Kity Planer Thicknessers

[Tomsk]

Hi All

I've been looking at new Kity 636 P/T's. I've trawled through all the post I can reasonable find from the past few years but all posts seem to refer to older out of manufacture models.

Does any one own one of the new 636's (actually 2636)? How do they compare to older machines?

Any one have any relevant comments / buying advice on this machine against Axminster AW106PT2 / Xcalbur 10" / Sheppach 2600ci etc?

Cheers

Tomsk

 

[Lord Kitchener]

I believe all these machines are manufactured in the Far East now, presumably China, and it may be that there isn't all that much to choose between them. When I was in the market for a P/T recently, I kept looking and eventually found one of the original Kity 637 not to far away from me for a bit over £400, and bought it.

I did that because I have had two of them in the past and knew another one would suit me better than a new Chinese machine. And at the price, well worth taking a chance, although if you see and hear it running, and try it out, there isn't much chance about it. Thye do crop up from time to time on ebay, and generally go for around £400 to £450

 

[Tomsk]

I figured that would be the answer, however I haven't found anything 'local' to me in the past six months of looking, and am getting to a point of desperation now. Due to disability I can't easily travel to view used machinery so have to contemplate buying new, but equally need something that I can move around (on a mobile base) when required. Space wont allow for a big old green monster sadly.

Cheers

Tom

 

[MarkBegbie]

I bought a Delta 22-565 badged as a Fox through gumtree. It's the same machine as the Axi 106 and I'm absolutely sure it's the same as the Kity. I can't remember how old mine is, but it's a few years anyway.

It's my first planer / thicknesser but I'm impressed. I've been using it on oak up to about 140mm wide in both modes with really fine results. The tables are good solid slabs of iron, as is the whole machine frame. The result is that, having set it up carefully, the outfeed table seems to return pretty reliably after thicknessing - I've had it back and forth a few times and not suffered any snipe. Also, measuring the slope over a board from the thicknesser was about 0.1mm over the board width.

Something I'd read about, and mine suffers from it, is a cupped fence. So 'square' varies on the planer with the thickness of board. I'm going to slap on a spare bit of oak and plane the face. If it warps I'll just re-plane it. Job done.

One piece of advice. I bought the bridge and 'micrometer' setting gauges from Axminster. Again they're the same as the ones sold everywhere else but Axi charge £18 instead of the £35 - £56 (I kid you not!) from some other retailers. The frame is plastic and I got blade settings that were a country mile out. Take out the blade lifting springs though and everything works just great.