Do I luna or not!

[captainpk]

Have been asked if I was interested in buying a Luna p/t.

I am not sure of the model number.

When we tried to start it, it did not start! So I have left it for now, she is going to ask her husband if we may have missed anything.

I am slightly worried that buying a machine like this I may be opening a can of worms, it has not been used for two years. Only seems to have a little bit of rust. But really unsure what else may be wrong with it.

Any ideas on what normally goes wrong on these after being left for a while? I am thinking maybe just a fuse!

 

[MMUK]

Depends on the asking price

 

[KevM]

At the risk of teaching grandma to suck eggs - did you pull out the mushroom on the stop switch?

 

[captainpk]

It did not seem to come out, but I did not try too hard. That may have hopefully been the problem.

 

[Chrispy]

I used to have a Luna combination machine the planer thicknesser looks very much the same as your photo, the only things to flag up on mine was the fence was a bit springy and the gear box for the feed rollers has a worm gear running on a bronze gear wheel this wore out quite quickly in my case, I think I replaced it twice in the time I owned it but then I did work it hard. otherwise a very good machine.

 

[captainpk]

Price, hopefully under £300. Which in it's condition (If of course I can get it started) I think will be a good price for me

 

[captainpk]

Does the price seem to be fairly consistent with this style of P/T. I know it's not top of the range, but it looks fairly solid to me.

 

[davin]

From memory you use a separate handle to rise and fall the thicknessing bed? (ie not a wheel on the machine)
If so I used one in a workshop I used to work in and found it to be a good accurate machine.
For £300 buy it (if nothing is missing) and you should have a good machine.
If not I would if it was closer to me!!

 

[heimlaga]

I think that Luna machine was bought in from a manufacturer called Ejca in Värnamo in Sweden. They are still in business and have a fairly good reputation.

Of cause you could write to Ejca and ask whether they made it and if they still have spare parts for it. If parts are easy to find or can be replaced with standard parts one can afford to take a calculated risk at times.

 

[rafezetter]

£300? Buy it. I spent ages (months) looking around for a decent P/T and ended up paying £350 for a dw1150 from a member here - it's smaller with shorter beds (that weren't flat and were cupped) plus a basic short fence (that isn't vertically flat either - next on my list to sort).

Having said just that I'd check those two things before stumping the cash.

 

[captainpk]

Thank you all for your replies, they have been most helpful.

I visited the machine again today and got it to work. It was the stop button and it sounds good

Everything seems to work as you would expect, the tables move with no problems and the fence works well. The blades even seem sharp.

So.......

It's a L38 and I need to get back to her with how much it's roughly worth - any ideas? I can send the specs of the machine if it helps.

The connector is 16A, blue caravan type socket. The plug connector just appears to be wired as a spur from a plug socket. Should be able to just buy a connector from going from 16A to a 13A UK plug?

http://www.screwfix.com/p/adaptor-r55-1 ... -pin/55466

Forgot to say Ejca have been most helpful and they still sell blades and parts for the P/T, which is great news.

 

[marcros]

what motor is on it- it may need the extra 3A at startup.

 

[captainpk]

2.2kW, 2HP , cheers.

Added the spec sheet.

 

[captainpk]

Hoping to get back to the woman this week. I do not want to rip her off.

Would £250 be far below the value of this type of machine? It's what I can afford right now.

I would prefer to tell her roughly how much she can make on it and let her decide. Any ideas what I should say?

 

[captainpk]

Any idea if the Luna model needs to be altered to change it in to thicknesser mode?

 

[heimlaga]

The value of this machine depends on the local market. Around here it would cost some 1200 euros but in your country most secondhand machines seem to be sell at a little over half the prizes we pay up here. I have no idea what that specific machine would cost over there but half of 1200 euros would be 600 euros. I don't know the present rate for converting 600-700 euros to pounds but that is just a very rough assumption anyway. You'd better check some local for sale listings for machines of the same size.

Anyway I think that you are overthinking this. If you can get the machine for a prize that you can afford it will be good enough for any hobby woodworking you might ever do in your entire life. Ejca's market segment are very advanced hobbyists or small scale (possibly part time) professionals.

 

[captainpk]

Will be picking up tomorrow, if I manage to get enough people : )

 

[captainpk]

heimlaga, 100% correct, I do over think things.

My thought process in the end is, that yes I can afford it. There will not be many chances to get a machine for this (£300) price in such good condition. If I really do not use it as much as I thought I would, I can probably sell for the same money I bought it for!

Picking up on Sunday now : )

 

[davin]

yes iif you don't want it sell it to me, Then I can take it to Finland and sell it to heimlaga!
No seriously for that money you can't go wrong...

good luck

 

[heimlaga]

:lol:
I already have a very nice combination with 24" capacity. Thoroughly rebuilt from "hopeless wreck" condition.