Wood Bothering - Planer Thicknessers

[m_c]

I've just been pricing up restocking some bits of wood for some items I make, and if I buy rough sawn timber, it works out at a saving of over £6 per bit of wood.
The saving used to be only a couple of pounds, so it wasn't worth the effort of not buying the wood planed all round to size.

Ultimately I need to plane ~75mm wide bits of beech to 30mm thick. The edges being planed isn't an issue, as they get dealt with by the CNC router table.

As nice as a big old cast planer thicknesser would be, I want something compact, as if I do need a bigger machine, I know a very good joiner with access to far bigger machines.
So an initial search, Machine Mart have Clarke 6" and 8" for £300/335 which seem to have decent reviews.

Clarke CPT600 152mm Planer Thicknesser (230V) - Machine Mart

www.machinemart.co.uk

Clarke CPT800 204mm Planer Thicknesser (230V) - Machine Mart

www.machinemart.co.uk

Motors are identical power (1250W), so I'm guessing it's essentially the same machine, just different widths

Screwfix do an 8" TItan for £190, but reviews don't look that great.

A quick search has thrown up an Einhall on Amazon - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Einhell-Electric-Planer-Thicknesser-Vibration-Absorbing/dp/B0D93Y8Y2F/
Along with a few cheaper options.

At the moment, I'm probably swaying towards one of the Machine Mart/Clarke options unless anybody has any better suggestions for around the same price?

 

[gaz1]

now i would go for the bigger type as once bought i get to use both sides with smaller wood as it goes through the thicknesser

whilst also allowing you to use larger widths as well

would i pay for the larger 10" type for 100.00 more no

 

[Turbo]

At the mens shed e have both a bench top like your link and a cast iron one. All the bench top one gets used for is giving something a light skim. It will not take a heavy cut and is very slow. See if you can find a second hand scheppach, they are night and day better than those bench top ones.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/28600981...697&gbraid=0AAAAADtppYdo6BkcwXS92EFEAdhAFsG9n

Ignore that price, that's the ebay price. You should be able to pick up a single phase one for under £300. I got mine for £250, came out of a school and still had all its guards.

Be aware that they are very noisy so I hope you have deaf neighbours.

You will also need a chip extractor as they produce a lot of chippings.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/13195484...trejAKxk+831BbTlR49NWLMg==|tkp:Bk9SR-rGkpuQZg

This is the best type as it fills it into bags. Forget about using a vacuum cleaner type extractor, you will be constantly stopping to empty the drum.

 

[northwest]

I would look at this:

Pardon our interruption...

 

[Agroshield]

You say the saving is £6 per piece. If you machine it yourself, how much of your time does that £6 buy? How many multiples of £6 pay for the machine?

Where does the break even occur?

Do you need a planer thicknesser or could a thicknesser work (e.g. Makita 2012 NB or Metabo)?

As above, the Kity is a much better machine than the Clarke ones.

Length makes a difference - effectively you need twice the length of the piece to operate the machine.

How much are replacement blades? Do you have a source for sharpening?

What are your arrangements for dust collection - a thicknesser might need something different to a CNC router?

Could you pay your joiner to take the rough stock and finish it for you? If you have a good relationship with them, they can use it as a fill-in job when they are not busy.

 

[MattF]

The bench top type all appear similar/same regardless of colour/brand. I have one which I used to thin some Mahogany when I was doing the fireplace. Did the job fine. Mine's a Zipper. They all likely need a little fettling/tweaking if you want the top plates in best alignment. Easy enough task. Not had massive amounts of usr, but can't fault it.

As @Turbo says though, they're noisy. Definitely an ear defender tool.

