Axminster AT107PT or AT129PT with Spiral Cutters

[Apache_sim]

Does anyone regularly use one of the Axi spiral cutter PT's?
Just wondering if the there was any feedback on them?

Regards

 

[fergusmacdonald]

I was just thinking exactly the same thing but alas no replies.

 

[MikeJhn]

I think you may have been a bit too specific, generally spiral cutters get good reviews, so look for feed back on just the type of cutter not just Axi.

Its a bit like three blade cutters, the reviews are excellent, but and its a big but for me, I can't see the three blades being better than the cuts I get with my two blade, maybe its justification of the extra expenditure that generates the comments.

Dive for cover.
Mike

 

[custard]

I can only speak for the Felder spiral cutters, I've seen them in action several times and in terms of performance they have some demonstrable advantages,

1. They're much quieter
2. The waste is far more compacted so less trips to the dump
3. Most importantly of all (at least for me) the quality of the finish on figured timbers is just in a different league. I've taken boards I was really struggling with on my four knife folder block, to another maker and tried them on his Felder spiral block, the difference was like chalk and cheese. On his machine the boards would be finish ready after a light sanding, on my machine I'm then faced with passing them through the drum sander or a lengthy session scraping or hand planing.
4. The only negative I've heard (apart from the cost and the fact Felder won't retro fit them) is that joiners say spiral blocks make it harder to hog off the huge 6 or 8mm thicknesser cuts that they want


I don't have a spiral block, but when the time comes to replace my current machine that will be top of the list. One thing though, these comments may not apply to Axi spiral blocks, I believe different blocks use different geometry, so find a tricky bit of timber and try it for yourself on both machines in one of Axi's stores. I'd be interested to hear your findings.

 

[cowfoot]

I’ve been using the AT107PT with spiral head for just over a month, so here’s some first impressions (not a full review - ask me in a year or so!) -

Solid, heavy, well built.
It’s fairly quiet, barely audible over my chip collector.
Gives a decent finish to timbers my previous machine struggled with (eg European Cherry).
The removable fence arrangement is a poorly designed annoyance, but I guess they can’t copy everything from a Felder machine without eyebrows being raised in Austria...

As I’ve said, ask me in a few months for a proper review - breathless “it’s just been delivered and I love it” don’t count for much, really! I’m slightly concerned that it might be an even more expensive option when all the cutters have to be replaced, which will happen eventually.

 

[ColeyS1]

Slightly off topic but still related to the cutter heads. I fitted some of those heads to the tenoner years ago. It was a vast improvement to the single knife it had before. The only downside was the cut was humpy bumpy.

I was always baffled why it gave such a poor finish but didn't think any more of it. The cutters don't need rotating that often but a few weeks ago I changed them over. I noticed a tiny gap under the front edge of all the cutters, turns out none of them were seated correctly ! The cutters are 14mm square by 2 mm thick. The grooves in the cutter head weren't wide enough for cutters

You'd think when the screw is tightened that it would pull the cutter down parallel, it didn't. Most of them had pulled down slightly wonky, hence the steps in the tenon.
I tried sourcing a slightly narrower cutter but after speaking to various manufacturers found they don't make anything suitable. The cutter blocks were cheapish unbranded Chinese so I suspect they were machined a little small. 30 minutes with a dremel to widen the slots and the finish is much much much better. It's like a different machine ! If there's any interest I'll photograph the modified block notch
I thought I took an after picture of the cut but can't seem to find it.
Coley

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

 

[fergusmacdonald]

I’ve been using the AT107PT with spiral head for just over a month, so here’s some first impressions (not a full review - ask me in a year or so!) -

Solid, heavy, well built.
It’s fairly quiet, barely audible over my chip collector.
Gives a decent finish to timbers my previous machine struggled with (eg European Cherry).
The removable fence arrangement is a poorly designed annoyance, but I guess they can’t copy everything from a Felder machine without eyebrows being raised in Austria...

As I’ve said, ask me in a few months for a proper review - breathless “it’s just been delivered and I love it” don’t count for much, really! I’m slightly concerned that it might be an even more expensive option when all the cutters have to be replaced, which will happen eventually.

