Lunchbox thicknessers with induction motors?

[MarkDennehy]

So when it comes to jointing and planing, I've no problem with hand planes for the small hobbyist stuff I do; that's fine. But thicknessing with a handplane, well, that rather sucks.
And in a housing estate full of nimbys, a normal screamer of a lunchbox thicknesser is probably going to trigger nasty letters.
So are there any options for induction-motored thicknessers in a small form factor like a lunchbox thicknesser?
Or do I just have to lump it and use a scrub plane until I can move to a larger shed?

 

[Neil S]

I scoured high and low for a lunchbox thicknesser with an induction motor but couldn't find one.
The best I could find was reviews saying the Makita 2012NB was regarded as the quietest of the lot.

However, I finally bit the bullet and got the Axminster equivalent of the Record PT260 planer/thicknesser which they don't seem to sell anymore :roll: .
I had eventually come to the conclusion that if you didn't put the planer wings on it's not a great deal bigger footprint than some of the lunchbox models. Although you can't just stick it under a bench like you can a lunchbox. But noise was top priority to me, I knew if it screamed I would be reluctant to use it.
The axminster came with an induction motor and a discount making cheaper than some of the lunchbox models. It had a storage cabinet beneath it and a free wheel base kit that I could roll it into a corner. I also had the option to place on the wings and do planing as well (which I have since needed to do). So I am happy with my decision.

EDIT: Actually I think you have to have the planer infeed wing on when thicknessing for the dust extranction hood to work unless you cobble something together and press the microswitches.

Hope that helps

-Neil

 

[sunnybob]

The makita is touted as the quietist motor, but its still VERY LOUD!

And of course people often forget that the blades make noise slicing the wood.

I wanted the makita but could not justify the extra price so bought the jet 12" thicknesser. No way can I stand next to that without head phones on. And I mean shooting quality noise cancelling. The thing screams.

I would say louder than a small 2 stroke motorcycle engine with an after market silencer. Definitely not an 8 pm machine. it would be ok if you did it mid afternoon before they all came home for tea, as long as it didnt run for more than one plank a day.

 

[Nelsun]

The Makita is quieter (compared to its predecessor, a Titan P/T) but it's still a ear defender job. And that's from another small shed warrior. It's the cutting that makes most of the noise so maybe it's the type of blade in the block rather than the helix types that reduce the screaming to any degree.

I know you can get a helix cutting block for the dewalt (billed as being super loud out of the box) for extra dosh. There's likely videos on the tube that may give some comparison between the different blocks.

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[Bodgers]

So when it comes to jointing and planing, I've no problem with hand planes for the small hobbyist stuff I do; that's fine. But thicknessing with a handplane, well, that rather sucks.
And in a housing estate full of nimbys, a normal screamer of a lunchbox thicknesser is probably going to trigger nasty letters.
So are there any options for induction-motored thicknessers in a small form factor like a lunchbox thicknesser?
Or do I just have to lump it and use a scrub plane until I can move to a larger shed?

Have you had complaints before?

I live on fairly quiet housing estate and I just make sure I never use it after 9pm, never more than a couple of days in a row, and no more than 1 hour at a time. I have never had any complaints.

I could hear a guy 4 doors down building a deck over a period of several weeks with an impact driver, and I think this loud intermittent clattering travelled further and was way more irritating than a thickness planer for 30 mins once a weekend.

You also have the option of doing some sound proofing in a workshop...





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[chris-a]

I'd say your best bet is one of the small Electra Bekums such as the one in this video, induction motor plus you get the planer as well as the thicknesser for a small footprint

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfHZoaWpkRY

 

[MarkDennehy]

Have you had complaints before?

No, but I've done virtually everything by hand from the start. The mitre saw got used for about two hours two years ago when I broke down the 2x4s I built the bench with, and I've used the router so little I can literally count the number of cuts I've made with it in the last two years (14), and the circular saw got a little more use but not very much - it lives in its box for months at a time.

I live on fairly quiet housing estate and I just make sure I never use it after 9pm, never more than a couple of days in a row, and no more than 1 hour at a time. I have never had any complaints.

Thing is, this housing estate's residents are... well, I've come across more precious people to be fair, but I just don't see a lunchbox planer being something they'd put up with.
Or, for that matter, be able to identify...

You also have the option of doing some sound proofing in a workshop...

There's some there already but it's more for dampening echos; there's only so much soundproofing you can do in an 8x6 shed, and it barely keeps the noise of hand morticing down to neighbour-acceptable levels if I close the door of the shed.





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[Terry - Somerset]

I'm obviously insensitive to the impact on my neighbours of woodworking machines, although I do live at the end of a fairly low density cul-de-sac.

Routers, planers and thicknessers are noisy at the hobby end of the market. But I've come to the conclusion that being part of a community is about tolerance - therefore I will only create lots of noise during the day from about 10.00 to 17.00, and rarely for more than 30-60 minutes at a time. Equally I don't object if neighbours fill the road with trade vehicles to replace a kitchen, spend Sunday afternoon power trimming hedges, use pneumatic tools to resurface a drive etc etc.

 

[sunnybob]

"spend Sunday afternoon power trimming hedges",

Oh mate, thats red rag to a bull that is. Before I retired I used to rant and rave about sunday noise, especially leaf blowers that go on and on and on and on and.......
Once I retired and took up this noisy hobby I have (rather than be called a hypocrite) declared sundays as volountary noise abatement days. only making any noise on that day if it was really urgent to finish something.

Mon to sat office hours, anything goes.

