Anyone pleased or advice with a cheap planer thicknesser.

[Alasdair]

Hi there looking to buy a cheap planer thicknesser. It won't get used much but don't want anything too rubbish. Seen a few online like triton, lumberjack,vevor etc. I assume mainly chinese made but just wondering if anyone has bought one and is pleased with the build quality. I think Vevor may be made in the same factory as Makita but not sure. I have a Katsu hydraulic hole punch that is the same as Makita but a lot cheaper. The quality is pretty good.
Alasdair

 

[akirk]

I have the lumberjack planer thicknesser (used just for planing) and a triton thicknesser... the triton is very good (esp. for the money / having the smaller form factor of a lunchbox thicknesser... the lumberjack is okay - it planes accurately enough, but has a few issues such as the fence not being quite as rigid as I would like - but sufficient for what it is needed for... I have never used it as a thicknesser so I don't know what hassles there might be in switching over...

 

[recipio]

My first planer thicknesser was a small 8" wide Elu. I thought it was ok until the plastic gear wheels gave up - and not through any abuse. Avoid any P/T that does not have metal drive wheels. A secondhand Scheppach HMS 250 is a great starter machine with rubber rollers if you can find one.

 

[Alasdair]

Thanks. I will have an old ELU DAh 176 operational soon but can't get replacement blades easily and there expensive also rollers not great so looking to keep it for older wood for the first plane then use the new one for finishing. Been looking at the triton which looks ok. Will also look for a HMS250
Thanks
Alasdair

 

[deema]

A bit pedantic so I apologise, how much room do you have for one? Whats your budget? Do you want it least cost to buy, or least whole life cost. For my money I would buy a Sedgwick PT secondhand. I think Sideways did a thread on one we renovated Which would be well worth a lookup. A Sedgwick won’t be the cheapest to buy, but with TLC it will increase in value, where as a new budget end machine will lose money.

 

[Terry - Somerset]

The main issue with a budget planer thicknesser may be capacity. 6-8" width on the thicknesser may be a constraint, where budget lunchbox thicknessers will have a 12-13" capacity.

A 6" planer capacity is going to be adequate for most jobs - for the odd wider task a lunchbox thicknesser may effectively do the job by taking a small amount off alternate side until fully planed.

Bear in mind that I am a hobbyist, not a professional.

 

[Alasdair]

I am just a hobbyist as well. It would be mainly used for creating finishing timber etc for doing up my house and also tidying up my parents house as well as other projects. My son is showing an interest in woodwork which he really enjoys at school and want to encourage him.Over the years I have collected a fair pile of reclaimed timber of all sorts. I can't think I would need anything bigger than 8-10 inch. As said have an old ELU but parts are imposible. As for space its not a problem as my new workshop I am working on is an old steading which is 25 feet wide and about 80feet long. I only have single phase but do have a phase convertor so three phase should be ok. I also intend to put a new distribution box specificly for the workshop. I don't mind old that needs reconditined as long as I can get parts easily. Had too many good tools and machines that are now obsolete due to lack of parts. If a new cheap planer is around £400 then perhaps as said a second hand older machine for around that mark is what I may be looking for although by looking a sedgwick might be out of my budget at the moment.

Alasdair

 

[RobinBHM]

be careful with Vevor.

it’s parent company is bumperr ltd which is linked to various scam sites

 

[mikej460]

+1 for the Triton - shop around for a bargain as I got mine from an offer from Screwfix £30 off at £270 last October.

Had a quick look and like everything else they are a lot dearer now

 

[Alasdair]

thanks for the heads up re Vevor. Had a look and the reviews aren't very good.
Alasdair

 

[Bojam]

A 6" planer capacity is going to be adequate for most jobs - for the odd wider task a lunchbox thicknesser may effectively do the job by taking a small amount off alternate side until fully planed.

Agreed that 6” width may be enough for most jobs. However the problem with (most) 6” planers (jointers) is the short length of the beds. It is difficult to properly flatten/straighten a long board when the reference tables are too short. I guess you could make extensions but it would need to be robust.

On my P/T the beds are 1.4m in total. Wouldn’t want to go much shorter than this unless I was just making small pieces of furniture, boxes, etc. Especially if using a lot of reclaimed timber with all manner of twist / bow / cup in the boards.

 

[mr rusty]

I have the really cheap Titan Titan TTB579PLN 204mm Electric Planer Thicknesser 230V As a planer/jointer it's garbage - tables don't remain level and the fence is rubbish. As a thicknesser its very usable as long as you don't get too greedy in what you take off. 1mm at a time is OK. It's been mucked about with a bit - long ply bed, plastic guard and safety micro chucked away and replaced with a home-fabricated guard. But, I've put a huge amount through it. I've worn out one set of blades and replaced them, and with a little bit of fettling I can thickness to around 0.2 mm tolerance across a 150mm plank, which is good enough for me.

I bought it for one job a while ago, expecting it not to last, but it has done and I don't do enough to justify replacing it.

 

[Fergie 307]

I have an old Kity 636. Lovely machine and no problem getting blades for it. Everything else on them is pretty solid. Might be a bit over your budget for a good one but well worth the money.

 

[Graham Brazier]

Have a look on FB market place there are a few older planer or planer Thicknessers on there at the moment well worth setting an alert for one

 

[ThomasD]

I’d also suggest a secondhand Kity 636, I bought one for £250, they are very capable machines. I’ve just been passing some big larch boards through it and it cuts them no bother. New blades for £20 ish on eBay. Belts still readily available.

 

[Keith 66]

Buy cheap buy twice. Or you could if you are lucky buy a cheap secondhand machine & do it up, 35 years ago i bought a Multico L3 that had been in a fire, it was £150 at the time, put a new motor in it & starter & its still going!

 

[Alasdair]

After reading the above posts re fences and tables etc ,I now realise I am probably looking for a thicknesser. Sorry I am a bit new to this. Just need something thats reasonable quality for regularising timber and for smoothing out boards etc. Will keep an eye out for decent second hand machines and research the ones mentioned. The Kity 636 is appealing as the blades are cheap.
Thanks Alasdair

 

[Gary_S]

For a few years we ran with a Dewalt dw55. Uts an old one, green, blades are cheap on ebay and although a bit noisy is a good work horse. Only drawback is that there is no extraction.
This is both planer (Jointer) and Thicknesser

 

[ElliotM]

I had a Vevor 13". It was a pretty good machine, nothing special, a good working machine. Just don't forget to clean well as there can be some issues with small wood parts, the machine itself has some hard to reach places.

 

[Jameshow]

There seems to be a few metabo 260c machines about.
Seems like a good solid machine?