I started with small bandsaw (Record Power BS250) and hand planes. Recently I got a room in the cellar to rent and therefore bought a bigger Felder FB-510 bandsaw and Hammer A3-41 planer/thicknesser. Of course, chips extractor also takes space and quite a lot actually (AL-KO Power Unit 120). Hand tools I do in dedicated smallest room in our apartment (like 2.3x4.3 m) where I also have heavy workbench and a benchtop drill press and a mortiser on a movable table.
Will the result be coplanar as from the thicknesser or it will be far from it?
It is good enough. I usually did not plane outer surface between bandsaw cuts, like Derek does in that article, as that seems to be quicker then for narrow pieces. Now with thicknesser I usually clean the surface before next bandsaw cut. Bandsaw leaves uneven groves from the blade. In some places it is more even but like every few cm there is a deeper grove (probably has something to do with welded place on the blade that sticks out on one side more). Hand planing such surface creates a dust at first rather than shavings. And if at some moment the wood piece will wonder away from the fence on the bandsaw, you might get easily like 1 mm deviation from the line. So, slightly more than 1 mm extra is needed. Sometimes I had to redo pieces when it gets out of control somehow. Ripping shorter pieces is better in this regard as it is less likely to happen on a shorter piece and it is easier to control a shorter piece. After planing both surfaces and checking thickness on four corners I do shoot the long edges once again, as they can get out of square in the process or get dirty or dented by chips or saw dust.
What I wanted to try is carbide sawblade, as per Derek it leaves better surface and doesn't make random deeper groves. Should require then less work with hand planes. But it also has a bigger kerf, I think.
I have decided for Hammer A3-26 jointer/thicknesser as the next machine, but it might take a lot of time to save up for it, so I would like to use the bandsaw approach for thicknessing.
I would suggest A3-31 then as it is basically the same footprint but much better machine. And also with helical head that is called SilentPower - it really makes it twice less noisy (-10 db or so). I use my A3-41 without hearing protection, it makes more noise at startup for a second than during operation. I also make friends with all the neighbors so that they can just tell me if I am too loud, instead of complaining to a police or something.
Quick note on the p/t get a bigger one I have the A3-31 and kind of wish I had the 41 sometimes. Its a nice planer though.
Well, I did exactly that and went for A3-41, so that I don't have to bother with upgrade in my life, I thought. In actual use I haven't needed 41 cm so far (but I might in the feature, ofc). But now that I think about it, given what space I have, it might be that my work space would be better organized and more productive if I would chose slightly smaller machines, like A3-31 and maybe 14 inch bandsaw. Of course, I have everything on wheels but still... Two big machines would probably fit alright. But since they also need chips extractor it then becomes 3 machines. And I chose AL-KO Power Unit 120 because it has fine filters (something like HEPA) and also rather quiet (71 dB) but unfortunately it also takes more space.
So, what are your thoughts on preferring 41 in retrospect?
I need to keep the power consumption of the dust collector low (750W), because my total 16A circuit can handle only 3680W in total. If I would buy a thickness planer with 1,9 kW, I cannot buy 1,5 kW dust collector to handle the required airflow (it would be very close to the limit and can turn off the fuse).
You need proper fuses for induction motors, that have C-type curve, this is also mentioned in Felder/Hammer manuals. Those do not trip if current becomes 10 times more for a short time, which is needed during startup of motors. I didn't measure it myself, but from Felder video A3-31 (with helical head) running idle consumed about 4 A and up to 16 A at maximum cut depth. So, taking a little cut will require less power. Dust extraction probably runs at more or less constant load and consumes maybe about 6 A or less for 1500 W unit that I have. And it has to start before or after the other machine not to stress fuses too much. I did notice that with 6 m not-so-flexible hose it is a bit lacking the air volume (maybe?) when thicknessing, as sometimes chips get imprinted into surface at 1 mm cut depth...
