Thickness planer

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I have to say


I really agree with what Terry has just said.

I think that you have been given a lot of excellent advice in this thread, but the advice is all 'idealist'.

I run a small planer thicknesser using a shop vac as the extractor, via a 50mm hose. It isn't perfect, but it's perfectly adequate for my purposes. I am a hobbyist/DIYer so it doesn't matter to me if it only collects 90% of the chips and I have to do a bit of hoovering afterwards. I will spend the rest of my life trying to make my setup 'a little bit better on a budget', but that is the nature of being a hobbyist and not a professional. If I was a professional of course I would be only willing to accept a proper fit for purpose set up.

You can get a small planer/thicknesser used for very cheap if you are willing to look on facebook marketplace. I started off with the Titan screwfix one (£199 now in screwfix) which isn't great but does work. I have had it for a little over a year. It takes a bit of setting up and does need the fence modified, but plenty of examples on youtube of how to modify it (I just replaced the fence with some birch ply). Will it stand up to day in day out use on heavy timber and being bashed around - no it wont, will it require occasional adjustments to keep it all square etc - yes it will. Is that perfectly fine for a hobbyist who doesn't use it every day - yes. I knew it wouldn't be perfect when I bought it as there are enough reviews on the internet. However screwfix will take it back happily within the 2 year garuntee period if I decide it doesn't do its job ok, so I couldn't see a problem with buying it and giving it a try.

That is WELL within your budget and is a no-risk option, if it's crab and you dont like it just return it to screwfix within 30 days no questions (after that they will want to repair/replace but if they cant give you one that works properly then they will refund still).

As it happens I then decided this winter that I would try and sort a better/bigger model, so got a Kity 636 (like the one I linked you earlier on facebook). These go on facebook for between £250 - £400 second hand), picked one in a non-working condition up for £60 and made repairing/restoring it my winter project. If you are a bit patient you will find one of those in working condition for £200 or so (or there are plenty of similar second hand models like the scheppach and Elektra etc that have been mentioned). These machines have a much better build quality than the titan screwfix one, but no warranty of course and will possibly require a bit of effort to get working and dialled in. You might be lucky and have one which needs no adjustment, but obviously they are used so the onus would be on you to sort out and whether you feel like you have adequate experience or knowhow to do that is down to you. I would say I learned a lot from my titan one which has helped me understand how to sort out my kity better (although i have asked for plenty of advice on here which has been forthcoming). Will this one stand up to day in day out heavy use - no it isnt an industrial one. Will it stand up better than the titan and be perfectly adequate for hobbyist/DIY use - yes (I hope so once I get some more experience myself!)

Then it comes to dust extraction. I run mine using a shop vac and again it isnt perfect but it is perfectly adequate for DIY/Hobbyist use. I have a 6X8 shed as my workshop so I won't hear any excuses from peiple that their shop is too small! I might one day try to get a compact chip extractor that i can stor under my bench and get out when I need it, but until then I do fine with my dust extractor (it is attached to a cyclone to make emptying and cleaning easier, but it certainly isn't neccersary.



Overall what I am saying is - just becasue what you get wont be PERFECT doesn't mean you shouldn't try and get something. We all spend ages looking at these fancy setups that professional shops have or people who have collected tools/machines and built their set up over 60 years of woodworking. That isn't how anyone starts, you have to start small and then work out what will improve your own set up slowly as you use it.

Also - and I really think this next point is often overlooked when buying second hand things. If you buy a used P/T for £250 on facebook or ebay, and it turns out it is rubbish/you dont use it/you dont like it, then you can sell it again. probably for £250! These things once used don't really loose their value, so don't see it as a big risk you are taking in trying something out. Get one, try it out and see how you get on. If you find it's good but you need better extraction then address that as best you can. If you find it's not heavy duty enough then make do with it until you see a better one available cheap and sell the old one for it.