 

[frank horton]

hope u got a big shed....whatever u buy they take up a lot of room.....
small bench top machines need help in keeping the wood level....usually the machine sits in a hole in a dedicated bench...
yes u can store it underneath and use the bench for working.....
it all gets rather involved tho...
Plenty of places that will post sharpened blades...of course u'll need spares...each of my planers has three blade sets....1 in use, one sharpened n ready to go and the other on the way to be sharpened...I used to pay 20pence per inch....say double that now....buy ur blades from the likes of eBay etc.....I have 20" blades from China that are v good...just 25% of the cost of something from Europe.....
My small DeWalt pl/thicknesser needs special blades....they were a 1/3d of the price from China and excellent....I'm sure DeWalt just repackage them from the same place......
U dont say how much wood bothering u do but u'll soon find the limits of the small models....not so much how big it will work but the amount u can cut....
The bench top machines with a spiral blade are the dogs nxts but now ur spending.....my DeWalt, the kit to upgrade is $500 US plus imprt duties and shipping....
When I bought my D/W there was no such thing as a spiral cutting head.....but to add buying the machine used and up grading it now would cost the same as a nice German made machine already fitted with a spriral cutter.... used of course.....
If u can buy a used one then upgrade when ur fed up with it.....dont be in a rush.....
stretch ur budget if u can u'll keep the machine longer....
PS...even big cast iron machines make a lot of noise...
.
just had a quick look on flebay.....found this for just a little more than a new cheapy...

Record Planer Thicknesser PT260 Great used Condition 240v Collect from S63 | eBay UK

Great piece of kit, all there and working as it should. New drive belt fitted just before we moved 4 years ago. Not used since due to lack of room. Mounted on a mobile base. Included in the purchase is the blade setting tool. A must have to change and set planer knives. Cash on collection...

www.ebay.co.uk

Lastly have a look at this guy for a well designed compact workshop.....just 12 mins run time....

good luck

 

[Blobber]

75mm to 30mm thats a lot of waste/noise/effort, personally I would put my prices up to cover the extra cost and go do something nicer
Is there no other supplier that you can try?

 

[julianf]

How long are your final parts to be?

That will govern what table length you need, as longer parts will require a longer infeed table to properly reference to.

Also, of you're buying wood that is otherwise square, just not planed, your main tool would surely be the thicknesser?

I realize that the planer would be needed to correct any deviation from 90 degrees, but, other than that, a thicknesser with a long enough infeed is so very much quicker to use.

...maybe not quicker but you don't need to pay as much attention.

It won't remove curvature from timber that's too thin to not be pressed flat by its rollers though.


I did read that you wanted to keep space used to a minimum, but I suspect one of the little machines will only be good for tiny parts, rather than the bulk processing of timber that it seems you are wanting to do.

(and, yes, I did flog the axminster I had on here some time back, so I'm not trying to sell you anything! : )

 

[mark roberts]

Those dinky planers are great, The fence is pants though. I have one for small stuff. When I dont want to use the 18". They are a bit noisy and can only take off a small amount at once, but I've been abusing mine for 10years and its still going. Blades are cheap also

 

[julianf]

Ps I just re read and saw the 75mm to 30mm spec.

Im assuming youre planning on resawing it?

2mm for the cut, then 3mm ish planed off each side?

...rather than taking 75mm down to 30mm on a small planer?

 

[cheb]

I took that as 75mm wide and 30mm thick, not 75mm reduced down to 30mm thick.

I've an Elektra Beckum that will do oak nicely so should do beech as well. The capacity is 250mm wide and will take off a max of 3mm. At full width I generally take off about 1mm thickness at a time. I usually add 100 to 150mm either end for wastage. You can get away with less if you have full rollers on input and output.

 

[m_c]

To answer a few of the questions in no particular order.

I do have space for a big machine, but I'm trying to avoid having yet another large machine taking up space.
I already have a manual router table with big dust extractor, so I'm well aware of the noise these machines make and the dust extraction needed for woodworking machines.
(The CNC router has it's own cyclone dust extractor, but I just vacuum up afterwards as it's doesn't make that much of a mess and the dust shoe gets in the way).
Pay back period on a £300 machine is likely to be around a year at current sales rates ignoring my labour cost. Plan would be when a new batch (usually 25/30) gets delivered, shove them all through the machine so they're good to go when needed.
Use is to reduce rough sawn down from 32mm to 30mm, so only a mm per side.
Just a thicknesser might work, but I'm not sure exactly how rough sawn the blanks would be as to whether just sticking them through a thicknesser would give a nice smooth finish.

