyone recommend a good, budget, model that would do the job? What else do you use yours for? When the spec. talks about the maximum size wood that can be planed, what should I be looking for? Is 6 inches wide enough, or is it worth paying extra for 8 inch capacity? Though I said budget, I would like one with automatic feed.

Thanks, Stephen.

Reply to
Stephen
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I don't have one (yet!) as I went for separate thicknesser and jointer instead. This gives me a wider thicknesser (13" rather than 10") and a

6" jointer-planer that's wide enough for most things I'd want to use it for.

I don't hold with the "you have to surface one side first" argument. If you knock the high spots down first (only thing I use an electric handheld planer for) and are gentle on technique, then you can surface plane both sides by multiple passes through your thicknesser. If you can't get a board flat like this, it was too twisty to be much use whatever you did to it.

My thicknesser is the popular Axminster CT330

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it has a head lock, which (with soem care for technique) removes the problem of sniping the ends.

Noisy as hell, as it's not an induction motor. For that you're loooking at twice the money and a four post like this:

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'll also need a 4" chip sucker and a lot of bags. I rarely use my thicknesser, but when I do I put a big batch through it. I can usually make about 10 bags of shavings in a day.

My jointer is the ubiquitous 6" one that's at the hert of every similar model

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's isn't the best of the bunch though and some have better fence clamping. Gravity dump into a box deals with the chips.

I use my jointer a lot and it makes life a lot quicker. Doesn't do much I couldn't do with a plane though.

My thicknesser paid for itself in the first week, just by preparing a couple of ton of oak and buying it off the bandsaw from hippies rather than overpriced crap from Robbins.

Pretty soon I hope to have 3 phase, then it's off to the auctions for a big old cast iron 15" - 20" combination planer-thicknesser. Below this scale though, I wouldn't bother with a combination.

Reply to
Andy Dingley

It's not a budget model, but I can't fault my Scheppach:

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's the older 760 model, but I believe basically the same).

I've tried a benchtop thicknesser and was very disappointed in what a nasty snatchy, snipey thing it was - whilst the Scheppach handles light and heavy timbers with complete grace right up to the size limits of the machine.

I'd agree with Andy that a chip-sucker/dust-extractor (a 100mm one) is absolutely essential. The machine will clog in seconds without one.

As ever, care is required not to get metal or grit into contact with the cutters, or all your work will have tramlines, and new cutters are about 45 quid (or around half that to have them professionally reground)

My scheppach is the one piece of the few bits of machinery that I will hang on to - even if I acquire a full-size 3-phase machine at some point.

(speaking of which, my experience of the old British cast iron monsters tells me they have no equal - if you have the space and can power one - they can be acquired cheaply and deliver the best possible results on anything you're capable of lifting into them).

But it's also worth saying, if your objective is just to level in floorboards, a handheld electric planer would be quite sufficient to work on the lower face of the boards and take out a shallow cut where each board crosses a joist.

Reply to
dom

Mine doesn't clog, but it does throw the shavings all over the place otherwise. With the jointer I can empty the box or shovel them fast enough to keep up, but not with two people working a thicknesser.

I do also regard the thicknesser as a two-person machien to operate. At least if you're doing a stack of boards it is. You also need to work with it on a workbench wide enough to have an "in" and an "out" stack of boards alongside it. It's far too slow if you have to do any walking about, although of course that's fine for a single board or two. I see little benefit to a "stand" for it.

Many of them avoid the need to adjust the blades (not too tricky - but you need a dial gauge on a block) by using "ground to size" blades. These are often double edged so can be turned over, but they're not re- sharpenable.

Can't say I've been impressed with Elu / Elektra Beckum / Scheppach as I always found their frames a bit "tinny".

Reply to
Andy Dingley

You're being stung. Try Method Tools next time. Last time I bought some, somewhere around a tenner for a pair of new HSS ones (for an HMS

260). The TC blades I bought for some teak from them were "only" =A380.