 

[MikeJhn]

Its not the hedge trimmer/mowers that get me, its the doors on the car open and the radio on full blast, thank the Lord I don't have any near neighbours.

Mike

 

[RobinBHM]

Garden shredders are the thing that bug me.

Ive got one of the bosch munching ones that arr quiet, but my neighbours have one of the ones with high speed liquidiser type blades which are really noisy.

 

[MarkDennehy]

So after another annoying thicknessing session this weekend which left me with missing skin and blisters on the bits of my hand that rest on the keyboard when typing (ie. this stuff's now affecting my day job), I'm rethinking the whole "be nice to my neighbours" thing and looking at getting a thicknesser again.

That axminster clone of the PT260 with the induction motor does seem to be a thing of the past, alas.

Did find a noise level check of a 735 with a helical head that seemed to be down around the same noise level as my belt sander, but finding one for sale in Ireland for less than the price of a car is proving difficult. Jet and the usual sheppauch/clones seem to rule the roost on lunchbox thicknessers over here.

Don't suppose I've missed any new lunchbox thicknessers being launched that focus on being less noisy than a jet engine at takeoff?

 

[sunnybob]

youre forgetting the actual noise of the wood being cut. My jet makes a lot of noise just running, but when it starts to cut the noise goes a little bit lower in frequency but definitely higher in volume.
How many planks do you use, and how often? if its 1 or 2 every few weeks then just do it.
if its 20 a day, you might get noticed.

 

[loftyhermes]

I reckon that my Makita 2012NB lunchbox thicknesser makes no more noise running than the lawnmower, when planing wood it gets about as loud as a petrol strimmer working.

 

[Woody2Shoes]

Another point to consider is the noise of the chip extractor which is fairly necessary for a p/t type machine.

Both my p/t and my chip collector are powered by induction motors, but when the blades hit the timber the p/t gets quite noisy and the c/c is equally noisy (mostly due to fan speed). So two sources of fairly loud noise (guess 85 dBA or more) - which, amongst other things, announce to a fairly wide audience the fact that you've got a workshop with machines.

I think that time of use is important, as is perhaps sound-proofing of workshop.

Cheers, W2S

PS I'm convinced that some of the thefts of leaf-blowers etc. from people's garden sheds are a last-ditch attempt by neighbours to get some peace and quiet!

 

[user22161]

We're on a very quiet retirement estate, surrounded by coffin dodgers who are amazingly tolerant. I don't use machinery after 8pm and try to avoid noisy jobs on Sundays. When we first moved there, I invited neighbours to tell me if my noise was bothering them and all were interesting to hear, sometimes see, what I am up to. Comments (not actual complaints) are that a hand held power plane noise carries further and is more irritating than the PT260.

 

[Ttrees]

So after another annoying thicknessing session this weekend which left me with missing skin and blisters on the bits of my hand that rest on the keyboard when typing (ie. this stuff's now affecting my day job), I'm rethinking the whole "be nice to my neighbours" thing and looking at getting a thicknesser again.

I don't think you will have a problem thicknessing boards like what you're working on with the hand plane Mark...
If you're getting blisters, its because you're trying to force the plane down to cut into a hollow, which it wont do, causing you to hold the plane slightly differently, hence the blisters.
Never should you have to press down whilst planing for a heap of reasons.

I suggest watching someone work with a flat bench, and not taking the advice of folks who use a planer/ thicknesser to do the work for them.
This will omit over 90 percent of Youtubers!.
Thicknessing is not as much work as you might think it is.
You seem to be taking the advice of the hack woodworkers and not the accurate folk, which is the work you're looking to be doing from the get go.

You work with nice expensive timbers, so there's no reason to be chipping it up.
And lastly if you did want a thicknesser, you would use it after you have jointed one edge accurately
so you would not be using it as much as you might think, as theirs steps to be taken with the handplane before and after use of one of these machines.
Sorry if a bit off topic
Tom

 

[loftyhermes]

I don't have the extractor problem as I have to use my thicknesser outside (small shed so not enough room) so I just sweep up when finished.

 

[custard]

I worked with a lunchbox/benchtop thicknesser for several years, I was working in a wooden garden shed in central London, so noise was a real factor. But taken overall it really wasn't that much of a problem.

Take the example of a straightforward piece of furniture like this side table with a drawer,

The way you'd tackle this is to get in your timber (you'd need about one cubic foot for the actual project, but you should buy closer to two cubic feet to be safe). You'd then work through the cutting list and cut all the components slightly over size. Next step is to hand plane one face on each component. You don't have to be dead accurate, just flat enough so that hand planed face won't rock or twist as it goes through the thicknesser.

Next step is to thickness all the components to finished thickness plus 0.5-1.0mm. You'd follow best practise by planing both faces down in roughly equal steps.

The total thicknessing time for this project would be about one hour, not too intrusive for your neighbours if you pick a Saturday afternoon or early one evening.

And here's the thing, after that the thicknesser could be stored away under your bench, because you'd then have roughly 50-100 hours of bench work to complete this side table. And it was always my experience that for most furniture projects that ratio was fairly reliable. I agree that these small thicknessers are noisy, but approximately one hour of thicknessing time to every 50-100 hours of bench time surely won't get the noise abatement society on your back!

 

[Ttrees]

Custard,
I gotta ask what sort of bench you had at the time, and if you were working at wider or longer panels at that stage?...
as the longer the board, the less likely these machines are able to produce a flat board...
i.e, without making a uniform thickness banana shape.
Did you have an infeed and a outfeed table rigged up to accommodate the machine?
and if you would buy one of these machines if you were doing it all over again in a very small workshop.
Tom