Lastly - almost certainly your results at the start are going to have far more to do with your experience level than the machine itself, something which applies to almost any tool and machine, even something as simple as a thicknesser which is effectively a wood postbox. How many people do you see unable to use a philips screwdriver properly! It will take time and experience to use any of these machines so at the start I don't think you need worry as much about how much you are spending on the machine. Of course an expensive one might make the process and learning curve a bit easier, but if the expense means you don't buy one at all then that doesn't seem a very logical approach to me. Of course people will reccomend more expensive stuff becasue with their experience it is ovbious they are worthwhile, but you don't have that experience and will have to gain it in your own time and learn the same lessons everyone does.

Don't be put off by people suggesting perfect solutions, they are all giving good advice, but it is easy to miss the point when giving out advice and end up making people feel like it isn't worth bothering at all unless it's perfect, which is not the case at all.
I love this reply.
Thank you for taking the time to understand my needs and the requirements of a confined space and realising like a couple of others that I would have to get this into my cellar.
My idea was to use the timber I can get my hands on which in most cases is 2x6 or 2x8 live edge, run in on the surface planer first then thickness it so the boards are semi uniformed. Like I've stated before I get a great glue edge just off my table saw. The longest boards I get are either 2.4m 4x2 which I'm more than capable of dealing with by hand or the 12ft 2x6 & (2x8 live edge) the 2x6&2x8 are a finished full 2 inch so I figured it left me say 1/4 inch to play with to get a nice finish on the face. On that theory an 8" or a 10" would have been ok, or so I thought. As for the chip extractor, I've been looking at YouTube vids and seen more than a fair share using them without one to realise that yes in a perfect world the need for one is relevant but at this stage I'm doubting I'd do enough to warrant spending any money on one at all.
Again thanks for the comprehensive reply, it's made me definitely think it is within my capabilities and I appreciate your candor.
Kind regards
Lee.
 
Look at these right near you:

A Kity 635 going for £155 on ebay 40 miles from you

A chip extractor for £110 (which you could probably negotiate to £90 or maybe cheaper)- won't take up much room and you will be able to use it for all sorts of tools and machines as and when you get them, plus hoovering the floor etc.

You could get the planer probably for £200 from ebay (it finishes in 8 hours) and the chip extractor for within your budget,

or you could just get a planer and see how you go.
Thanks for taking the effort to look on my behalf. I appreciate it. Going to look now. Cheers. Kind regards
Lee
 
May I ask what P/T your using and what type of extraction please. I've pretty much been totally put off even thinking about getting one now. Feel like I'm punching above my weight. Thanks.
I bought the Titan one from Screwfix and returned it because i n truth I didn;t reaally need it - then.
It was heavy as anything from the iron castings, and in my opinion fences can be upgraded if necessary, aluminium extrusion is cheap enough.
The other day I had to rip some sapele down from 30-odd mm thick to 22mm which I then had to clean up with the hand planer which was a pain.
If I had the cash I would buy the Titan again as for me it does everything I need.
 
It's scary on here.

My machines will be called "rubbish" by many, but they have served me well and I hope will do so for quite a time yet. I do try to maintain things. I bought them to be useful as general purpose machines - I do not have the luxury of a well equipped speciality woodwork shop and I try to keep things going as long as I can (like my 1969 Black and Decker hammer drill!).

I lived in Austria for a time and bought them there - but now they are in outlets like Toolstation here.
My dust extractor and saw table are Schleppach - for those who follow such things the dust extractor (drum model, paper and cylinder filters) is 183cm/h and 25000PA pressure difference, I don't get a blocked hose when using the P/T. The P/T is labelled Woodstar pt 85 it's like many cheap ones here with a pressed steel body and aluminium table - 200mm wide cut.

I have had excellent after sales service from Schleppach here in the UK, even when I have said I bought the machines abroad.