I get them sharpened at the local saw doctors for about a fiver.

Reply to
boltmail

Tinny, and shortish tables, but nonetheless they still give a much better finish than the Chinese clone stuff I've used, especially through the thicknesser.

Reply to
boltmail

Lucky man, to have the space..

I absolutely drool over the rough sawn boards at the country fairs. But I have no hope of turning them into usable joinery timber ..so I have to buy from the men with the kit you have. At a price.

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

? I'd have time to have several swigs of tea and stroll round the other side before a long board comes through.

I passed by similar-sized models from Beckum and DeWalt for that reason - but the Scheppach has cast-iron tables - the whole thing around 80 kilos built up I think.

Reply to
dom

Thanks for that. I've only bought one spare set, and it was a distress purchase at the time.

It might have been a tenner I paid for sharpening from the saw doctors (in Brandon, Suffolk) - but they lost them for several days, and it was not too fine a job anyway. There's another East Anglian outfit I've seen the results from, that I'll use in future.

Reply to
dom

How much do you need? Thicknesser on a workmate, and couple of roller stands to catch the output is workable for small to medium quantities of work. I normally just take over a bit of lawn on a dry day if I have long timbers to prepare.

Reply to
John Rumm

To do floor boards, most of the ones available will make a reasonable job.

Preparing sawn timber mostly... can be handy when you want odd sizes of board, or just as an alternative to hand finishing.

Two sizes will be mentioned - max width and depth. The depth is less of an issue and 6" would usually be adequate for many purposes - a bit more can be handy if you want to use it with jigs or fences for squaring the edge of boards (i.e. poor man's jointer - make a fence with base and side plate, slap some boards on it on edge and clamp to the side plate, then feed through the thicknesser).

Width is more important, but does depend on the application. Most of the time you will be doing narrower stock, so extra width buys the ability to do more than one board at a time. Most of the portable machines seem to do 8" - 12".

I played with a few of the portable ones before choosing. I borrowed one of axminster's older ones which looked rather like a version of:

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was ok, but had rather alot of snipe (the tendency to put a blemish or dish in the beginning and ends of stock you feed through it). The tables were a tad too short, and there was no carriage lock which would help reduce the snipe and improve the finish for a final pass. I expect the 330 that Andy has would be much better in those respects.

In the end I went for a DeWalt DW733. I managed to get one for about the same price as the Axminster CT330. I have been generally been very pleased with it (couple of minor handling grumbles, but the performance is spot on). Its a four post design with a lock, and a higher rotation speed on the cutter block than many. It can get a very fine finish when required.

Reply to
John Rumm

In message , Andy Dingley writes

Umm... I was told you can set planer blades with a splint of wood. AFAIR you lay the wood across the throat, mark where it touches the opening, rotate the spindle by hand such that the blade picks up the splint and carries it forward. The setting is correct when the forward carry is

15mm.

No claims for injuries will be met:-)

regards

Reply to
Tim Lamb

Bugger that, use the dial gauge. It's a lot quicker than all these hokey old religions.

The problem is that many of them now are simply not adjustable at all (my jointer is adjustable, my thicknesser isn't). The new blades are instantly set correctly by slipping them over fixed pins, but if you reduce their width by sharpening and grinding them, there's no way to re-set them back into place.

Reply to
Andy Dingley

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Thanks, Brain

Reply to
brainpinto

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Thanks, Joy

Reply to
joysmith0016

So you are saying these are poor quality products that need frequent replacement then?

Would you like to try that spam again, only this time in English?

Are you using a shortened URL because you don't want the address

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linked with spam posts?

Reply to
John Rumm

I assume that the company is legit, but they've been rather foolish in handing out an affiliate link?

Reply to
GB

I don't see any affiliate link, I'd tend to assume they've made a poor choice of SEO adviser ...

Reply to
Andy Burns

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