kmp
Established Member
Although I'm very new to woodworking I have been playing with machine tools for many years. Armed with this confidence (misplaced) I bought myself a secondhand (very) Kity 635 PT and began the cleanup, reassembly and set up. I have been running it for a couple of days now on softwoods and have come to the conclusion that I either need to spend money on spares or consider a better replacement.
At the moment it produces just about every problem I have read about, snipe, grooves, feed rollers slipping/marking the wood and a thickness setting which goes from not cutting at all to jamming and stalling the motor with the smallest adjustment to the thicknesser table. The machine is obviously old and has seen some action and abuse, I have already made and fitted new thicknesser feed pully bearings which at least allowed the feed rollers to rotate, new belts and blades but I am increasingly sensing that some major work (and expense?) will be required to get it working properly again.
I have read everything I can find re new machines and even come to terms with having to spend a lot of money for what appears to be a simple machine tool but need some advice on what route to take. My interests at the moment are basic bookshelves, tables etc in Oak but I would like to progress to some more challenging pieces eventually. The choice for me seems between the Record PT260 (and its clones) or the Axminster AW106PT2, again with its' many similar cousins.
So, any advice you might have on the repair or replace decision would be much appreciated. I am leaning to the replace option if for nothing more than I am keen to get on with the woodworking and leave the machine repair behind. On that front are the cast iron 10 x 7 planers worth the extra £200 over the PT260 type and would I as a hobbiest notice the quality differences between the Fox, Charnwood and Axminster versions of the more expensive type.
Hope you can help
Keith
At the moment it produces just about every problem I have read about, snipe, grooves, feed rollers slipping/marking the wood and a thickness setting which goes from not cutting at all to jamming and stalling the motor with the smallest adjustment to the thicknesser table. The machine is obviously old and has seen some action and abuse, I have already made and fitted new thicknesser feed pully bearings which at least allowed the feed rollers to rotate, new belts and blades but I am increasingly sensing that some major work (and expense?) will be required to get it working properly again.
I have read everything I can find re new machines and even come to terms with having to spend a lot of money for what appears to be a simple machine tool but need some advice on what route to take. My interests at the moment are basic bookshelves, tables etc in Oak but I would like to progress to some more challenging pieces eventually. The choice for me seems between the Record PT260 (and its clones) or the Axminster AW106PT2, again with its' many similar cousins.
So, any advice you might have on the repair or replace decision would be much appreciated. I am leaning to the replace option if for nothing more than I am keen to get on with the woodworking and leave the machine repair behind. On that front are the cast iron 10 x 7 planers worth the extra £200 over the PT260 type and would I as a hobbiest notice the quality differences between the Fox, Charnwood and Axminster versions of the more expensive type.
Hope you can help
Keith