Hi
Ive just read this for the first time and by pure chance happen to be the lucky owner of said machine
My take on it is that as (in my case) one's first P/T it is a superb tool. I've had mine for coming up 3 years this Jan and its helped me make a good 15 items of reasonably complex wood projects. I'm not a professional but could reasonably be described as a serious amateur.
I always buy rough sawn timber where possible and dimension it myself and this puppy has performed pretty dam well. Here's pro's and con's based on my personal experience.
Pro's
Finish given its only a 2 blade cutter block is pretty dam good.
Feed speed
RP 5 yr warranty can only be a good thing although Ive never needed it
thicknesser table has the 4 screws in each corner setup which I believe to be a more accurate and less prone to table slippage design than the central column design. The thicknessing is extremely accuarate, certainly to within 1/10mmExtraction - excellent
Con's
change from jointing to thicknessing takes me exactly 1 min 30 secs (timed). Whilst that doesnt seem a long time, once you've done it several times its something of an eternity! Does cause you to plan your jobs better and batch everything so you only change once in a session so i that sense not a biggy...niggle really
In a general roundup of other peoples views Ive read over the years, people criticise its tables for being aluminium and equally the fence. I guess cast iron would be better for all the usual (solidity and weight) reasons but personally I've not found that to affect its performance that much. You do get some vibration with smaller pieces but I use earphones and a rubber bottomed hold down stick bought from Axminster which pretty much eliminate the chatter.
I've planed 8x4 oak, walnut and ash with no problem at all. Frankly the bigger the wood the easier it is. Ive changed the blades and its a bit fiddly but not beyond the wit of man especially if you use the "move a small ruler 3-6 mm" method which in my view is approx 40 million times better than those useless (allegedley) blade setting jigs that RP flog for an eye watering £40!!
Thats my starter for ten. It aint perfect but it works for modest lengths and widths up to 10 inch. length wise Ive put 2.4 M through it but with infeed and outfeed support. If you were using long lengths frequently I would want a heavier machine with longer surfacing tables.
Hope this helps :lol:
Wheels on wheel kit too flimsy for the job. I dont move mine much now its in its final resting place.
