Having owned a Kity K5 combination for 40 years (6" PlanerThicknesser/20mm Spindle/210mm table saw) I decided to give up OO railway modelling in favour of OO9 narrow gauge and to put all I made on selling my models, stock and some custom customer baseboards (about £900) with some svings to buy some individual machines for 'garage' type use in hobby woodwork. I have worked in professional woodwork and shipwright shops.
To date I have bought an Axminster 'Workshop' bandsaw with which I am delighted, it cut square and true straight out of the box, and a Dewalt site saw which I have mounted on a wheeled dolly such that the in/out feed is the same height as my bench. My first essay into sledges/slides etc is proving very interesting!
I initially bought 'Lumberjack' planer thicknesser and quickly found out why it was so comparatively cheap, in/out feed tables out of parallel and not adjustable et cetera and it went back. Ebay and the company concerned had no qualms, sent a courier to collect it, so only time and effort wasted, full refund.
Then came to deciding with what to replace it, with a budget of £700 and having spoken to Metabo and visiting the recent Exeter tool show I decided a HC260C would do at a show price of £649. Maybe a 10" model is a bit greedy for my intended use, but the idea of getting a near scaffold plank sized board through a machine was attractive. Question like 'What happens if its damaged in transit..?' Reply 'It won't be, it'll be delivered by our own preferred couriers on a pallet...' and What if I can't set it up properly for first use..?' Reply 'We'll send someone to do it for you...' 'And if it breaks down..?' Reply 'We'll fix it for free...?' and a long phone conversation with their service manager ( Nick ) on adjustments clinched it.
There are plenty of 'YouTube' videos on setting it up but with a few negatives included...
First, it is heavy. Over 75kg. The courier wheeled the cardboard box into my garage on a pallet truck and helped me lift it off onto my dolly. I opened the box, took out the seperate boxes within, then had no choice but to cut down the big box with a Stanley knife and slide out the body onto a piece of carpet, tip it on one side and start the assembly with the legs. The stand legs are very sturdy, be aware the short bolts and long bolts need to be used appropriately so that two long bolts don't clash. Initially I used the wheels and handles supplied but quickly realised they needed a lot of space to use, eventually I chose 8mm stem castors.
Changing between Planing and thicknessing needs removal/replacement of the outfeed table, secured by levers. This worried me. Levers? Clamps? Microswitches? When I got it out of the box, the first time I offered the outfeed table up to the body I was very impressed with the accuracy of the fit in the rebates, and the positive way the lever clamps operated. No play, no wobble, no fiddling. The infeed table fitted equally well, the rigidity enhanced by 4 C pins hammered in once installed. Oh.. once you have lifted off the outfeed table (with attached cutter guard) you need somewhere close and clear to put it down...
Installing the shaft for the infeed table cut depth was described as difficult .. 2 or 3 grub screw collars and several washers all needing to be installed in an exact order were shown.. Nothing could have been simpler...one grub screw collar, one spring washer and a smidgin of grease on the thread and it was done. Clearly things had changed.
The fence arrangements are also now supplied pre-assembled, but note the 90 and 45 degree stops needed adjustment and the two spanners supplied needed grinding down thinner to adjust the setting bolts.
Safety microswitches (how did I manage on my Kity?) are described in some videos are problematic, but I found no problems. In surfacing mode the chip collector is now positively located with a fitting on the lower front edge which obviates any faffing about.
Oh, chip collecting, my TEMU cyclone/shop vac arrangement copes well with my other tools, but on 6" plus softwood boards it doesn't clear chips quickly enough to prevent denting when thicknessing. Hhm...might need some high volume suction, at the cost of more SLW tokens and space. It copes with hardwoods.
All-in-all it gives the impression of capability and robustness, the fence has stayed true through several days of use, and it has coped with some manky elm, 3" oak fence post, pallet softwood and some sapele (?).
The next step up would be cast iron traditional P/Ts at £1000-plus, but in my 70s this will do nicely, touch wood.
I hope this has helped at least one someone else.
As the proctocologist said "Onwards and upwards!"
To date I have bought an Axminster 'Workshop' bandsaw with which I am delighted, it cut square and true straight out of the box, and a Dewalt site saw which I have mounted on a wheeled dolly such that the in/out feed is the same height as my bench. My first essay into sledges/slides etc is proving very interesting!
I initially bought 'Lumberjack' planer thicknesser and quickly found out why it was so comparatively cheap, in/out feed tables out of parallel and not adjustable et cetera and it went back. Ebay and the company concerned had no qualms, sent a courier to collect it, so only time and effort wasted, full refund.
Then came to deciding with what to replace it, with a budget of £700 and having spoken to Metabo and visiting the recent Exeter tool show I decided a HC260C would do at a show price of £649. Maybe a 10" model is a bit greedy for my intended use, but the idea of getting a near scaffold plank sized board through a machine was attractive. Question like 'What happens if its damaged in transit..?' Reply 'It won't be, it'll be delivered by our own preferred couriers on a pallet...' and What if I can't set it up properly for first use..?' Reply 'We'll send someone to do it for you...' 'And if it breaks down..?' Reply 'We'll fix it for free...?' and a long phone conversation with their service manager ( Nick ) on adjustments clinched it.
There are plenty of 'YouTube' videos on setting it up but with a few negatives included...
First, it is heavy. Over 75kg. The courier wheeled the cardboard box into my garage on a pallet truck and helped me lift it off onto my dolly. I opened the box, took out the seperate boxes within, then had no choice but to cut down the big box with a Stanley knife and slide out the body onto a piece of carpet, tip it on one side and start the assembly with the legs. The stand legs are very sturdy, be aware the short bolts and long bolts need to be used appropriately so that two long bolts don't clash. Initially I used the wheels and handles supplied but quickly realised they needed a lot of space to use, eventually I chose 8mm stem castors.
Changing between Planing and thicknessing needs removal/replacement of the outfeed table, secured by levers. This worried me. Levers? Clamps? Microswitches? When I got it out of the box, the first time I offered the outfeed table up to the body I was very impressed with the accuracy of the fit in the rebates, and the positive way the lever clamps operated. No play, no wobble, no fiddling. The infeed table fitted equally well, the rigidity enhanced by 4 C pins hammered in once installed. Oh.. once you have lifted off the outfeed table (with attached cutter guard) you need somewhere close and clear to put it down...
Installing the shaft for the infeed table cut depth was described as difficult .. 2 or 3 grub screw collars and several washers all needing to be installed in an exact order were shown.. Nothing could have been simpler...one grub screw collar, one spring washer and a smidgin of grease on the thread and it was done. Clearly things had changed.
The fence arrangements are also now supplied pre-assembled, but note the 90 and 45 degree stops needed adjustment and the two spanners supplied needed grinding down thinner to adjust the setting bolts.
Safety microswitches (how did I manage on my Kity?) are described in some videos are problematic, but I found no problems. In surfacing mode the chip collector is now positively located with a fitting on the lower front edge which obviates any faffing about.
Oh, chip collecting, my TEMU cyclone/shop vac arrangement copes well with my other tools, but on 6" plus softwood boards it doesn't clear chips quickly enough to prevent denting when thicknessing. Hhm...might need some high volume suction, at the cost of more SLW tokens and space. It copes with hardwoods.
All-in-all it gives the impression of capability and robustness, the fence has stayed true through several days of use, and it has coped with some manky elm, 3" oak fence post, pallet softwood and some sapele (?).
The next step up would be cast iron traditional P/Ts at £1000-plus, but in my 70s this will do nicely, touch wood.
I hope this has helped at least one someone else.
As the proctocologist said "Onwards and upwards!"
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