Good morning all. I'm looking at a planer thicknesser for dealing with longish, hardwood stock (mostly around 2m, maximum 3m) for table tops. My experience of large floor standing machines is limited so any advice would be greatly appreciated. Budget is around the £2.5k mark. I've looked at a myriad of second hand machines but really don't have the knowledge to confidently take an expensive punt. Soo, I'm looking at this spiral Axminster job. Any thoughts would be super helpful.
Axminster AT310SPT spiral planer thicknesser
- Thread starter Robsknees
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Yojevol
Clocking on
If I had £2.5K in my pocket AND if I had the available space I would be looking for s/h separate machines. For the length of timber you will be planing a planer with a long table will be of great benefit, but, you don't get those on combined PT's. As you're lacking in confidence/experience it would be advisable approach a specialist dealer such as Scott+Sargeant.
Brian
Brian
danst96
Established Member
If i had £2.5k i would try to see if i could pick up anything from Felder or Hammer, the A3 looks great and gets very good reviews. i have only used either big industrial Felders or a smaller Kity machine so cannot comment directly about the A3 but everything online says they are good.
Separate planer and thicknesser as the above comment would be my first port of call though if you have the floor space. Working with table tops you want to get the widest possible thicknesses i would imagine.
Separate planer and thicknesser as the above comment would be my first port of call though if you have the floor space. Working with table tops you want to get the widest possible thicknesses i would imagine.
Seems separate machines may be the answer as I've a reasonable space to play with. I'm not a complete newby to the trade, just new to big floor standing machines. I actually spoke to Felder about the Hammer A3 as, like you say, it seems to be a go to bit of kit. Unfortunately it was going to come in nearer 4k plus delivery. They had second hand one but it was 3 phase (the salesman got quite shirty when asked for the full spec). I'm wary of 2nd hand on the open market basically because I have no real idea what I'm looking at. If I get it wrong it could kill me before I've even started!
danst96
Established Member
I think the main challenge with second hand machines, especially separate machines will be finding either with a spiral cutter head within the budget you have. You could swap out but new spiral cutter blocks seem to sit around the £1k mark from my limited research which would use up most of your budget. You are probably best to talk to a few different companies like Scott + Sargent, Axminster etc. to get some advice. There will be others on here with more experience than me about this who may say otherwise.
I have the Axminster AT129 (which is identical to the current 310). It’s a great machine but not without its issues. Whatever I would definitely go for a spiral head. Opinions differ but imho having had 3 planer thicknessers, there is no comparison. John
Thanks for this John. Appreciate your input. Spent the day researching the options and talking to suppliers. For the money it does appear I'm not going to get better than the Axminster if buying new. Itech do a similar machine, albeit with a better spec, but it's getting on for 4k. More research to be done but I'm not seeing anything in the way of separate machines unless I take a punt on second hand. Thanks again.
Thank you Brian. I spoke with S & S, and they told me not to get too hung up with the longer table (although I can see the obvious benefits) and advised the use of adjustable outfeed support of some form (rollers etc). To be honest I think a new machine is the way I'll go. I may end up 'upgrading' to a better s/h later down the line.
There is nothing intrinsically wrong with the machine. Mine was secondhand and the indeed and out feed tables were way out of adjustment. Adjusting them is a nightmare when they are this bad. Took me 3 days. Once it’s done it’s done. Make sure that if you do buy one everything is co planar and flat.
I am in Cheddar. You are welcome to come and play with the machine if you can get here. John
I am in Cheddar. You are welcome to come and play with the machine if you can get here. John
johnnyb
Established Member
I love mine but could definitely imagine a better solution. it's a bit weak on the thicknesser(1.5-2 mm max) it's accuracy is OK but if your not compus it can be baffling. Once set it is accurate. the spiral block is a delight.
a more industrial solution like by scm with long beds and tersa block also power to take more off like 4 to 5 mm would be great.
a more industrial solution like by scm with long beds and tersa block also power to take more off like 4 to 5 mm would be great.
Just out of interest I have just changed the cutters on mine. Got them direct from CSP tooling for 1/3 of the Axminster cost.
I put some old hard, gnarly oak through for a test. Beautiful!
I put some old hard, gnarly oak through for a test. Beautiful!
Attachments
Yojevol
Clocking on
Funnily enough I spent this morning planing about 20 2m long oak slabs for which I set up a roller on the infeed. It was a pain, I kept knocking it with knees and feet. I had my mate Brian, yes another one, on the outfeed end. This is on my Felder PT.
I fondly remember the long tabled Wadkin we had in the workshop where I did a furniture making course. It was a joy to use. Alongside the Wadkin was a Sedgewick PT which was definitely less preferred option amongst all my fellow students. The Wadkin was teamed with a standalone Wadkin thicknesser.
Brian
I have the Axminster spiral cutter and have to say I think it’s a very good piece of kit for the money. Yes there are better machines out there and yes it’s a bit of a pain to set up out of the box if not true but once it’s done it’s a very good machine and quiet too. I bought a decent pair of adjustable rollers for long stock that I also use for re sawing on the bandsaw too that I have found more than adequate.
Hope this helps
Sean.
mrpercysnodgrass
Established Member
I too have the Axminster 310 with the spiral cutter, as the comments above it is a great bit of kit, the spiral cutter block is quieter than my bandsaw and leaves a very smooth finish. The only real downside as Johnnyb said is it can only cope with taking 1.5mm off hardwood which is a real bore if you need to take lots off.
Hi There, not sure if you have bought a P/T as yet but just came across this listed with BPI auctions, also they have some decent timber for sale by the looks of it, link below
https://www.bpiauctions.com/auctions/#!/itemDetails/3308/316653
Doug B
Shy Tot
Have you considered the extension bed felder sell, I bought one for my hammer p/t it’s quick to put on & take off & really useful when planing longer lengths of timber.
Yojevol
Clocking on
Yes' I've got one, it's about 500mm long, but I still needed something longer.
Brian
Doug B
Shy Tot
They do the 1m extension that comes with an adjustable leg, I’m looking to get it as it will give me about 1.9m of infeed table, at the moment I have the 500mm extension but in hoping to use that on the out feed on the bandsaw.
That 1m long one is an aigner item. It was cheaper than the Felder supplied one. I haven't used it on my Felder kf700 saw/spindle but ive just a vague suspicion that the f type fitting is a slightly different height. I can check if you really want to know