Interesting feedback thanks. Did you look at/consider the AT129PT before getting the 107?

 

[Peter Sefton]

I haven't used the Axi models so can't comment on those but have used the Hammer which was excellent.

One thing to possibly consider, if you were to suffer any movement across the width of the outfield table the spiral blocks have no way of adjusting the cutters to suit.

Cheers Peter

 

[Peter Sefton]

Slightly off topic but still related to the cutter heads. I fitted some of those heads to the tenoner years ago. It was a vast improvement to the single knife it had before. The only downside was the cut was humpy bumpy.

I was always baffled why it gave such a poor finish but didn't think any more of it. The cutters don't need rotating that often but a few weeks ago I changed them over. I noticed a tiny gap under the front edge of all the cutters, turns out none of them were seated correctly ! The cutters are 14mm square by 2 mm thick. The grooves in the cutter head weren't wide enough for cutters

You'd think when the screw is tightened that it would pull the cutter down parallel, it didn't. Most of them had pulled down slightly wonky, hence the steps in the tenon.
I tried sourcing a slightly narrower cutter but after speaking to various manufacturers found they don't make anything suitable. The cutter blocks were cheapish unbranded Chinese so I suspect they were machined a little small. 30 minutes with a dremel to widen the slots and the finish is much much much better. It's like a different machine ! If there's any interest I'll photograph the modified block notch
I thought I took an after picture of the cut but can't seem to find it.
Coley

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

I have a Felder branded spiral block I use on the spindle moulder for awkward grain like chair back legs, this has been excellent. One of my students went to work for a mate of mine and told him how great they are. He bought a Trend but the surface finish was very poor, I have some other Trend blocks which have been very good, so not all blocks or brands are equal.

Cheers Peter

 

[cowfoot]

Interesting feedback thanks. Did you look at/consider the AT129PT before getting the 107?

I can only just fit the smaller model in my workshop!

 

[fergusmacdonald]

Interesting feedback thanks. Did you look at/consider the AT129PT before getting the 107?

I can only just fit the smaller model in my workshop!

Well that ought to do it! I was wondering how much difference there is between the two as the size difference isn't huge but it's a big difference in price. Like £800 more for 30cms of length and 5cm of width or something along those lines.

 

[custard]

I have a Felder branded spiral block I use on the spindle moulder for awkward grain like chair back legs, this has been excellent.

Peter, does that spiral spindle block have top/bottom flush bearings, or do you just use it with a ring fence?

 

[Peter Sefton]

I have a Felder branded spiral block I use on the spindle moulder for awkward grain like chair back legs, this has been excellent.

Peter, does that spiral spindle block have top/bottom flush bearings, or do you just use it with a ring fence?

custard I use the spiral block with an 80mm bearing, not used it with a ring yet but I would need to make one for the purpose. I use a bearing or ring fence with a larger 125mm skew rebate block.

Cheers Peter

 

[katellwood]

I have a Felder branded spiral block I use on the spindle moulder for awkward grain like chair back legs, this has been excellent.

Peter, does that spiral spindle block have top/bottom flush bearings, or do you just use it with a ring fence?

custard I use the spiral block with an 80mm bearing, not used it with a ring yet but I would need to make one for the purpose. I use a bearing or ring fence with a larger 125mm skew rebate block.

Cheers Peter

Peter

What bearing did you use, I've been on bearing boys and simply bearings and cannot find a 30mm/80mm bearing.

the closest i can find is a 40mm/80mm bearing to which i can use a pair of top hats (which luckily i have)

My cutter block is from Axminster

 

[custard]

custard I use the spiral block with an 80mm bearing, not used it with a ring yet but I would need to make one for the purpose. I use a bearing or ring fence with a larger 125mm skew rebate block.

Cheers Peter

Thank you Peter.

Katellwood, if you have a variety of different sized tooling all requiring bearings, a cheaper alternative to multiple bearings are these,

https://www.wealdentool.com/acatalog/On ... s_633.html

 

[Peter Sefton]

My 80mm was Omas from Axi but I don't think they have this size anymore, looks like custard has the answer.

Cheers Peter