King 15” Thicknesser

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Chris152

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A friend's thinking to buy one used - does anyone have experience of them/ are they good?

Thanks for any thoughts

Chris
 
If you mean the old 4-post version from King Canada (or King Industrial), it's just one of the many generic 4-post planers that came out of Taiwan. I personally like that style of planer, having owned a Craftex version when I lived in Canada and I now have an old Axminster one. Old enough that they don't have any reference to it on their website.

There were a few versions made for various companies over the years. Some which had the motor mounted on the top of the machine, others where the motor was mounted in a cabinet under the machine. Some where the table moved up and down, others where the table was static and the top of the machine (i.e. the cutter housing) moved up and down. If it's the one I'm thinking of, the motor is mounted on the top and the whole machine sits on an open frame.

Most of those planers were actually quite robust, and if I were in the market for one I'd have no qualms about buying a King branded version. Assuming it's in reasonably good condition and the price was right.

A picture of the machine would help, but if it is a King from North America then I don't know if they actually made machines for the European market. You might want to have your friend check the motor specs to see where it's from. Using a motor from North America over here isn't usually a problem, but it's nice to be aware of it.

Anyway, those are just my own thoughts. Without looking at it, knowing the price, nor knowing how heavily it'll be used it's hard to really say much. But the brand King has a decent reputation, if that helps.
 
That's a great help - it'll give him some pointers to think about. It'll get a fair bit of use, and hopefully I'll get to run stuff through it sometimes, which is why it's important he makes the right choice. :wink: I don't know which one it is/ what it looks like, but will ask in case there's a pic.
Really appreciate your thoughts.
C
 
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