benchtop planer/jointer

[Yankee-n-UK]

I am brand new to the site and would appreciate any and all advice on my next purchase. I need a benchtop planer. Six inch will do nicely but I want as long an infeed table as possible. I also want a fence that is accurate. Not sure of the benefits of variable speed having not used one before. Would it be safe to vary the speed with an external rheostat if the machine did not have that capability? I've seen the SIP model which has cast iron tables and fence but only in pictures on the net. Anyone with first hand experience? Looking forward to hearing anything you have to say.

 

[Scrit]

Hi and welcome to the forum!

Can't see any advantage in varying the speed of the cutterblock at all. When all said and done you generally want an overhand planer to go as fast as possible.

Scrit

 

[Waka]

Welcome to the forum.

Regarding variable speed for a planer I'm with Scrit on this one theres no advantage to be gained.

Sorry I can't help you on tyope/make for a benchtop planer, but there will be someone alone who uses one.

 

[NeilO]

Hi Yankee-n-UK....
if your on about SIP 6" jointer, i have one....
cast infeed/outfeed and fence too
reasonable quality for the price, but do take the time to set the fence up properly if you get one, 90deg should be at 90, and 45deg should be at 45, but once done I find it locks quite positively with no movement.

it also has a fan fitted in the exhaust port to aid chip removal, and comes with a cloth shroud to fit over a dustbin/suitable container making dumping the waste easy.

?? why the need for variable speed???

 

[WellsWood]

I had one of these for quite a while and got very good results with it. Managed to plane lengths up to 3m with the help of a couple of roller stands carefully set up and a little patience. It had 2 downsides: it was very noisy in use (even more so when the extractor - an absolute necessity - was running), and struggled a bit when the workpeice width approached the 6" capacity.
If you can find the floorspace, and for long tables you'll really have to, you'd have to go a long way to beat one of these - nice quiet induction motor, power enough for full width cuts, extremely solid and accurate cast iron fence, and almost 1200mm long tables. A superb machine for the money and in a whole different class than any of the benchtop models.

Hope this helps.

Mark