Benchtop jointers

[froglet]

I am trying to make up my mind between a benchtop jointer and portable thicknesser and a combined planer/thicknesser (probably the SIP jointer and an undecided thicknesser against the Perform planer/thicknesser) The advantage of the individual machines is that they are put awayable whereas I will have to find floorspace for a combined unit. The question is apart from the obvious width limitations how much would I be limiting myself with the small benchtop jointer? The bechtop models all seem to have tables about 700mm long, the Perform 1100mm long ones. How much of a difference will those 400mm make?

Graeme

 

[Philly]

Froglet
How serious are you with your woodworking? If you think you're going to keep on with your wood working you will find a combined unit (or seperates) with larger capacities are a godsend. Smaller units, while fine for smaller pieces of timber are not much use on larger pieces-say over 3 foot. I speak from experience and have now upgraded my small desktop machines to larger seperates. If you go for one of the budget planer thicknessers you shouldn't go wrong. Trust me-in the long run you won't regret it!
Hope this helps
Philly

 

[frank]

froglet i have the d wally 733 thicknesser its saved me a few bob i just get r/sawne timber .i also have the 6" rexon jointer no probs with it, the motors are the brush type so they do make a bit off a noise .

 

[ProShop]

Froglet,
I agree with Philly, if your going to be planning timber much beyond a metre in length, then IMHO larger machines are the way to go.
I too speak from experience of this

 

[froglet]

Thanks for the advice, looks like I will be going for the Perform planer/thicknesser then and I will just have to find somewhere to put it.

As a follow on question my dust extraction is currently provided by one of these:

http://www.axminster.co.uk/product.asp?pf_id=23670&recno=11

which is intended for fine dust extraction. Will this be able to cope with occasional use of the planer thicknesser or will I have to invest in some more extraction equipment.

Graeme

 

[Adam]

Thanks for the advice, looks like I will be going for the Perform planer/thicknesser then and I will just have to find somewhere to put it.

As a follow on question my dust extraction is currently provided by one of these:

http://www.axminster.co.uk/product.asp?pf_id=23670&recno=11

which is intended for fine dust extraction. Will this be able to cope with occasional use of the planer thicknesser or will I have to invest in some more extraction equipment.

Graeme

I doubt the pipe diameter is big enough to fit on a 100mm port on a normal thicknesser - and the volume of shavings produced is hard to imagine. I reckon it'd fill that in about 10 minutes, and it's porbably not going to move enough "volume" of air to stop the pipe getting clogged, or to wick the chips away form the cutter fast enough.

Adam

 

[Alf]

You might get away with it if you were to use a drop box between the dust/ex and the P/T maybe? Like this doodah. But the volume of air movement probably isn't sufficient. I use the WV1000 which solves the capacity problem, but the airflow is terrible and barely copes with the P/T along a 1m length of hose.

Cheers, Alf

 

[froglet]

Hmmm, I was afraid that would be the case. How about one of these:

http://www.axminster.co.uk/product.asp?pf_id=21716&recno=11

It has 2.5 times the airflow of my fine dust extractor. The bag capacity is probably slightly smaller than the WV100 but if that becomes a problem I can always use Alf's dustbin extender idea.

Graeme

 

[Chris Knight]

Graeme,

The link is to the Other Oozlum Bird

 

[froglet]

Whoops Cack handed cut and pasting. Fixed now.

Graeme

 

[Chris Knight]

Graeme,

It's description suggests it will pick up chips and as such it will work with a planer, but - with a small planer and this small unit you are really starting to lock yourself into a size of kit you may find very limiting in future.

In your position, knowing what I know now, I would ask myself hard questions about what I was aiming to make and how often, against what sort of deadlines etc. Handtools can do so much more and more easily than many folk realise and I reckon one is generally better off getting a couple of decent handplanes and learning to use them rather than to "invest" in inadequate power tools - or at least power tools that soon seem inadequate.

If power is essential, consider a halfway house. Bosch make an excellent and cheap handheld power plane that combined with a decent 5 1/2 handplane can do a quick, easy job on preparing stock.

 

[mudman]

You might get away with it if you were to use a drop box between the dust/ex and the P/T maybe? Like this doodah. But the volume of air movement probably isn't sufficient. I use the WV1000 which solves the capacity problem, but the airflow is terrible and barely copes with the P/T along a 1m length of hose.

Cheers, Alf

I made my own out of an old detergent bottle. Well, it was a big one that they use on car washes. Quite simple really, I cut a hole in the side and inserted a piece of plastic piping and sealed it in with mastic and duct tape. Some duct tape on the inside makes it a snug fit for the shop vac hose.
Cut a big hole in the top to fit a tumble dryer outlet hose and the fitting for ducting outside. This was again sealed with mastic.

I then cut the bottom off the bottle, a rubble sack then fits around the end and is secured with duct tape. A couple of scrap wood cross-members inside stop the bag being sucked up inside.

The tumble dryer hose is just the right size to fit onto the the outlet of my deWalt 733 thickesser and it works a treat. Has quite a large capacity and is also great for picking up all the woodturning shavings off the floor without filling up the hoover.

If you want more power, you can add a second pipe and another vacuum for suction, did this once with a Dyson and you then have a double motor shop vac that doesn't fill up.

Only trouble is that the truly awful JCB cleaner I have has finally given up the ghost so I need to get a new one. Probably going to go with the Camvac.

 

[mudman]

Oh, forgot to add as well that I don't think that the Sip jointer is really all that 'put awayable'. It is very heavy and as I don't want to chance picking it up by the tables, it can be quite painful to move.