anyone own a AXMINSTER TRADE AT260SPT?

[Northers]

Had one of these for a while....I won’t be buying another one!
Biggest issues are:
1. it requires a very powerful extractor
2. The serrated steel drive roller clogs very easily, then marks the timber and is very difficult to keep clear. I tend to run mine with the shop extractor on full and an airline aimed at the drive roller. This helps but means constant stop starts when removing a lot of stock.
I intend to convert the roller to a smooth rubber one like my old machine which stays clean.
Also the support mechanism for the thicknesser table isn’t very robust when putting heavy boards thru it tends to tip by about 2mm very easily.

 

[craigs]

Had one of these for a while....I won’t be buying another one!
Biggest issues are:
1. it requires a very powerful extractor
2. The serrated steel drive roller clogs very easily, then marks the timber and is very difficult to keep clear. I tend to run mine with the shop extractor on full and an airline aimed at the drive roller. This helps but means constant stop starts when removing a lot of stock.
I intend to convert the roller to a smooth rubber one like my old machine which stays clean.
Also the support mechanism for the thicknesser table isn’t very robust when putting heavy boards thru it tends to tip by about 2mm very easily.

May I ask what extractor you use for it?

 

[Northers]

Because I often have to move machinery around in my shop I mostly I use a free standing 1.5HP similar to Axminster AC82E. Although I have ’plumbed in’ extraction this works the best especially if the distance (pipe) from point of extraction to fan is kept as short as possible. It still doesn’t stop chips getting jammed in the bloody serrated roller though!

 

[toolsntat]

Because I often have to move machinery around in my shop I mostly I use a free standing 1.5HP similar to Axminster AC82E. Although I have ’plumbed in’ extraction this works the best especially if the distance (pipe) from point of extraction to fan is kept as short as possible. It still doesn’t stop chips getting jammed in the bloody serrated roller though!

I don't know the machines your talking about but relate to the problem.
This was overcome by having air holes at a strategic position around the extraction hood.
Cheers Andy

 

[spartan]

Farmer Giles, if you are having the 300 shipped/delivered could I be a bit nosey and ask what they charge, could be on an individual basis I know, rough idea will suffice, not getting a lot of joy with ss at the moment. Thanks

 

[Spectric]

Hi all

I know the problem, get it really clean and wax polish as this helps stop chips getting stuck in serrations. I think if you had a big enough extractor then it would solve the issue but I suspect it would be so big it would extract you as well just like in a cartoon!

 

[Spectric]

Hi

Can you provide more detail regards strategic air holes?

 

[toolsntat]

Hi

Can you provide more detail regards strategic air holes?

It can sometimes be the case that the extraction hood is a tight fit and the only flow of air is through the cutting head gap, if this is not sufficient the chips can hang around and deposit under the block/rollers.
Another symptom of this can be an immense droning noise as the air pulsates past the rotating cutters.
If your machine is ejecting the chippings efficiently you could try packing up the hood to give a gap to improve airflow and see what happens.
If it solves the problem, putting some holes in the hood would be my next step.
Cheers Andy

 

[Farmer Giles]

Farmer Giles, if you are having the 300 shipped/delivered could I be a bit nosey and ask what they charge, could be on an individual basis I know, rough idea will suffice, not getting a lot of joy with ss at the moment. Thanks

Not wanting to go into too much detail, its about the same price as a full height standard 1000 x 1200 pallet delivery +25%, which is about right given you would pay extra as its overhangs a pallet by a fair bit and there's packing to take into account. So competitive delivery for 300kg+ and 1500 long. Not sure what difficulties your having, I've been getting good response by phone.

Cheers
Andy

 

[spartan]

Thanks for that, its a start. Phone/internet bit patchy in middle of nowhere in Wales.

 

[Spectric]

Hi Andy

Thats made me rethink the situation, thanks for that. Thinking about the physics of airflow that should have been more obvious, just did not connect machinery extraction with the thermodynamics of powertrain and combustion, an area that I worked in for many years. What is required is airflow, with a minimal pressure drop as it is the flow that extracts and if the flow is restricted by the cutter head then drilling the holes would increase flow. I will take a closer look at my extraction hood on the PT107 as it is one of those dual function jobs with the flap inside and not designed with airflow in mind. This is another positive for people with separate planers and thicknessers as the extraction can be designed for single purpose.

