A Cooksley Planer

[Boggis]

Hello all,

I'm quite new to woodworking and have had this beast for a while now but really need a thicknesser, not just a planer. Is there any way of making something to go on top of this to turn it into a thicknesser or am I better off selling it and starting again? If so, could someone help suggest what I should ask for the planer and also have you any suggestions as to what would be a good make thicknesser to buy to do some simple chopping boards etc. as a hobby.

Many thanks in advance!

 

[Dangermouse.]

As far as I know you can't turn a planer into a planer / thicknesser.

 

[deema]

If your new to woodworking, get rid of the machine ASAP. It's a positive finger remover waiting for an unwary finger.

Start again, and look for a decent secondhand Wadkin, Cooksley, Robinson, Sedgwick, Multico machine. IMO buying a planner Thicknesser you would benefit significantly from having someone with you who knows about these sort of machines. They are IMO one of the most difficult to setup and get working properly if you don't have much experience. The benefit of someone who knows the machines is that they can help guide you around the potential lemons out there.

 

[dickm]

You can adapt planers like that for use as a thicknesser, but would strongly advise against it. Several of the smaller planers sold in the 60s and 70s like the Coronet, Myford, Dominion Minor Elliott and similar had provision for an adjustable pressure plate that fitted over the blades, and did work, after a fashion. But the resistance offered by the pressure plate really restricted this idea to planing widths of 4 or 5 inches at most. And even at that level, it was hard work. DAMHIKT!

 

[heimlaga]

That's a mighty fine planer. I doubt you can ever find anything better in that size for any amount of money.
However it is missing the guards so I would strongly suggest that you make some guards for it while you still have 10 fingers. I can see the fastening point for the missing front guard. The back guard might be just a piece of wood hinged from the back of the fence.

However I would not suggest that you turn it into a planer/thicknesser. It is possible to do it but as it isn't designed for it the end result will likely not turn out very good. Of cause it would be possible to come up with some device but that would not be easy to make.

My old Ejca had that kind of setup. I could surface and thickness wood up to 24 cm wide on it but the infeed table had to be removed and replaced with a spring loaded anti-kickback device that also lifted the board against the thicknesser plate. It was built for that kind of changeover so the table was easy to remove and replace but yours isn't.

My present Stenberg also has that kind of thicknessing plate above the head. It has 60 cm planing capacity. However it has a driven infeed roller let into the infeed table and an outfeed roller let into the outfeed table. The rollers are spring loaded to press the wood against the thicknessing plate when thicknessing and lowered into the table when surface planing. Yours has neither.

If you have room for a separate thicknesser that would be a good solution. Smallish thicknessers sometimes turn up secondhand.

 

[Boggis]

Thank you all so much for your feedback. I really don't want to get rid of this machine so it looks like I just need to make it a bit safer and look out for a small thicknesser. Are the table top Dewalt type any good? I've seen some on eBay quite reasonable and as I'm not doing anything on an industrial scale I wondered if they might be good enough. What kind of minimum wattage would be big enough to be reliable?
Thanks again!

 

[dickm]

Don't know a definitive answer, but the Jet 12" thicknesser seems to work pretty well. Not a perfect finish, and the extractor port can block up rather too easily, but it does the job for a reasonable price.

 

[wallace]

Personally I would keep the planer you have and like already said improve the safety on it. For doing small stuff I use a one of these http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Sip-6-X4-Plan ... 2596b92460 They are rebadged for various sellers. I find the finish is good. I've had mine for a few years. As an alternative you could use your planer and then thickness using a router.