Axminster Planer Thicknesser ?

[screwpainting]

I have been looking at planer thicknesser's for quite a while now. Second hand, I quite fancied a Kity that was about £350.00, new, a Metabo HC 260C £600.00 and similar others.
Then, I popped into Axminster on Saturday and was very impressed with this machine (£800.00)
The build quality seems excellent and I think it's the one I'll go for as my first machine based on instinct (and lust) alone. I have no experience with these machines and would appreciate any feedback on the Axminster Craft AC250PT as compared to used, or the slightly less expensive Metabo type stuff.

I have to say I was very impressed with Axminster. =D>

 

[fezman]

Hi Screwpainting - did you ever buy this? If so how did you find it.

Any other forum members got experience of this or anything similar? I'm looking to upgrade to a PT of this type and this one's dimensions will fit nicely in the space i have left in my garage workshop.

 

[Emstuv]

I picked up a second hand AC107PT 2017 model (spiral cutter). Its pretty much the same machine par some cosmetic stuff.

I need to change the blades as they have become dull, it was used daily by a jointer.

I have spent quite some time setting it up......being an engineer I am an silly person when it comes to accuracy. 0.01mm or better must be obtained .

Anyway, I did look at older 260PTs from Elektra Beckum and newer ones from Metabo. I must saw the the Ax AC107PT (260PT) seems very solid. I question the choice of the split out/infeed table, vs the Jet (and others) that have these table as one when you change from jointing to thicknessing.

However, after a lot of fiddling and talking to Ax customer service I am getting it dialled in and even with semi-dull blades it is wonderful. It is very quite and with a Jet Chip extractor it remains clean.

There are a few things that I would change design wise, but it is a fantastic machine.

I bought mine here in Norway at 40% of retail price and couldn't be more pleased. I got this cheaper than a 20 year old rusty Elektra Beckum and I am chuffed to the gills.-> (poor attempt and a colloquial phrase)

 

[Trevanion]

Nice to hear you eventually got something of better value for yourself Emstuv, Those Axminster PTs don't look to bad!

I think as far as the 15x15 carbide knives in your block are concerned they should last a very long time in a semi-dull state and you should have pretty good results from them. So long as they aren't leaving tramlines or tearing out the timber you should be alright, I wouldn't want to know how much it would cost to change all of those little knives, inluding all the time taking them off and putting new ones on! It's not easy to get carbide razor sharp and have an edge that won't just shatter, so the knives are naturally a higher angle than standard HSS straight knives, which may make it seem dull.

 

[Emstuv]

Just a little update on the P/T.

The replacement cutter arrived from a local vendor. Tigra (German make) I think Sargents (or something like that) sell them in the UK.

HOLY SMOOTH SAILINGS BATMAN!!!

The difference from the old blades is mind boggling. On dimensioned lumber I would say close to 120 maybe 160 grit if not better. Tried a piece of Merabau (Merbau?) and it was so nice and smooth. Speaking of smooth, so is the Bowmore 15yr.

I am currently finishing off a smaller Paul Sellers workbench, and decided that enough is enough and used the new planer blades to plane and thickness the aprons before gluing together........should have cheated long long ago.

 

[fezman]

well i bit the bullet and bought the AC250PT last week from the Warrington Axi store. Axminster you NEED a store in yorkshire!!!!!.

It's being delivered in the morning, & my only worry is if it will fit through the 660mm door into my workshop. (otherwise - i'm dismantling and then re-mantling a wall )

very much looking forward to this machine dimensioning my timber

 

[Noho12C]

I have the AC250PT. Bought it in December last year. Used to buy 4se lumber, but due to moisture, it warped like crazy, and didn't want to replane everything square by hand.

So I went to Axminster and pulled the trigger.

I'm very happy with the machine, except the way the tables lift, which end up using more space than needed. But so far it has performed very well.

After 6 months of light use, the knives start dulling a bit. I bought the sharpening jig (diamond file in a piece of wood), not too sure if it is doing anything. Might replace the knives in few months and send the current ones to sharpening.

So, yes, overall very happy with it. Helped a lot in preparing timber, and finish is very good.

Hope you'll enjoy yours !

Chris.

Sent from my VKY-L09 using Tapatalk

 

[fezman]

Hi Chris,

Thanks for the feedback.

Well Axi turned up a bit early this morning, but the delivery guy (Pete) was great - got the P/T right into the workshop where i wanted it with no fuss.

I was working from Home today, so had to wait until later to unbox and set this up. Assembly was straight forward. Moved it onto a shop built cart - but thinking about getting the axi mobile base now.Fence took all of 5 minutes to get square - and its pretty robust.

My first impressions were great. I took a piece of rough sawn cherry (1000x100x25) and in about 30 mins had a PAR square piece of timber. My one concern is that the digital thicknesser gauge seems about 2mm out. Not really had the chance to calibrate it as (sods law) my digital vernier calipers chose today to be the day they gave up the ghost. So a moore and wright pair are on their way from amazon, and Friday should see that calibrated.

I was (pleasantly) surprised by the noise levels. It's very quiet compared to the Titan it is replacing. The DE makes much more noise than the PT.

All in all really pleased so far.

F

 

[graduate_owner]

I bought one of these about 8 years ago, and they were described as being trade rated then. I don't know if the spec has changed but the similar replacements were hobby rated - there is a big difference according to the Axminster info between hobby and trade.
Anyway I have to agree that the tables are a bit of a pain when opened up for thicknessing, otherwise I like it - but underpowered perhaps but affordable.

K