Is this Cheap Planer/Thicknesser Any good?

[sitefive]

badly need a planer/thicknesser however simply can't afford to spend almost anything on it now... I would love to get metabo/record 260 model, but the cheapest costs 500 which is simply out of my reach at the moment+ I don't want to spend so much at first, I see the used ones go for 350 but there's no point in buying 10years used unit just to save a bit.

Have been looking at this 149.99 titan model from screwfix
http://www.screwfix.com/p/titan-ttb579p ... 204403#_=p
and the reviews for it actually are pretty good and you do get a 204mm planer which is great for that price.
Was wondering if anyone has this model or has seen one in action and comment on how decent is it?
I do plan to upgrade very soon tho if I can get more work in and have extra $ to spend on something like the metabo 260
it would be mainly for hobyist usage but sometimes I do sell my stuff, and needed P/T to try to expand and do more serious stuff which I can't do without preparing larger pieces where P/T is needed.

If anyone have any advice about this model that would be great.

 

[Adam9453]

Quite a few people on here have had good success using that Titan model. Do a search and I'm sure many topics will come up

 

[sitefive]

Already searched and seems decent, the only problem for them seems Noise and the flimsy fence.
Are the induction motor ones ( metabo/record 260 ) really that much more less noisy? my ''workshop'' is in a spare room in a terraced house with a neighbour who doesn't likes noise very much...
btw would this cheap titan actually be able to handle 20cm wide boards? it has the 203mm capacity but still won't it blow itself up when actually you would try to plane such large stuff?

 

[RogerP]

All P/Ts are noisy but the brush motored cheaper ones much more so than the more expensive induction models. Any should handle timber up to their maximum capacity without problem.

Whichever you get I don't think your neighbour is going to be very happy!

 

[heimlaga]

Why don't you want to buy secondhand?
You say that there is no point in buying a machine with 10 years yse in it just to save a bit...... and then you want to spend quite a bit of money on an inferrior machine. A machine that will probably not last as long as a good one with some use already in it. 10 years of hobby use isn't much. If that is what's needed to make a good machine affordable go for it I would say.

I once bought a machine with 130 years of use in it......... and another with some 100 years of use in it. Just because I cannot afford new machines of similar quality.

 

[dzj]

£149.99 INC. VAT.
Sometimes when things are too good to be true, they probably are.
When cash is an issue, I'd always go for second hand cast iron.

If you have "a neighbour who doesn't likes noise very much", perhaps you might rent some space elsewhere,
or rent the use of a machine by the hour in some shop.
Regardless of motor type, these machines are pretty noisy.
Newer ones are less so, but they come with a large price tag and I bet your neighbour wouldn't be thrilled with those ones either.

 

[No skills]

I have one of those pieces of junk and I wouldn't recommend it, if you run it indoors you'll have a punch up with the neighbour over the noise.

 

[Eric The Viking]

I have a Kity 439. It was about £150, very secondhand (I'm the third or fourth owner), but it came with a stand and was all there and basically sound. It has a 7" wide bed and an induction motor. It's not the best planer in the world, but it's light enough weight for me to move it on my own and so far it's worked well with softwood, oak teak, and sapele, although you need to go easy with the depth of cut on the thicknesser.

It took a bit of time to fettle it properly (all it really needed was a strip down and jolly good clean), but now it's fine. The bits that matter are any plastic gears in the system, the bearings (feed rollers and cutter block), the balance on the cutter block (any visible damage from being hit hard by stock, etc.), and the general flatness of the tables (thicknesser bed matters most).

Don't confuse worrying about things you can measure with worrying about things that matter: Yes, you need the planer tables right (parallel to each other and to the cutter block), but for most uses, very slight hollowing of a table or imperfect flatness won't be an issue. You want it to square up and dimension stock - the surface finish comes from sanding.

Will it pull stock through the thicknesser properly (doesn't matter if the knives are knackered)? Are the bearings in good order and does it look square (like it hasn't been dropped or knocked over)? If the answers are "yes" you have an acceptable machine.

Take an engineer's square with you when you go look at a possible purchase - check the cutter block is properly square to the thickesser table's supports, and that the table is too.

Just to recap:
New Kity 439: £702 from Powertool Direct (discontinued).
My s/h Kity 439: £150

That's less than a quarter of the new cost.
Knives for it are £10.20 for a double-edged set (Appleby).

Honestly, what's not to like?

 

[MikeJhn]

Funny you should say that, I also have a Kity 439 bought second hand off e-bay for 75.00 this was in the camera section of e-bay so not a lot of woodworking people saw the add, bit of a result I would say, only one owner and he had made up a fibre glass extract port to convert the original oval port to 100mm circular, the beds are dead on as is the planer table, he also made up an auxiliary fence out of plywood which seems to give the fence a lot of needed support, Oh yes and a base, very pleased with this acquisition, bottom line don't discount second hand units.

