Excellent review yet again. I have the previous version of this when axminster machinery was white. I think mine is around 8yrs old now or more and is still going strong, never had an issue in all that time. :)
Hi Peter, In no particular order: I would only use the rollers for rough sawn lumber. If I was putting previously planed lumber through the planer I would either lower the rollers completely below table level or remove them. The in/outfeed tables are tune-able to the main table as they float between their support arms, which is good if fiddly to tune. When I tune tables I use a machinist's straight edge and a 1/1000" feeler gauge. When I am done all 3 table are flat and true. When all the tables are true snipe is almost unmeasurable. When I use a planer for the first time (or any machine) I don't at first assemble it, I take it more apart, inspect those parts and then reassemble it, true-ing bearing surfaces as I go. On portable planers I recommend removing and then re-torque-ing all the cutter head knife bolts because some manufacturers waaay over torque these and the first time you want to change knives you find you can't get the bolts out without snapping them. After using the plane for a week I'd check bolt torque again and tighten as needed. Sometimes the bolts can loosen during your shake down cruise. I never assume that a planer cutterhead is parallel to the main table until I have determined that it is. If you never do 13" wide boards you might never notice an out of whack head but if you do glue ups for cabinet doors and you do , do 12" or 13" wide assemblies I would recommend using a digital caliper and gauging the thickness on either side of the newly planed board. I can guaranty you will find out that it's off by a few to many thousands of an inch. At that point you can decide if it matters to you and if you need to tweak the relationship of the cutter to the head. I will also send narrow pieces of wood through the planer on the far left and the far right and watch them like a hawk for any sideways movement as they go under the knife. That is a sign of a badly set head and or in/outfeed roller also. I never walk behind the board as it is being drawn into the planer. Planer kick back is rare but does occur. If it occurs I'd rather not catch it in the soft parts. When I feed lumber I alternate placement on the table to even out wear on the knives and in/outfeed rollers. On a portable planer both the in and outfeed rollers are probably urethane covered steel and if you constantly send boards down the center you can dull the edges in the center as well as prematurely wear/shrink the diameter of the rollers. Even though the tables are chromed I put a coat of (auto) paste wax on them not only to decrease sliding friction but to keep resin and pitch from building up on them. I also inspect the in/outfeed rollers for pitch build up. When I am sending lumber through the planer I caliper each end to see if one end is thicker than the other. I send the thicker end through first. If you do it the other way round you can cause a jam up and increase the probability of kick back. When I change knives I always unplug the machine and hang the plug end where I can see it. I assume you did this as I have seen you do this when you have worked on other machines. When you changed knives I could clearly see index pins in the head and index holes in the knives meaning that these are 2 edged disposable knives. The Ax seems to think that you can install re-sharpen-able knives on this machine. Something which should not be possible with index pins in the head. I could not find a downloadable manual or exploded diagram on the Ax's website so I would be curious to know if they used roller bearings on the in/outfeed rollers or the more common/cheaper bronze blocks in place of roller bearings. Planers can be jiggered up to do some jointer functions but a rough warped board in is a smooth warped board out. There are many ways to do your jigging up you showed a very fast and easy one which I can now put in my bag of tricks. With wide enough lumber I can usually stand it on it's edge and plane/joint that edge. I wouldn't try it on narrow boards or boards that are too tall. Too much? Happy Christmas and a Merry New Year G.
Hello Peter, thank you for, again, a great review and demonstration. I think that Axminster is very happy with you as there review and demonstration man. But Axminster is a great shop, they have also a great name over here (NL). We hope that there comes a day that Axminster opens a shop in the Netherlands. But thank you very much Peter, for all you time and afford. Gr. Henrie.
Hi Henrie, I returned the CT330 to Axminster yesterday and met some of their staff - they are such a great bunch of people. I will tell them that you would like to see a shop in the Netherlands. Peter
Love watching your videos Peter always interesting & informative Be great to spend some time watching you in your workshop with your techniques in how you work 👍
I would like a jointer but do not have the room. I have been looking at these on the Axminster site and am very pleased that you have reviewed it now. I have dealt with Axminster on many occasions and always been pleased with the items I have bought and also the service they provide.
Mr. Parfit reminds me of my handcraft teacher back in school so many years ago. He was a nice man who won the pupils confidence, and he had a frock like mr. Parfit. Other than a walk down the memory lane, mr. Parfit points out just about the essence of things. Enjoyable videos.
The spiral cutter machines make far less noise than normal planning machines and are frequently chosen by people who have neighbours very close by. Peter
