have the same machine, I make timber gates as a business. I have run 1000's meters of timber through it. The blades that were in the machine as new were the HSS, these dulled very quickly, to the point I was taking the machine back for a refund, the chap at the warehouse was helpful and put me onto the carbide blades, these are a must for hardwood. Expensive as poison at about $300 for a set. When I make gates I do run a lot of timber through, I find the depth adjuster vibrates away from the setting, I have a simple weight on the adjuster wheel to keep it in place. On the feed tables I spray with silicone, makes a big difference. Lastly, I noticed the adjustment was not quite right from new, there are four chain sprockets under the machine, the chain was off one of the sprockets. In Conclusion; a good machine for the $, I was tempted by the De Walt, but the blades are not adequate.
made a mobile table for mine , locking wheels and fold down in feed and out feed , takes very little space when not in use , the whole thing is scrap 20mm MDF and a couple of coats of enamel, nice review , thank you
Hey mate, I would definitely recommend this machine for a hobbyist. Get the spiral head model. I didn’t have any issues with mine, I just upgraded to be able to more easily mill heavy old reclaimed Aussie hardwoods.
Great video Vic ! I just purchased one of these and am waiting for it to arrive. Really helpful video, will help me get my machine going, Cheers Mate !
I've probably missed the boat for that. I recently sold the machine because i upgraded to an industrial model ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Vw2XUUGFU2Q.html
Great review, unfortunately their now $880 in 2020 ! Most reviews quoted around $600 only 3-4 years ago. Is this price gouging or was the pricing incorrect ?? I checked all the review model #s same machine ??
Thanks Jo. Yeah, that price is a bit more than i paid but i bought mine a while ago now. I may have got it on a special but can't remember. For that price range check out the new Sherwood helical head thicknessser at Timbecon. Ive considered upgrading.
Hi there sir, I am from Auckland New Zealand, my next purchase will be this exact machine from Machinery House. It seems I found your video just in time .... you had and used this planer for more than a year, do you have any feedback?Is it worth purchasing ... in your opinion? Regards F (Subscribed)
Francois, i do recommend the thicknesser. It's a great machine for the price and is still producing a great finish (you can see that in my latest video).
Hi, I bought this same machine. Worked great but after a short time planning some glued bread boards timber isn't feeding through like before. Getting a bit stuck, stuttering or wanting to go sideways. I've read it could be dirty rollers. have you had this problem and are the rollers easy to clean? Thanks
Hey mate, interesting that you brought this up. My machine sometimes does the same. it hasn't bothered me enough yet to look into it but i probably should. you can get to the rollers if you wind the motor all the way to the top or you can remove the outer casing.
Hi from NZ. Looking at buying one of these. Can you tell me if the blades head is lifted/lowered on 4 threaded shafts or just 2. Many thanks and keep up the great work. Cheers.
I get snipes with mine. How do you adjust to get rid of them? Also, mine won’t feed thru like yours. I have to push the piece of wood thru. Any tips muchly appreciated
Hi John, I still get snipe with my machine. Unfortunately its something we have to live with with these cheaper benchtop type thicknessers. My rollers also lose grip sometimes. I'm not sure what it is because I haven't investigated it but I think it may just be sawdust on the rubber roller.
A quick question for you mate, have you or any of your viewers used this model with resin at all? I recently owned a Sherwood thicknesser with the spiral head but it weould leave literally hundreds of tiny holes in the resin on my serving boards. Cheers.
Hey Fred, no mate i don't do resin but thats a great question. You may want to ask some of the others directly because i don't know. It could be that your resin has tiny air bubbles in it that may be showing up when you plane it?
G'day mate, good onya for representing us Aussies with your channel, will subscribe & look forward to your next builds, I've got the Sherwood from Timbecon & it does well but like you mentioned they are branded to the importers specs, Melbourne woodworking show this weekend so there's an easy way to break the savings account lol, see ya 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
Great to have you on board Dirk and thanks for the sub. I've often thought about the Sherwood stuff but never really bought anything big from Timbecon just for the freight costs to Sydney. Its great having H&F not far from home.
I've really got to get myself either one of them or a planer thicknesser. I've been after one of the two for ages but just haven't got round to it lol great video mate 👍🏽 👌 👏
Congrats, happy old farts day 😜. Reckon there be a new project comen up. The build " a bench" for the new toy.... Can not wait to see what you create. Hope your day went well God Bless and cheers, Les 🙈🙉🙊
Hey thanks Les. Yes you're right mate, now the thinking starts and it never a simple project. There's always grand plans of reorganising and rebuilding that go along with a new addition. I'll try and keep it real. Cheers.
Awesome!! .. Hope you continue to enjoy the new toy. The lack of snipe is certainly making me think about upgrading my old unit. If you get the chance put some Jarrah or Wandoo through it and see how it performs. All the Best!! Cheers Mick
Hey cheers Mick. I actually ran some thin planks of the reclaimed hardwood through it today and it ate them up. Looking forward to my next reclaimed hardwood project
Paul, very sorry for the late reply. i've been suffering chronic nerve pain in my right arm which has kept me away from the computer. Yes i'm very happy with it and you can't beat the price.
Great overview, thank you! How thin can you make a piece of wood? Would it be possible to use this for guitar tonewood where you're trying to get it down to ~2.5mm?
Hi Markus. Jeff is correct, the specs say 3mm min but i never tried mine anywhere near that thin. if you put an extended bed in it like i did you would be able to get thinner than 3mm but thats getting into dangerous territory. Proceed with caution.
Hi i bought one over a year ago still quite happy with it just that the hss bits are to soft and don't last long. only to sides to them witch is a bit of a bummer. and i have noticed that it is not the some height from one side to the other, dose not seem to be any adjustment that i can find. the other thing is to replace the bits will cost $330 from hafco. still trying to find a alternative. been watching your vids, great job
Still happy with this machine? They are on sale this weekend $679, the carbatec ones are $1000 i suspect maybe possible to get a bit off that i think they were $899 last month.
Alan, I'm still very happy with the thicknesser. In my next video which is due any day now you can see me surface plain some 12" wide hardwood slabs that I cut myself. It did a great job.
Hi, there are many videos on how to reduce/eliminate snipe with thickness planers. What I did was raise the infeed and outfeed tables very slightly on the ends. I would suggest watching some videos that explain the problem and solutions. Cheers mate.
Hey Legend! Love the video, very helpful! I’m looking at getting one of these pretty soon. Do you think it would be ok for running longer hardwood recycled timber through? Like up to 2.5m?
Hey Luke, thanks very much. The thicknesser is great and can do basically any length of timber as long as it supported. I put a longer bed in mine using a board of melamine ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-CRaSWcaejvE.html
