Hi all, i've been meaning to do this a while.
After regrettably selling an old 400mm scm pt and buying a 24 inch pt thicknesser we were on the look out for something alot newer and much improved. On paper the rojek ticked all the box's.
A visit to APTC shortly followed and we were allowed to inspect the machine on the pallet. First impressions were- 'crikey, they don't make machines like they use to !' After closer inspection we decided it would be alot better then the one we currently had.
I soooooooo wish we had walked away that day and left the machine behind !!!!
We ended up buying the Rojek SP410 Select Planer Thicknesser. After removing all of the grease covered paper we were left the task of removing all the gooie rust prevention stuff. We wired up the planer and gave it a spin. A nice spinning sound was heard so things were looking good. Pressing the stop button it stopped within seconds. :shock:- also good stuff !
I found an off cut of 300mm wide oak kicking around and proceeded to thickness it down to just 4mm thick. The finish was good. By this time we were both smiling from ear to ear, very pleased with out new investment. Here's a pic of it shortly after we had installed it.
This was as good as it got- from here on, it was all down hill
There was a threaded hole in the machine where it looked like a bolt was missing. Putting a spanner on all the remaining bolts, it turned out alot of them were only 'finger tight'. Spent a good time checking over whole machine after spotting that.
A couple days passed using the machine without any problems. On the 3rd day the machine began getting a little noisy, followed shortly after by a crash bang wallop. The chain that drove the cutter head had snapped
Was a little surprised after removing the cover, to find it was only the size of a bicycle chain. I was imagining a much more bigger/heavy duty setup. This happened on a friday morning. A quick call to axminster explaining the problem and an engineer was booked to come out on the monday to repair it. About 2.5 days with nothing to do while the planer was kaput :roll: The chain was repaired and our concern about bolts being lose etc were told to the engineer. Whilst repairing the chain he managed to break a clip that held the extractor hood in place. He promised he'd get another one sent out but it never arrived.
With the chain fixed, we continued using the machine, each day noticing more little things of concerns. Even with brand new blades fitted the finish was very chattery. A phone call later to axminster asking for a refund, we were told point blank, 'no, theres nothing wrong with the machine.' -so we were stuck with it.
After a stint of surfacing, (couple days top and tailing) several faults with the surfacing were spotted. First one was that the fence was very flimsy. It was square at one point, but totally off true at another. The beds were also completely twisted which was a nightmare to remedy (a real pain in the backside to access.) The beds were clamped down onto bolts ( Green circles in the picture )
There was writing sticking out proud on the bolt heads that caused the surface it was being clamped upto to wear away. I've now ground the letters off the end of the bolts to try and stop it from happening.
The means of holding the beds down tight are by means of a cam type mechanism. ( circled red ) At any given time the outfeed bed works loose, making planing a mare, until its spotted and reapplied. It seems to be a case of having to find the 'sweet spot' if theres any chance of it staying where it should.
To sum up, the planer planes-to not a very good standard, and it stops- when least expected. If you're looking for a decent planer/thicknesser, don't assume buying new will mean getting a good one.
Buy a reconditioned second hand one !
Simon
After regrettably selling an old 400mm scm pt and buying a 24 inch pt thicknesser we were on the look out for something alot newer and much improved. On paper the rojek ticked all the box's.
A visit to APTC shortly followed and we were allowed to inspect the machine on the pallet. First impressions were- 'crikey, they don't make machines like they use to !' After closer inspection we decided it would be alot better then the one we currently had.
I soooooooo wish we had walked away that day and left the machine behind !!!!
We ended up buying the Rojek SP410 Select Planer Thicknesser. After removing all of the grease covered paper we were left the task of removing all the gooie rust prevention stuff. We wired up the planer and gave it a spin. A nice spinning sound was heard so things were looking good. Pressing the stop button it stopped within seconds. :shock:- also good stuff !
I found an off cut of 300mm wide oak kicking around and proceeded to thickness it down to just 4mm thick. The finish was good. By this time we were both smiling from ear to ear, very pleased with out new investment. Here's a pic of it shortly after we had installed it.
This was as good as it got- from here on, it was all down hill
There was a threaded hole in the machine where it looked like a bolt was missing. Putting a spanner on all the remaining bolts, it turned out alot of them were only 'finger tight'. Spent a good time checking over whole machine after spotting that.
A couple days passed using the machine without any problems. On the 3rd day the machine began getting a little noisy, followed shortly after by a crash bang wallop. The chain that drove the cutter head had snapped
Was a little surprised after removing the cover, to find it was only the size of a bicycle chain. I was imagining a much more bigger/heavy duty setup. This happened on a friday morning. A quick call to axminster explaining the problem and an engineer was booked to come out on the monday to repair it. About 2.5 days with nothing to do while the planer was kaput :roll: The chain was repaired and our concern about bolts being lose etc were told to the engineer. Whilst repairing the chain he managed to break a clip that held the extractor hood in place. He promised he'd get another one sent out but it never arrived.
With the chain fixed, we continued using the machine, each day noticing more little things of concerns. Even with brand new blades fitted the finish was very chattery. A phone call later to axminster asking for a refund, we were told point blank, 'no, theres nothing wrong with the machine.' -so we were stuck with it.
After a stint of surfacing, (couple days top and tailing) several faults with the surfacing were spotted. First one was that the fence was very flimsy. It was square at one point, but totally off true at another. The beds were also completely twisted which was a nightmare to remedy (a real pain in the backside to access.) The beds were clamped down onto bolts ( Green circles in the picture )
There was writing sticking out proud on the bolt heads that caused the surface it was being clamped upto to wear away. I've now ground the letters off the end of the bolts to try and stop it from happening.
The means of holding the beds down tight are by means of a cam type mechanism. ( circled red ) At any given time the outfeed bed works loose, making planing a mare, until its spotted and reapplied. It seems to be a case of having to find the 'sweet spot' if theres any chance of it staying where it should.
To sum up, the planer planes-to not a very good standard, and it stops- when least expected. If you're looking for a decent planer/thicknesser, don't assume buying new will mean getting a good one.
Buy a reconditioned second hand one !
Simon
