Planer thicknesser advice

[Jaybo]

Morning, I am fairly new to woodworking but I am looking at purchasing a planer thicknesser. I have been looking at the Clarke machines, can anyone offer any advice on these or any other brand machines as don’t want to make a mistake in purchasing one that is not suitable for the job.
Thanks in advance.

 

[transatlantic]

I'm afraid it's not really good news. Unless you're going to spend upwards of £600 for something new like a Record PTS260, then you're going to be disappointed with what is on offer. All those cheaper models (sub £300), whether it be Clarke, Titan, Erbauer, Charnwood, Sip etc, all suffer from problems with getting the tables parallel, which is vitial for it to operate correctly.

You'd be much better off getting a second hand offering of something like anElektra Beckum, which can be had for under £400 if you're lucky. If the funds won;t stretch that far, then I'd advise waiting and saving up.

 

[Brandlin]

Thats a little harsh transatlantic. We dont actually know what he wants the machine for yet.

If he has ambition to produce fine hardwood furniture then yes the Clarke is going to be a long way from cutting the mustard. If he has a hobby desire to flatten and straighten a few softwood parts on an occasional weekend, then a number of the models you list will likely be very suitable.

Oh, and welcome to the forum Jaybo. I am sure a number of opinions from members will be along shortly. In the meantime the more you can tell us about what you aim to do the better the advice you will get.

 

[Jaybo]

I am just looking at doing some cost saving and buying some hardwood lumber to grade myself and more than likely some softwood, it’s not desperate to purchase at the moment as currently on with building a rocking horse and in between that doing some lathe work.
But would just like the capabilities to plane and thickness raw timber.

 

[marcros]

if I had Clarke money to spend, I would save a little more, and get something like the dewalt dw1150, or one of the models labelled "260" secondhand. The latter, for example are the metabo hc260c, record pt260...

you will get a better machine, and if you don't use it and choose to move it on, you will get your money back on it. buying new Clarke, you will be lucky to manage to sell it for any value.

 

[user22161]

I am just looking at doing some cost saving and buying some hardwood lumber to grade myself and more than likely some softwood, it’s not desperate to purchase at the moment as currently on with building a rocking horse and in between that doing some lathe work.
But would just like the capabilities to plane and thickness raw timber.

The cheap machines are OK usually for thicknessing but a complete waste of time for planing, there was a thread about this recently. I gave an Erbauer away it was so bad and bought a Record PT260 which is far better, you may be able to pick a used one up, also badged Metabo.

 

[MattRoberts]

I'd agree - a cheap one will just leave you disappointed with the subpar and inconsistent results. I have recently got the record power PT260 which is a great machine, but it still has quite a few limitations and I often consider upgrading it...

 

[johnt64]

I have the Dewalt DW1150 added a digital readout to it and it is fantastic, if memory serves me right I paid 400 for the machine and about 40 for the wixey digital readout. Replacement blades are easily available as are belts.