Something with a spiral cutter would be nice, but out the budget!

And yes, I've already had a look over eBay and Facebook Marketplace to see if there's anything bigger available locally, but everything seems much further south.

 

[MattF]

I'm assuming most of them come with a spare blade, on those small units you mentioned. I seem to recall mine did.

 

[Agroshield]

Use is to reduce rough sawn down from 32mm to 30mm, so only a mm per side.

2mm seems a bit mean or a bit ambitious for a planing allowance.

Look at rough sawn and PAR in Selco. If the rough sawn is a 3" x 2", what size is the PAR quoted as? I think 2" x 2" nominal is 44mm square PAR.

 

[clift_d]

As above... 1mm per side sounds a bit optimistic, I'd typically allow at least 2-3 mm per side to get a sawn board to a decent planed finish. It's also worth bearing in mind that timber sold as sawn is typically a lower grade than timber sold PAR, so in my experience you need to be really selective with your starting boards to avoid facing issues with knots, shakes, cracks, etc, in the finished boards. If you can get decent enough timber stock then planing your own boards is certainly a great way of reducing material costs but it's not always so straightforward.

 

[Smallfry]

Having made furniture for a job, reluctant to say "professionally" The little benchtop planers are OK provided you not try to take off too much in one pass. Ours was a Triton thing from Australia ISTR.

From experience, we screwed ours down to a bench to stop it walking.

They seem to ruin an inch or so at each end when thicknessing

Need to steady the material in and out, so if longer than you can reach with both hands, will need another person to assist.

Most importantly, mind your fingers !

 

[Agroshield]

If the stock is 32mm and it needs to go to 30mm, would a drum sander work better than a thicknesser?

I think this machine would also work well on shorter stock, and pieces could be lined up side-by-side for increased throughput and more even wear on the abrasive.

Axminster Professional AP406DS Drum Sander - 230V

This is a simple, single drum, open sided finishing sander, perfect for both board sanding and square frame sanding. Made mainly from aluminium alloy castings with a steel base frame, it is a robust machine for its size. A sturdy, splayed leg steel...

www.axminstertools.com

 

[julianf]

If the stock is 32mm and it needs to go to 30mm, would a drum sander work better than a thicknesser?

I think this machine would also work well on shorter stock, and pieces could be lined up side-by-side for increased throughput and more even wear on the abrasive.

Axminster Professional AP406DS Drum Sander - 230V

This is a simple, single drum, open sided finishing sander, perfect for both board sanding and square frame sanding. Made mainly from aluminium alloy castings with a steel base frame, it is a robust machine for its size. A sturdy, splayed leg steel...

www.axminstertools.com

I have one of these -

Axminster Professional AP635DS Drum Sander - 230V

This twin drum finishing sander has a compact footprint and is designed for finishing boards, panels and frames. The sanding drums are aluminium, machined and dynamically balanced for smooth running. The drums are powered by a 1.5kW 230V. Being a twin...

www.axminstertools.com

I also had, until recently, one of the axminster floor standing planer thicknessers, and a wadkin bao/s thats slowly comming back to life.

The sander is great for wide stock, and comes into its own with figured material, as you dont get tear out in the same way. It also doesnt hugely care about the length of the stock, within reason.

But if you try and take too much off, by (ab)using it as a thicknesser, you just gum up the paper in no time at all. I guess i do about 1/8 to 1/16 of a turn on each pass, doing oak, and a full turn is 2mm. So we are talking 0.25 to 0.125 per pass.
Whilst a small thicknesser would easily do close to a mm per pass, on straight grained oak. Sure, beach is easier, but it will still be the same relative comparrison.


I dont think its been mentioned anywhere the length of the parts. Thats critical to so much. Trying to get a 8 foot length with a 3mm cup in it straight will loose at least 3mm of stock, but cut the job into foot lengths, and skimming it flat will loose very little.

...but then snipe at the ends (which you dont really get so much with the sander) becomes more of an issue.

 

[eLuSiVeMiTe]

Have one of the titan PT. Does the job


Picked up a metabo a few years ago for the wider capacity. Can't fault it.