planer thickneser advice

[dellboy]

Hi all
new to the forum but need some advice, want to buy a planer thickneser to prep up some timber which i can aquire at the best price (freebie) its 4x2 and bigger in 10 foot plus lengths.
the timbers bowed and twisted but very well seasoned was thinking in terms of ripping it down and finishing it at 2x2 and 4x2
now what planer should i buy ,looking at the woodstar sip or charnwood when i came across the Maffell A 160 WHICH IS 3 TIMES THE PRICE .. any one got any advice.
or would i be better off with a secondhand dewalt or kity ?

 

[engineer one]

my mafell 160 did not cost 600 quid which would be 3 times the
200 quid, that the charnwood or sip cost.

the mafell is well thought out, and has decent blades, and a good industrial
motor, but of course none of these has a very long table, and you will need to allow for good entry and exit support to get the best surface without snipe.

the other thing is that mafell has a plastic winding handle for the
thicknesser motion so that if it jams the plastic breaks, not the more
expensive threaded metal rods, not sure about the other two.

the other thing about these units is that they are basically portable, and
take up little room. what else are you going to use it for and when??

all the best
paul :wink:

 

[DaveL]

Hi Dellboy,

Welcome to the forum.

Not trying to put you off but have you ever machined timber before?
Your finished sizes if you have good straight sawn stock will be 1/8" to 3/16" smaller than the sawn size. If the timber is not straight you could end up machining off 1/2" to get back to a straight edge. If you know the final lengths you require, cutting to length + 6" will help you get back to straight with twisted stock. So the sorting and selection of the timber is important, I know you said it was free but I bet you want to make more than sacks of shavings and dust. That brings me to the dust collection, you may well find you need to buy a dust collector. I have a perform planner/thicknesser its just like the sip. IMHO you need a dust collector when thicknessing, or some of the shavings will drop back into the cutter head or the feed rollers and spoil the finish of the timber.

 

[dellboy]

Hi

yes the dust collector is also on the list but the intention is to do the majority of the work outside (realise i will still need to keep the cutters clear) might have a go at building a cyclone.
Have a limited experience with timber but reading through the forum the confidence is growing .
As for use for the machine well i get a kick out of recycling ,and building boxes and cases is my thing so it should get some use at the smaller end of the scale as well.
Has anyone tried all 3 machines ??

 

[PowerTool]

I've got the Woodstar,and think it's quite a good machine for the price (got it for under £180),but as it's my first,have nothing to compare it to.
As Dave said,it needs to be connected to a chip collector for best performance (it has a microswitch on,so the extractor hood has to be connected or it won't work.)

Andrew

 

[Tarkin]

Can i make a suggestion to go for a seperate planer and thicknesser? It's just that the combined ones have 2 big weakness' IMO, lack of planer table length, and innacsessibility of the thicknesser, which often requires you to lift the planer bed, meaning it has to be re-calibrated. Major PITA. Admittedly it does work out a tink weeny bit more expensive....but hey ho. Just thought i'd stick my oar in.

Oh, and I second the DX, I wouln't even think about using a thicknesser without an extractor....had a nasty accident once when the extractor hose got blocked and I didn't notice...