Planer thicknesser for single garage workshop

[sams93]

I purchased a cheaper (and i'm sure inferior) version of the gauge above from amazon for £25 when I did my kity 636. It seems to have worked fine for me and I expect I will use it for years to come albeit very occasionally.

Dial Test Indicator With Magnetic Stand

 

[donturner]

Thank you @deema and @sams93 for the quick and extremely useful responses.

My confusion with the measurement technique was that I thought it was the horizontal distance from the table edge to the spindle which needed measuring, rather than the vertical distance. Makes total sense now. I have a dial indicator on a magnetic stand so hopefully that'll be sufficient.

 

[stigg]

Just like to add my vote to the sedgwick. I have had my MB in various single garages over the years. Owned it from new in about 98 after a Warco model was returned. Been moved around from house to house a fair bit. It's no lightweight but its not an immovable object either. It took a trip in the back of a Peugeot 205 once!
Still doing great service 25 years on. Doesn't owe me a penny yet would be able to sell on for a decent price. How many 'cheaper' machines can you say that about?

Dan

 

[Hornbeam]

One advantage of the designs with the lift tables is that if you flip the tables up you cut the footprint to about a third, which could be significant in a small workshop. I would only consider one with the parallel lift (Hammer/I tech/Axminster)

 

[stigg]

Whilst fixes tables have some disadvantages the fact that they don't move is the clincher for me. The first machine I bought was returned due to the tables not staying parallel. I'm sure a correctly engineered solution doesn't have that problem but in my opinion will always have the potential to go out of whack. Once setup correctly with shims and bolted firmly down the tables will take all kinds of abuse and stay true. The fence design on the Sedgwick machines is the biggest problem in terms of space. It's a big iron bar that sticks out. You can get around this by moving the fence every time you use it, or moving the machine. It's usually easier to move the machine or do what I did and cut a hole in the wall.