Forum users' Planers & Thicknessers

[Aragorn]

Hi Steve
Had the same problem with my DW733. I just took a lot of care over setting the in/out feed tables and support longer pieces and it doesn't happen so much anymore. Taking shallow passes seems to help too.
I am surprises at how tempermental this machine is though. Not one of my better buys!

A

 

[Jake]

Oldish HMS260, off ebay. Haven't fired it up yet but it was cheap.

 

[Dog]

Well I've had a new APTC CT344 under my work bench for three years still in its box but at long last now have the space to use it and I love it, but boy does it fill that extractor bag quick

 

[Anonymous]

Axminster CT330.

Happy with it

 

[johnjin]

Hi Neil
Put me down for an Axminister CT150 Planer
and a CT330 Thicknesser

and I am very happy with both

Cheers
John

 

[woodshavings]

Record Maxi - the thicknesser/planner (also includes a saw table and spindle moulder!)
Take time setting the blade height - no snipe when correct.

 

[ike]

I have the HMS260. I taught Woodwork a few years ago as a VSO in Belize. The workshop had this machine and it performed brilliantly. It got a helluva lot of abuse and only once bust a feed drive belt. The tables although steel are nickel plated - they can't rust at all.

Good points:
Super, super smooth finish sets this machine apart (High speed/feed ratio also helps).
Very robust with German build quality
Quiet and very powerful (2.8kw) motor
Can thickness to millimetre veneer (with simple fixture).

Not so good points:
Limited thickness height (140mm) e.g. for door centre rails
Fiddly changeover from jointing to thicknessing as you have to wind the thickness table almost to the lowest position to swing the chipping chute up and down.
Repeated moving around a small workshop can tip outfeed table out of adjustment after a while (although can be easily reset).
Top fence could be more rigid, angle setting scale poor.

In this price band, every machine has some limitations. If you judge by output quality and accept spending slightly longer setting up each time, it's ranks very highly in my opinion. :

 

[Taffy Turner]

I am thinking of getting the Delta Portable thicknesser.

As a relative newbie to the genre, please can someone explain what "snipe" is?

Sorry to be a bit dense, but I have tried looking elsewhere and I can't find an explanantion.

Thanks

Gary

 

[Aragorn]

please can someone explain what "snipe" is?

Snipe is an indentation left at the front and/or rear end of a board after it has passed through a thicknesser (or planer). It can be around 0.5 - 1mm lower than the rest of the board and around 5cm long (it's the distance between the infeed roller and the cutterhead). It is caused by a poorly set up machine where the wood is not well supported at the ends of the cut and where only one feed roller is pushing the wood onto the bed. This causes the wood to tip up a little into the cutterhead causing the indentation.
The cure is relatively painless although it varies from machine to machine - basically adjust the infeed and outfeed tables so that they are perfectly level. Use a separate roller support for long pieces also set level to the bed. Alternatively, always plane wood that is 10-12cm longer than you need and cut off the sniped bits!
I've only heard good things about the delta.
...and there's no such thing as a dense question. You're only dense if you don't ask!

 

[Taffy Turner]

Aragorn,

Thanks for the information. That is very helpful.

 

[Drew]

I'm pleased to say I have the SIP Planer/Thicknesser. But very unhappy it's got to stay in the box until I get the workshop finished

Drew

 

[Adam]

I'm now fully setup and running with my Scheppach HMS260.

Adam

 

[Chris Knight]

I'm now fully setup and running with my Scheppach HMS260.

Adam

And..? I hope it's proving to be as good as we all said it would be!

 

[Mdotflorida]

Jet 60A planer and Jet thicknesser

Jeff

 

[Midnight]

Rexon 317A thicknesser

Lie-Nielsen#7 jointer

 

[Adam]

I'm now fully setup and running with my Scheppach HMS260.

Adam

And..? I hope it's proving to be as good as we all said it would be!

I'll try and post some piccys, I'm now mid-project - I have planed and square edged my ash/walnut, just need to thickness it, but the arrival of two more beehives, (taking me to 7) means I need to knock up 2 more hives before Wednesday, so I can give the hives the bees are currently in back. I also am "lending" my workshop to a mate at the moment, and providing technical assistance, so I have all his projects in as well as my own. It's a tight squeeze shall we say!

I have finally, got the new shelves fitted into the living room, so that freed up some workshop space as they were in there too!

Adam

 

[Karl59]

Axminster CT330
Perform CCJ

A great combination for a small workshop.

 

[wood1000]

One delta thickplaner model 22-540& and Ridgid Model JP610. The jointer is 6-1/8" wide. The thickness planer in 12" wide.

 

[Ian Dalziel]

Delta- DJ20 jointer
Delta- CT 380 thickness planer

regards
Ian

 

[Neil]

Thanks everyone - I've added the entries from Drew through to Ian.

Adam, I've given your HMS260ci a different entry as I think the cast iron is such a significant change to the spec.

NeilCFD