Bodgers
Established Member
I picked this up a few months back from Screwfix, and I thought I would give my thoughts on this unit.
My reason for buying it is that I wanted a planer/thicknesser for my single garage workshop and I couldn't justify the big step up in price for even the cheapest induction motor model (the Metabo/Record Power one I believe, that weighs in at about £500-600).
The reviews of this Titan model were among the best of these cheap Chiwanese friction motor models, and happily it is also the cheapest (£150 from Screwfix) and the most powerful. So given the choice between no thickness planer at all, and the Titan, I took a gamble on the Titan.
What I Like
- It is basically functional out of the box - it does what it says on the tin.
- Once you get used to it, switching between planer/thicknesser modes is fairly quick. I don't bother with the underside dust extraction bolt when in planer mode as it is firmly attached in this mode anyway.
-The planer bed is perfectly flat as far as I can tell - not bad for a cast alloy top at this price.
- The noise isn't quite as bad as I thought it would be. The noise from the hardwood been milled by the blades ends up being louder than the motor anyway. I am sure if you had a fancy unit with the helical blades it would the best case scenario.
- as far as I can tell there doesn't seem to be any problem with one side of the planer bed being higher than the other after adjusting the planing thickness on this model (apparently you had to give the bed a knock to make sure it drops into place).
The bad
- There is some snipe out of the box on both planer and thicknesser. I am not sure if it is possible to dial this out, and if there is any adjustment to do this.
- the planer fence isn't the best. It's pressed steel and has two ridges pressed into it, presumably to make sure it stays ridigid. The problem with this is that it just all seems a big 'vague' as to whether things are square and straight, there is some small deflection if you press on it too hard as well. My square and ruler seem to indicate basic squareness, but there are kind of gaps between the pressed ridges. Personally, I think they would have been better just supplying this with a thick bit of Formica and just having two locked positions -45/90 degrees. Probably would have been cheaper too.
- the manual states that after about 2 hours of operation you need to take the side panel off and lubricate the chains etc. after about 15 minutes of operation my unit started squealing pretty loudly. I thought it was sick. I took the front panel off and put some silicone grease on various points (not sure if this the right thing to do). It was then quiet for about another hour of operation, but then the squeaking/squealing returned. The chains and wheels look fairly sturdy, but this doesn't do much for my confidence in it lasting very long.
- dust extraction could be better. There is a german guy on YouTube that has modified the dust extraction on this one, so I may try it. He has also done a fence upgrade that looks fairly straightforward.
Summary - for the money, it is definitely worth it. If your choice is this or no planer, then go for it. Not sure if that counts as an endorsement
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
My reason for buying it is that I wanted a planer/thicknesser for my single garage workshop and I couldn't justify the big step up in price for even the cheapest induction motor model (the Metabo/Record Power one I believe, that weighs in at about £500-600).
The reviews of this Titan model were among the best of these cheap Chiwanese friction motor models, and happily it is also the cheapest (£150 from Screwfix) and the most powerful. So given the choice between no thickness planer at all, and the Titan, I took a gamble on the Titan.
What I Like
- It is basically functional out of the box - it does what it says on the tin.
- Once you get used to it, switching between planer/thicknesser modes is fairly quick. I don't bother with the underside dust extraction bolt when in planer mode as it is firmly attached in this mode anyway.
-The planer bed is perfectly flat as far as I can tell - not bad for a cast alloy top at this price.
- The noise isn't quite as bad as I thought it would be. The noise from the hardwood been milled by the blades ends up being louder than the motor anyway. I am sure if you had a fancy unit with the helical blades it would the best case scenario.
- as far as I can tell there doesn't seem to be any problem with one side of the planer bed being higher than the other after adjusting the planing thickness on this model (apparently you had to give the bed a knock to make sure it drops into place).
The bad
- There is some snipe out of the box on both planer and thicknesser. I am not sure if it is possible to dial this out, and if there is any adjustment to do this.
- the planer fence isn't the best. It's pressed steel and has two ridges pressed into it, presumably to make sure it stays ridigid. The problem with this is that it just all seems a big 'vague' as to whether things are square and straight, there is some small deflection if you press on it too hard as well. My square and ruler seem to indicate basic squareness, but there are kind of gaps between the pressed ridges. Personally, I think they would have been better just supplying this with a thick bit of Formica and just having two locked positions -45/90 degrees. Probably would have been cheaper too.
- the manual states that after about 2 hours of operation you need to take the side panel off and lubricate the chains etc. after about 15 minutes of operation my unit started squealing pretty loudly. I thought it was sick. I took the front panel off and put some silicone grease on various points (not sure if this the right thing to do). It was then quiet for about another hour of operation, but then the squeaking/squealing returned. The chains and wheels look fairly sturdy, but this doesn't do much for my confidence in it lasting very long.
- dust extraction could be better. There is a german guy on YouTube that has modified the dust extraction on this one, so I may try it. He has also done a fence upgrade that looks fairly straightforward.
Summary - for the money, it is definitely worth it. If your choice is this or no planer, then go for it. Not sure if that counts as an endorsement
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