So, with correct fuses (type C) you can get it to work with higher rated machines if you don't cut at maximum depth and limit the actual load a bit. I would say don't be afraid of slightly exceeding your 230 V and 16 A in maximum ratings.
but at the same time if 3 phase, buying the right VFD which has capability of derating motors
can limit yer motor hp to what you like.
Yes, VFD are very nice indeed. For one, there is a dust extractor from Harvey Woodworking (GYRO AIR G-700) that actually has it embedded for speed control. You could do the same with any dust collector. Optimal would be the one that has a motor that is 3 phases 400 V and can be wired in triangle schema, as 3 phase motors are more efficient and have more torque or whatever. You could even tune the noise to performance ration with it and with little cut it can easily be like half as noisy (-10 dB or so). In fact I plan to experiment with mine AL-KO Power Unit 120 as it seems to be more audible outside the room than Hammer A3. And I want to keep it to needed minimum in our multiapartment building.
So I’ve made the custom shroud this morning and now just need to choose a dust port to attach to it. Probably a 63mm one from Axminster.
That's nice! I also want to do something similar for Felder FB-510. Though, I was thinking on 3d printing some flexible multipart hose with cut out for blade change. So far I didn't really use FB-510, sadly, as BS250 was still enough and more familiar for everything.
And even then, I can only use some very small plywood, because pushing a 1250x2500 sheet of plywood through bandsaw is just "silly". To conclude I cannot envision working in my 4x4 m workshop with a lot of plywood.
My workshop in the cellar is slightly smaller, maybe 3.4x3.6 m, but sure I can work with plywood. For example, when I buy plywood I can ask it to be cut in several places. Costs a little extra but not much considering how much plywood costs nowadays. Also, I can precut it myself using battery powered hand held circular saw, like 12V with 85 mm disk can cut up to 25 mm pretty easy. Works even outside, like before attaching it to the roof of my car.
And since I got a track saw I can also cut very precise with it. Then I just clean the edges with a hand plane if it is visible. And I also use it with rip disk to precut timber (I usually buy 50-52 mm thick rough sawn boards).
On a P/T you would normally do is surface 1 side ( the slightly concave side). Once that was flat put it through the thicknesser cutting off the rough surface until it was equal thickness all the way along. Then to reduce to final thickness you take alternate cuts of each side
Something for me to learn here. Yes, it does cup like every second time. So I tend to glue two thinner pieces together to compensate, when is possible... Or I can try this technique and make more chips for the dust collector.
Plywood is great but as you say not really suited to hand tools.
It is somewhat suited to hand tools in my experience. I said I precut plywood with hand held circular saw roughly because final dimensions I get after shooting edges with my beloved #7 hand plane. And if plywood at least 10 mm thick (or if it is small enough) I also plane the surfaces of it. This depends on whether it flexes under hand plane or not. Thin plywood (like 6 mm drawer bottom) I would more likely sand with orbital sander as it flexes a lot and difficult to plane (I have to put much downwards pressure while planing or it would skip and leave uneven surface).
I made this sawbench without any power tools from rough sawn boards and it took me approximately two months working on and off. It is a small scale project
I have or had similar times for such projects where dimensioning all parts can really take a month to do. Since we have three kids and I also have other hobbies and duties... And that was with the bandsaw help already. This is the reason why I decided to get the planer/thicknesser once I had a place to put it in. And now I also have Domino. Together that makes it possible to do even two small utilitarian projects per month, as not all home projects require quality in construction or materials worthy of traditional joinery (like cats toilet or potatoes storage).
I would like to have a bandsaw because a decent bandsaw is much quieter and I often work in hours when a lot of noise is inappropriate to neighbors and also it is safer for me.
It is quieter, but still loud as a vacuum cleaner can be. And during cutting you get some more noise from the blade. But definitely quieter than a planer/thicknesser with a dust collector, even with induction motors (universal motors in benchtop thicknessers are much worse, of course).