Mike.C
Established Member
Hi All,
I have lived with the CT150DL for a number of weeks now and so i think that it is time for a review. I am also being harassed by Noely to do one so you can blame it all on him if it turns out rubbish.
First of all i have to say that the 12 page Axminster/Jet manual which came with this machine is total rubbish. It only gives you very basic information and would be of no use what so ever to someone who has never used or set up one of these machines. in fact i seem to remember that someone else on this forum had trouble setting up their 150 because of the lack of information.
With this in mind i would like to thank Noely for pointing me in the direction of the 30 page Powermatic 54A manual which can be downloaded from www.powermatic.com. For those of you who don't know this is the US version of my planer and the Jet 54A, and the only difference between them is the kidney shaped cutter guard. This manual is far superior to our one, and it gives you all the info you need to set up the planer . I cannot understand why Axminster or Jet do not supply this version, as it would take only a few alterations to make it suitable for the UK. Cheers Noely.
The machine arrived in 2 boxes. One contained the beds and the other contained the base with the motor enclosed within it.
As it weighs in at 130kg if you name is not the Hulk you would be advised to get someone else to help you mount it on the base.
All the tools you need to set it up are supplied. They even give you a pot of body colour paint just incase it gets chipped or scratched.
One of the tools included is a blade setting gauge, and although this does help you set the 3 blades it is not all that precise.
As you can see all i have done so far is moan, but that is it, the moaning that is, all the rest is great.
Cast iron is in another league and this machine is no different. The fence and the beds are totally flat and when i ran a piece of walnut over the 3 HSS blades i can honestly say that it came out perfect (i must admit that i did try a bit of pine first, just incase.
What i really like about the fence is that it always stays where i put it. I set it at 90 degrees a couple of weeks ago and it is still spot on. I never had that with my previous planer/thicknesser. It is just so very good to be able to face and edge a piece of wood and to be 100% confident that they will be square to each other every time.
One thing that really surprised me was the dust extraction. Except for a few bits of dust everything ends up in the extractor. The reason for this is the space under the cutter block is sealed and boxed in and this runs all the way down the chute, so the dust has no where to go but into the extractor. Much better then my previous planer/thicknesser.
The 1700mm beds make a lot of difference when planing longer boards, and i also like the idea of being able to adjust both the in and out feed tables.
Except for the manual and the blade setting tool everything about this planer is a class act and i would recomend it to anyone.
Sorry that the review is so short but this is the first one i have done.
Regards
Mike.C
I have lived with the CT150DL for a number of weeks now and so i think that it is time for a review. I am also being harassed by Noely to do one so you can blame it all on him if it turns out rubbish.
First of all i have to say that the 12 page Axminster/Jet manual which came with this machine is total rubbish. It only gives you very basic information and would be of no use what so ever to someone who has never used or set up one of these machines. in fact i seem to remember that someone else on this forum had trouble setting up their 150 because of the lack of information.
With this in mind i would like to thank Noely for pointing me in the direction of the 30 page Powermatic 54A manual which can be downloaded from www.powermatic.com. For those of you who don't know this is the US version of my planer and the Jet 54A, and the only difference between them is the kidney shaped cutter guard. This manual is far superior to our one, and it gives you all the info you need to set up the planer . I cannot understand why Axminster or Jet do not supply this version, as it would take only a few alterations to make it suitable for the UK. Cheers Noely.
The machine arrived in 2 boxes. One contained the beds and the other contained the base with the motor enclosed within it.
As it weighs in at 130kg if you name is not the Hulk you would be advised to get someone else to help you mount it on the base.
All the tools you need to set it up are supplied. They even give you a pot of body colour paint just incase it gets chipped or scratched.
One of the tools included is a blade setting gauge, and although this does help you set the 3 blades it is not all that precise.
As you can see all i have done so far is moan, but that is it, the moaning that is, all the rest is great.
Cast iron is in another league and this machine is no different. The fence and the beds are totally flat and when i ran a piece of walnut over the 3 HSS blades i can honestly say that it came out perfect (i must admit that i did try a bit of pine first, just incase.
What i really like about the fence is that it always stays where i put it. I set it at 90 degrees a couple of weeks ago and it is still spot on. I never had that with my previous planer/thicknesser. It is just so very good to be able to face and edge a piece of wood and to be 100% confident that they will be square to each other every time.
One thing that really surprised me was the dust extraction. Except for a few bits of dust everything ends up in the extractor. The reason for this is the space under the cutter block is sealed and boxed in and this runs all the way down the chute, so the dust has no where to go but into the extractor. Much better then my previous planer/thicknesser.
The 1700mm beds make a lot of difference when planing longer boards, and i also like the idea of being able to adjust both the in and out feed tables.
Except for the manual and the blade setting tool everything about this planer is a class act and i would recomend it to anyone.
Sorry that the review is so short but this is the first one i have done.
Regards
Mike.C
The dust extraction sounds particularly good. I think I'll just go and glare at the Maxi again for a while, in the hopes it'll fall apart from sheer embarassment... :wink: 