It can sometimes be the case that the extraction hood is a tight fit and the only flow of air is through the cutting head gap, if this is not sufficient the chips can hang around and deposit under the block/rollers.

 

[craigs]

just to chime in, mine came Monday, and I have had no issues whatsoever. Delivery was £60 from Axminster and I ordered it on the 24th, it was delivered on the 28th by a very helpful chap.

Setup did not take nearly as long as the woodgrafter guy and once i got the fence square i put a dab of loctite so it thinks twice about moving, alas no issue yet.

For dust extraction, im using a Laguna B-flux, which "should" be well underpowered for this planer according to the numbers, but again, I have no issues at all, theres a few chips here and there but nothing to write home about by any means.

Time will tell if it was a good or bad decision, but at the moment it seems ok.

 

[Oaktree11]

I have the big brother of this machine, the 310. It is a superb machine once it’s set up right. I bought mine second hand and it was WAY out on both tables and took an age to get right BUT everything is adjustable and, although complex it can be achieved unlike on some. I agree, if you purchase a new one it should not need much adjustment.
I plumbed in a dust extraction ‘spine’ down my workshop using plastic drainage pipe and tee off it at 100mm for the PT. At the nether end I have a Record Power twin motor bagged HVLP extractor which works really well with the standard setup, no problems at all.
the machine is great, not perfect, but does everything expected of it really well.
john

 

[NickM]

I used mine "in anger" for the first time yesterday and I think it's great. Due to some incompetence on my part I had to flip back between planing and thicknessing a few times, and I think the changeover is easy and quick.

My one "gripe" is that I still find the fence isn't square to the tables in all positions from front to back. I can't work out what causes that, but it takes a second to check for square. If anyone else has that issue and thoughts on possible solutions that would be great.

 

[craigs]

I used mine "in anger" for the first time yesterday and I think it's great. Due to some incompetence on my part I had to flip back between planing and thicknessing a few times, and I think the changeover is easy and quick.

My one "gripe" is that I still find the fence isn't square to the tables in all positions from front to back. I can't work out what causes that, but it takes a second to check for square. If anyone else has that issue and thoughts on possible solutions that would be great.

get it square, tighten all 6 hex heads then remove one at a time, dab of loctite and put them back, it wont be going out of square again

bought a lovely wide piece of birdseye maple today and can't wait to see how it's handled by the PT, unfortunately it spent a couple of hours on the car roof in the rain so ill let it dry out a bit before attempting it

 

[Doug71]

My one "gripe" is that I still find the fence isn't square to the tables in all positions from front to back. I can't work out what causes that, but it takes a second to check for square. If anyone else has that issue and thoughts on possible solutions that would be great.

I don't know if they have changed it on the more recent models of planer but one of the problems with the Chinese clone type planers has always been the fence moving, I had an Axminster AW 106 pt on which I had to check the fence a lot.

The problem as I saw it was (is?) that the fence rested on the infeed table but didn't move up and down with it as the fence was connected to the body of the planer so didn't move. If you wound the table up a bit to take a bit less off it skewed the angle of the fence slightly, that's what I found anyway.

If you look at some of the older planers the fence is connected to the infeed table so moves up and down with it keeping the same angle.

I could be wrong and like I say they may have changed the design now but that is my theory anyway.

 

[NickM]

get it square, tighten all 6 hex heads then remove one at a time, dab of loctite and put them back, it wont be going out of square again

Nothing is loose on the fence. The issue is that the fence might be square to the tables if the fence is at the back of the planer. but it will be out of square if I move it to the front.

 

[craigs]

I see, I dont have that issue, its staying square front to back.

 

[craigs]

So using the thicknesser today, I found that once i brought it up to where i wanted it and locked it out, theres about half a turn of play in the wheel (handle), is that normal?

 

[TheTiddles]

So using the thicknesser today, I found that once i brought it up to where i wanted it and locked it out, theres about half a turn of play in the wheel (handle), is that normal?

Does the table move of you turn the handle? If no, that’s normal, if yes, not so.

what you are seeing is probably the backlash, it’s essential to getting parts to work together