That's the info and here is a long outline that puts my meagre equipment in perspective.
Once upon a time I could have bought the machines talked about on this forum, and a few years earlier I would not have had to as I worked in well-equipped school workshops - but as so often happens life changed and for 20 years I have not really been able to afford a hobby at all and so nearly all my woodworking is to renovate my house, mend things, or to repair / restore old furniture I either have or get free as I can't even afford new rubbish furniture.

If you love wood then working with it becomes a life-long passion, and unless you have money to spare then over the years you build up your tool set to match the type of work you do and the space you have available. A few years ago I had a couple of large cellar rooms so I could have one for machines and the other for racks of storage and bench work, now I have a single garage that has to house not just my woodworking tools but my metalworking, plumbing, electrical and general building tools, the paints for the house and even my very rare motorbike, so every inch is important. I bought my table saw and P/T when I lived abroad predominantly to make renovating my house easier. Last year when my breathing became tricky my wife bought me a dust extractor.

The P/T is not an engineering masterpiece, it is not great and I'm pretty sure it will not give me thicknesses accurate to couple of thou mentioned in someone's critique of a thicknesser on here, but it does give sufficient flatness and squareness to meet my needs. I did have to work on getting the fence sturdier and tweeked the take-off table which was not quite right. I made a stand from Dexion and I move it against the wall out of the way when not in use. I have a drop on top I put on my saw to give me more worktop space, and one for my bench so I don't worry about any damage when the odd car part or lawnmower need attention and for when I am likely to drip varnish or stain (I have OCD and like things right).

The dust collector, as I said, was bought as a gift from my wife who chose it on price but I would have got the same as price is so important to me. I have a length of old vacuum cleaner hose that, with some bits and pieces from my plumbing box will fit my table saw and the adaptors that came with the extractor it will fit my P/T using the 100mm hose. A particularly flexible vacuum cleaner pipe and adaptor and some gaffer tape round the outlet of my hand sanders and my old hand circular saw allow them to be used for free-hand work. I don;t have the space or luxury of a fancy woodworking bench - but the one I have is modified so I can fit my router underneath to make a router table - which again has a fitting for the vacuum cleaner hose. The extractor's paper filters come from Toolstation and so far I have not had to buy a new cannister filter. I also wear an Sp2 half face mask when I need to but I should have done so many years ago as I now have emphysema.

My table saw is also an economy one - so it suffers the same problems as all the ones with a pressed steel table and table extensions. I must get round to reinforcing the supports for the extensions sometime as that will make a big difference and it will be an easy task. I found the rip fence was not as rigid as I want so I made a simple wooden extension to this which bolts on the T slots of the fence and it grips under the edge on the far side of the table - I only need to use this for long lengths of timber. One day I'll improve the crosscut/mitre fence as it is rather flimsy but it works - they have a plastic slide running in the table T slot, after considerable use it was not a great fit but Schleppach here sent me a new one free even though the machine is several years old.

My advice is generally to buy the best you can afford, although that does not always hold true especially as identical machines can have a markup of >50% according to the badge they wear. Given the situation I am in my machines have been a great benefit and unless I came across some money I'd chose them again. Basically what you get with price is greater accuracy and longer life - so you can weigh up if you can afford a few hundred pounds for a fraction of a mm and if you intend to keep the same machine for your life-time. Assuming you are a lot younger than me I suggest you plan both long and short term - get equipment that will help you develop your work and when you find you need something that is more accurate be willing to move on hoping that in time your finances will get better, not worse like mine!
 
I love this reply.
Thank you for taking the time to understand my needs and the requirements of a confined space and realising like a couple of others that I would have to get this into my cellar.

Lee, I empathize with your confined space in the basement. My below-grade basement shop is larger than your shop, but I have a similar access issue. With no doors to the outside, everything I bring into the shop must fit down the wooden open stairs with two 90-degree turns and then fit through an 82cm wide door. So far, I have a 300KG SCM sliding saw, a 145KG SCM P/T, Record Power BS350S bandsaw, Sjöbergs workbench, lots of smaller tools, as well as larger items built in place.

