Lidl Parkside Planer / Thicknesser - your opinions please

[The Carpenters]

One of these has come up locally second hand for around £75.

Am going to be working on a few pallet wood projects in the coming weeks and have always liked the idea of a planer/thicknesser for this work, but can't really afford the price of a new entry-level model.

I haven't seen much in the way of reviews of this Lidl model, so, assuming its in good working order, was wondering if anyone on here think its worth a go or if anyone has any horror stories about the unit?

Should add that it's supposedly had minimal use, but there's no box, instructions or receipt, so no hope of Lidl replacing anything if it packs up.

 

[Cozzer]

Should add that it's supposedly had minimal use, but there's no box, instructions or receipt, so no hope of Lidl replacing anything if it packs up.

You can't read their receipts after a few weeks/months anyway, so find an old one and bluff your way through!

It does work.

(er...so I've been told...)

 

[Agent_zed]

assume it's one like this PARKSIDE® planer and thicknesser PADM 1250Vibration-absorbing rubber feetSpeed: 8500 min-¹Power: 1250 W✓ Protected on-off switch✓ For smooth and perfectly right-angled wood✓ Planing knife with 2 interchangeable HS blades – EverGreenProductInfo.com

I also assume it is the same as my erbauer one looking at the design (and a couple of other brands seem to be the same machine).

One word of caution. If it is the same as mine they (i believe purposely to fail) use a needle bearing on the one side of the cutter which on mine failed. It is just not the type of bearing that should be used in a machine that is throwing dust everywhere as it is not sealed. On the other side it is a proper sealed bearing.

When it failed on mine it damaged the surface on the cutter bearing surface and although I replaced the bearing and it works I believe it will fail again soon. It is on my list of jobs to change it to a sealed bearing, which requires modding the machine and welding in a bearing carrier. It is a 10mm rod coming out of the cutter so easy to find a bearing with that ID and then it stops being the bearing surface so don't matter that it isn't perfectly smooth.

That said for £75 it'll probably be worth it anyway. I've done quite a bit of work with mine including planing some 4 x 4 inch oak for bed posts and recently planed down some oak boards to make a door frame.

They are heavy to lug around though and the chips do get stuck in the extraction port when thicknessing so a vac would be useful.

 

[The Carpenters]

Thanks Zed - the little I've found out about them, the more its become clear that a vac is almost a necessity.

 

[sams93]

Same as the screwfix titan one - its OK but not up to any serious work. It is fiddly to adjust and set, mostly because the fence is actually terrible, but is fine for small pieces particularly what you are talking about with pallet wood where you probably don't need things to be 100% accurate.

you do need extraction, I ran mine with a shop vac for a while to moderate success, a chip collector is really what you need but again if only using occasionally and can cope with 80% extraction success then probably can get away with a vac. I had an adaptor made to fit my shop vac (50mm) as the port on the machine is 100mm. I do actually have it in the shed somewhere still (although i sold my machine a while ago), so if you need an adapter let me know and you can have mine

 

[The Carpenters]

Same as the screwfix titan one - its OK but not up to any serious work. It is fiddly to adjust and set, mostly because the fence is actually terrible, but is fine for small pieces particularly what you are talking about with pallet wood where you probably don't need things to be 100% accurate.

you do need extraction, I ran mine with a shop vac for a while to moderate success, a chip collector is really what you need but again if only using occasionally and can cope with 80% extraction success then probably can get away with a vac. I had an adaptor made to fit my shop vac (50mm) as the port on the machine is 100mm. I do actually have it in the shed somewhere still (although i sold my machine a while ago), so if you need an adapter let me know and you can have mine

Have only been on here and people have been really sound. massive thanks for the offer Sam - may well take you up on it if I do end up getting the P/T - cheers fella.

 

[sams93]

You will find loads of info about them if you use the search and type titan planer or Screwfix planer.

When you read the things that people including myself have written about it on the forum though, bear in mind that the majority of people on here are used to high quality industrial machines, for making fine furniture and things where precision really matters.

Obviously all of the points on the forum are valid. Just make sure to remember that you are talking about using something to process pallet wood (which people would not dare put through their planer thicknesser!) and you probably aren’t going to be that fussed about the issues that exist with the machine!

It would be easy to read some things and let them put you off. Just consider the application you actually want it for and I think it would be absolutely fine for that.

I can’t find the thread where I was talking about it, but the biggest improvement. I think you can make to that machine is replacing the fence with a piece of plywood, or something, it has a pressed steel fence, and that has a tendency to not be very flat. Replacing it with a bit of ply is a very simple, five minute job - again, not suitable for machining. Not at all ideal for milling up a lot of wood for fine furniture, but absolutely fine for milling up pallet wood if that’s what you’re into.

 

[Fergie 307]

I made the mistake of buying the erbauer version of this. Having had two come with broken table castings, and having had a look at how it was made, I got my money back and bought a kity. Sams 93 makes a valid point in that for what you want to do the accuracy may well be acceptable, my concern would be more with the longevity of it.