Mike

 

[RogerP]

.......... bottom line don't discount second hand units.
Mike

... and, as you've discovered, don't search eBay within a category - always search "All Categories".

 

[sitefive]

Funny you should say that, I also have a Kity 439 bought second hand off e-bay for 75.00 this was in the camera section of e-bay so not a lot of woodworking people saw the add, bit of a result I would say, only one owner and he had made up a fibre glass extract port to convert the original oval port to 100mm circular, the beds are dead on as is the planer table, he also made up an auxiliary fence out of plywood which seems to give the fence a lot of needed support, Oh yes and a base, very pleased with this acquisition, bottom line don't discount second hand units.

Mike

Honestly all of my other tools are high-end 2nd hand ones from ebay, however lets just say at least half of them has had some kind of problem the sellers didn't really informed me about,they all work however for some I would really wished I would have went New. When you count in new blades/general service/time&fuel and once more time to find the actual unit for decent price I would maybe save 150quid VS new unit which costs 500pounds new in first place so really makes no sense to buy someones 2nd hand battered unit unless you get very lucky and somehow find one for dirt cheap.
I really do not have the space for the old cast iron ones ,and I was looking for not that bulky unit/which I can move by myself with ease so seems like I don't have much choice between the models.

 

[sploo]

badly need a planer/thicknesser however simply can't afford to spend almost anything on it now... I would love to get metabo/record 260 model, but the cheapest costs 500 which is simply out of my reach at the moment+ I don't want to spend so much at first, I see the used ones go for 350 but there's no point in buying 10years used unit just to save a bit.

Have been looking at this 149.99 titan model from screwfix
http://www.screwfix.com/p/titan-ttb579p ... 204403#_=p
and the reviews for it actually are pretty good and you do get a 204mm planer which is great for that price.
Was wondering if anyone has this model or has seen one in action and comment on how decent is it?
I do plan to upgrade very soon tho if I can get more work in and have extra $ to spend on something like the metabo 260
it would be mainly for hobyist usage but sometimes I do sell my stuff, and needed P/T to try to expand and do more serious stuff which I can't do without preparing larger pieces where P/T is needed.

If anyone have any advice about this model that would be great.

It's not bad. It's not great, but it's not bad either.

I've only used mine for planing (jointing) as I have a separate "lunchbox" style portable thicknesser.

The fence is pretty terrible, though could be replaced with a DIY alternative. It is loud - though after removing the front and fiddling with the belts it seemed to quieten down a bit; but it's not neighbour friendly.

I'd done a reasonable amount of planing of soft and hard woods with it, and as long as you're not greedy with the cut it works OK. I did get it on offer (£129 IRC) and for that I'm quite happy with it.

 

[sitefive]

badly need a planer/thicknesser however simply can't afford to spend almost anything on it now... I would love to get metabo/record 260 model, but the cheapest costs 500 which is simply out of my reach at the moment+ I don't want to spend so much at first, I see the used ones go for 350 but there's no point in buying 10years used unit just to save a bit.

Have been looking at this 149.99 titan model from screwfix
http://www.screwfix.com/p/titan-ttb579p ... 204403#_=p
and the reviews for it actually are pretty good and you do get a 204mm planer which is great for that price.
Was wondering if anyone has this model or has seen one in action and comment on how decent is it?
I do plan to upgrade very soon tho if I can get more work in and have extra $ to spend on something like the metabo 260
it would be mainly for hobyist usage but sometimes I do sell my stuff, and needed P/T to try to expand and do more serious stuff which I can't do without preparing larger pieces where P/T is needed.

If anyone have any advice about this model that would be great.

It's not bad. It's not great, but it's not bad either.

I've only used mine for planing (jointing) as I have a separate "lunchbox" style portable thicknesser.

The fence is pretty terrible, though could be replaced with a DIY alternative. It is loud - though after removing the front and fiddling with the belts it seemed to quieten down a bit; but it's not neighbour friendly.

I'd done a reasonable amount of planing of soft and hard woods with it, and as long as you're not greedy with the cut it works OK. I did get it on offer (£129 IRC) and for that I'm quite happy with it.

How loud is it exactly? The loudest thing in my arsenal is large router aprox 100db when measured followed by an electric hand planer.

 

[sploo]

How loud is it exactly? The loudest thing in my arsenal is large router aprox 100db when measured followed by an electric hand planer.

A phone SPL app indicated over 100dB at one metre, but it was a particularly unpleasant howl (worse than a router). It apparently only dropped by a dB or so after the tweak, but the sound seemed much less offensive.

In terms of noise though, a router on full chat is probably a good ballpark.

 

[Claymore]

I have the Erbaur version of it from Screwfix and yes its loud but I live out in the middle of knowhere so noise isn't a problem but the dust extraction is crap but suppose it can be improved somehow? my shop vac picks up the majority but it still flies out allover the place