Here are photos of my stairs showing the rough dimensions and choke points.

Stairs-1.jpg


Stairs-2.jpg


Stairs-3.jpg


The challenge with the saw was solved by disassembling it into smaller sections that could be maneuvered by two people (my wife and me). I had my doubts about the load handling capacity of the stairs, but the engineer at the company that manufactures and installs these stairs told me each tread was rated to handle up 450KG and the cumulative load was 2,500 KG.

To be sure, I made a T-Brace for each tread using 100mm square construction lumber. The load on the stairs was now distributed between the end points as well as a column to the basement floor. I did this because these stairs would have to take the item being moved as well as people moving it. That would be more weight than I was willing to inflict on the stairs without additional support.

I made three risers using smaller construction lumber that allowed me to use a 1-meter square piece of plywood to span four treads at a time. This gave me a suitable platform to rest the item while I repositioned the chain hoist on the stair treads above. I wasn't too concerned about the load on the upper stairs as they would be taking only the item being moved.

I don't have any photos of the T-Bracing, but here is a photo of the risers and a smaller piece of plywood that my wife and I used later to move a P/T up the stairs and the SCM P/T down the stairs (photo taken before I added the carpet). It was a slow process, but easily manged by two people.

Stairs-7.jpg
 
It's scary on here.

My machines will be called "rubbish" by many, but they have served me well and I hope will do so for quite a time yet. I do try to maintain things. I bought them to be useful as general purpose machines - I do not have the luxury of a well equipped speciality woodwork shop and I try to keep things going as long as I can (like my 1969 Black and Decker hammer drill!).

I lived in Austria for a time and bought them there - but now they are in outlets like Toolstation here.
My dust extractor and saw table are Schleppach - for those who follow such things the dust extractor (drum model, paper and cylinder filters) is 183cm/h and 25000PA pressure difference, I don't get a blocked hose when using the P/T. The P/T is labelled Woodstar pt 85 it's like many cheap ones here with a pressed steel body and aluminium table - 200mm wide cut.

I have had excellent after sales service from Schleppach here in the UK, even when I have said I bought the machines abroad.

That's the info and here is a long outline that puts my meagre equipment in perspective.
Once upon a time I could have bought the machines talked about on this forum, and a few years earlier I would not have had to as I worked in well-equipped school workshops - but as so often happens life changed and for 20 years I have not really been able to afford a hobby at all and so nearly all my woodworking is to renovate my house, mend things, or to repair / restore old furniture I either have or get free as I can't even afford new rubbish furniture.

If you love wood then working with it becomes a life-long passion, and unless you have money to spare then over the years you build up your tool set to match the type of work you do and the space you have available. A few years ago I had a couple of large cellar rooms so I could have one for machines and the other for racks of storage and bench work, now I have a single garage that has to house not just my woodworking tools but my metalworking, plumbing, electrical and general building tools, the paints for the house and even my very rare motorbike, so every inch is important. I bought my table saw and P/T when I lived abroad predominantly to make renovating my house easier. Last year when my breathing became tricky my wife bought me a dust extractor.

The P/T is not an engineering masterpiece, it is not great and I'm pretty sure it will not give me thicknesses accurate to couple of thou mentioned in someone's critique of a thicknesser on here, but it does give sufficient flatness and squareness to meet my needs. I did have to work on getting the fence sturdier and tweeked the take-off table which was not quite right. I made a stand from Dexion and I move it against the wall out of the way when not in use. I have a drop on top I put on my saw to give me more worktop space, and one for my bench so I don't worry about any damage when the odd car part or lawnmower need attention and for when I am likely to drip varnish or stain (I have OCD and like things right).

