Axminsters at129pt spiral cutter review

[johnnyb]

Today I took delivery of my axminsters planer thicknesses. At129pt. I brought it from axminster clearance on the bay for a very good discount. Over that last few days I've bin clearing stuff out to make way my old pt2 55 was put out to grass ( ready for sale!)
Anyway I thought I give the whole shebang a quick review.
It was a 11 month return for having a Sticky bed according to the bumf. Anyway after a cursory look I decided to turn the cutters. I also decided to hone them on a fine diamond stone while they were off. I took them all off dropped them in thinners with the little screws. I scrubbed the block and blew off some residue. I then honed each knife(56) on a fine diamond stone. Wiping the stone after 3 or 4 with a wet rag. It soon became apparent that about half were flat the others were ground with a very shallow channel leaving 2 polished edges opposite each other. If these machines have any problems getting a good finish I'm positive that will be the reason. Anyway I turned the knives putting the flat ones around the middle. The ones with one polished edges next then finally the ones where the new edge wasn't polished(these went on the outer edges of the block. Finally I got to tightening no torque figures mentioned so I tightened them up by rack o theye!
The honing definitely works well producing a mirror shine.

 

[johnnyb]

Anyway I familiarised my self with the operation of the machine a bit and got used to the cam levers . I wound the bed up to check the parallelism between in feed and outfeed It was miles off on the hinges side. After a bit of adjusting of studs and head scratching it became apparent that the hinge side of the beds need to be aligned first off. Then the studs will bring the other side of the bed in level. Many machines use this arrangement but I can't help thinking it's not that reliable for overhand planning. Anyway the hinges are adjustable because the side of the hinge pin closest to the block is fixed in a slot with a threaded adjuster and lock nuts.this tilts the table end to end. Once the hinge side of the table is aligned ( took 3 or 4 goes) then the adjustment studs work well but still very much trial and error. I look at 1 or 2 thou being ok

 

[johnnyb]

Overall it's a very fabricated affair. Well fabricated but not a design like the Sedgwick.
The fence is pretty sturdy Ally thing. Mine looks as if it's been sanded with an orbital! Buts it's perfectly flat enough. It was impossible to get it square though until I introduced a .010 thou shim at the top of the fence. This suddenly brought everything in line. And of course it allows the fence to travel and remain square.(ish).
Interestingly there must be a slot morticer made for this though axminsters don't sell it. Also there must be one of those outfeed table fences for some markets as there tapped.
I've yet to try it as I've got to find a 16a type c for my consumer unit.
What the real story behind this was as the fence has only been clamped 5 or 6 times( rubbish design cos it makes a dimple) also it would never have worked properly set up as it was. Anyone that thinks machines like this are Bob on from the factory are dreaming btw! Maybe somebody brought it and expected perfection out of the box and got frustrated returning it before the 12 month guarantee ran out. Hopefully there still woodworking!

 

[johnnyb]

Last night I put together the mobile base. Pretty good. Although on pictures it looks a bit like a universal base( flimsy) actually it's extremely sturdy and rated for 1000 lb. Urethane tyres on the wheels would have been an improvement instead of hard plastic.
Quite pricey though at £136.

 

[johnnyb]

Right i run a 16a type type c with a socket on and ran it up....wow it's really quiet! Just a power noise as it get up to tilt then...quiet.
Then the fun started! Getting the thing off the pallet on to the mobile base. Words can't describe what a pain this was. The swing out tables shift the centre of gravity to the back left meaning as i lifted it off the ground the whole thing shifted on to it's side( i was using an engine crane.) Anyway i did it on my own but wouldn't do it again. When I've lifted stuff like Sedgwicks no problems as it just lifts. This was dodgy dodgy dodgy! It didn't help i had to rapidly adjust the base size as I'd measured one side(650) set the base at 670. Tried it the opposite side measured 700!
Finally succeeded after 2-3hrs.
Now the moment of Truth. I tried some English Ash. The finish was a different league to straight knives. A real game changer. I also felt it was slightly harder to push the timber. The promised dust extraction improvement was definitely there as well.
On to thicknessing. The finish was excellent just like over handing. But i felt it bog down a bit. One bit i stalled the machine this resulted in squealing and a quick winding down. ...and a strong burning rubber belt smell. The extraction was practically 95% btw but i think the feed speed is a bit fast at 6m per min. I think these cutters take a bit more power/time to work not (as axminster said) a bit less.
The tappings at the end of the outfeed table are actually to attach an outfeed roller table like the thicknesser one. An accessory well worth having.the in feed just has 2 holes cast maybe another extension?
All being said i like it. It's clinical. If the knives hold up as promised it will do. Just smaller cuts on the thicknesser!

 

[johnnyb]

There does seem to be a discrepancy between 6 m/min and they now suggest 5m/min. So they may have already addressed this.
Looking closely At some yew i planed it's definitely got ridges just not much tearout( in fact none planing a bit thicknessing.)