When Sedgwick brought out their latest version of their well built planner thicknessers I was personally very concerned that it appeared from the photos that they had lost some of the cast iron construction that made them so good. It’s taken a long time to see one of their new machines in person and have a bit of a look see as to how it’s built. Today Sideways and I visited a local company / organisation that is working to promote locally sourced timber from wind / disease / nuisance fallen tress. They air dry and kiln their own lumber with a wide variety of unusual and different species available.
They had recently bought a Sedgwick CP Planer Thicknesser, which is the largest machine Sedgwick make. It has a 400mm or 16” cutting width. I personally have the older version of this machine, so had the opportnity to make a quick inspection to compare what differences had been made to the newer version of the machine.
I was delighted to find that the solid cast iron construction remains. The upper side castings have been turned around, what was the inside of the machine is now the outside. The exposed cast iron ribbing is now covered with plate steel. Why they have done this is a mystery, the only benefit I can see is that it gives a smoother paint surface.
The mechanism to raise and lower the thicknesser table apoears to remain the same.
It has the same two motor configuration with a drive rollers for the thicknesser again going through a gear box to reduce speed and increase torque.
The lower fabricated frame that the cast iron box sits upon looks to be a nice improvement from the original.
The outfeed table for the surfacer originally sat on 4 bolts that allowed the table to be aligned with the infeed table. This was fiddly to do, but really only needed to be done once. A new system has been introduced for the new machine. This uses two wedges that are pushed together by a bolt. I’m sure this will make setup much quicker and easier along the width of the table. However, there did not appear to be a system other than by shims to alter the alignment of the table along its length.
There may be a system for doing this, but it wasn’t obvious what it could be.
The thicknesser handle remains in same location and has not been brought to the end of the machine which I believe is the case with the MB.
So, after a quick look around the new version of the machine, I was delighted to find that Sedgwick have remained true to their core principles building robust machines.
I have still to look at the latest version of the MB (12” machine) which hopefully follows the same ethos.
They had recently bought a Sedgwick CP Planer Thicknesser, which is the largest machine Sedgwick make. It has a 400mm or 16” cutting width. I personally have the older version of this machine, so had the opportnity to make a quick inspection to compare what differences had been made to the newer version of the machine.
I was delighted to find that the solid cast iron construction remains. The upper side castings have been turned around, what was the inside of the machine is now the outside. The exposed cast iron ribbing is now covered with plate steel. Why they have done this is a mystery, the only benefit I can see is that it gives a smoother paint surface.
The mechanism to raise and lower the thicknesser table apoears to remain the same.
It has the same two motor configuration with a drive rollers for the thicknesser again going through a gear box to reduce speed and increase torque.
The lower fabricated frame that the cast iron box sits upon looks to be a nice improvement from the original.
The outfeed table for the surfacer originally sat on 4 bolts that allowed the table to be aligned with the infeed table. This was fiddly to do, but really only needed to be done once. A new system has been introduced for the new machine. This uses two wedges that are pushed together by a bolt. I’m sure this will make setup much quicker and easier along the width of the table. However, there did not appear to be a system other than by shims to alter the alignment of the table along its length.
There may be a system for doing this, but it wasn’t obvious what it could be.
The thicknesser handle remains in same location and has not been brought to the end of the machine which I believe is the case with the MB.
So, after a quick look around the new version of the machine, I was delighted to find that Sedgwick have remained true to their core principles building robust machines.
I have still to look at the latest version of the MB (12” machine) which hopefully follows the same ethos.