The dust collector, as I said, was bought as a gift from my wife who chose it on price but I would have got the same as price is so important to me. I have a length of old vacuum cleaner hose that, with some bits and pieces from my plumbing box will fit my table saw and the adaptors that came with the extractor it will fit my P/T using the 100mm hose. A particularly flexible vacuum cleaner pipe and adaptor and some gaffer tape round the outlet of my hand sanders and my old hand circular saw allow them to be used for free-hand work. I don;t have the space or luxury of a fancy woodworking bench - but the one I have is modified so I can fit my router underneath to make a router table - which again has a fitting for the vacuum cleaner hose. The extractor's paper filters come from Toolstation and so far I have not had to buy a new cannister filter. I also wear an Sp2 half face mask when I need to but I should have done so many years ago as I now have emphysema.

My table saw is also an economy one - so it suffers the same problems as all the ones with a pressed steel table and table extensions. I must get round to reinforcing the supports for the extensions sometime as that will make a big difference and it will be an easy task. I found the rip fence was not as rigid as I want so I made a simple wooden extension to this which bolts on the T slots of the fence and it grips under the edge on the far side of the table - I only need to use this for long lengths of timber. One day I'll improve the crosscut/mitre fence as it is rather flimsy but it works - they have a plastic slide running in the table T slot, after considerable use it was not a great fit but Schleppach here sent me a new one free even though the machine is several years old.

My advice is generally to buy the best you can afford, although that does not always hold true especially as identical machines can have a markup of >50% according to the badge they wear. Given the situation I am in my machines have been a great benefit and unless I came across some money I'd chose them again. Basically what you get with price is greater accuracy and longer life - so you can weigh up if you can afford a few hundred pounds for a fraction of a mm and if you intend to keep the same machine for your life-time. Assuming you are a lot younger than me I suggest you plan both long and short term - get equipment that will help you develop your work and when you find you need something that is more accurate be willing to move on hoping that in time your finances will get better, not worse like mine!
My P/T one is like the Titan one at screwfix.
 
I looked at the spec and it was listed as 1100 x 380 x 415mm, but even so, that’s not as big as I’d originally thought so will keep mulling it over. I’m looking for something that I can use outside in the garden and put away in a garden storage box when not in use, so this might actually work for me!
I think the 1100 is accounting for the bag
 
It's scary on here.

My machines will be called "rubbish" by many
If the machine delivers what you want and you are happy wth it then does it mater, many of us will have started with something that we once loved but as we raised our game it became a problem and a hinderance so we got something better but some will always be happy with what they have and are willing to work with any niggles. The biggest problem is if you visit one of the woodworking shows, the one at Harrogate is really good most years then you get exposed to what is out there and that is the begining of buying more.
 
Evening gents.
OK so I'm just a hobbyist wood worker but I'd like to be able to use more rough sawn timber (cost) so I know I will need a thicknesser possibly a jointer/Thicknesser.
I've been looking at some of the lower end stuff like the titan and Clarke but because I don't make any money from my hobby the cost of a Planer will never really be absorbed. So my question is, do they do the job? I've seen 6,8 and 10inch versions of the above names but I don't want to shell out of there's no point. I have a jig for my table saw which gives me near enough perfect edges so the jointer side would just be a bonus.
I'm not bothered if it's second hand, just as long as it does the job I need from it.
Thanks for reading
Any advice would be welcomed
Lee.
A secondhand Scheppach HMS260 ci or 2600ci would do well they are far better than the new chinese rubbish you can get for the same money. Great finish and cast iron tables.
 
A secondhand Scheppach HMS260 ci or 2600ci would do well they are far better than the new chinese rubbish you can get for the same money. Great finish and cast iron tables.
I'd never ger it in my cellar
But thanks for the advice
Kind regards
Lee
 
Well after much deliberation and armed with the advice from the members I've decided to squash the idea of getting P/T, I'm going to stick with my hand tools. I now have that beast of a band saw so he can handle the resizing and my planes and belt sander will do the rest.
Thanks for all the advice guys.
Kind regards
Lee
 
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