Metabo 330 Thicknesser - Any good/bad?

[Tetsuaiga]

I'd like to buy a portable thicknesser for use in the workshop.

There seems three four choices, Jet, Makita, Metabo and Dewalt.

The Metabo is the lowest price after the Jet but closer to Dewalt and Metabo.

I notice the Metabo is the heaviest, which seems a plus. It also seems to have the highest blade rmp while lowest feed rate, better finish as a result?


Does anyone have experience of the Metabo it seems the lesser well used out of common thicknessers. To me the most important factor is being able to remove or reduce to a minimum planer sniper, plus avoid tearout.

Any thoughts?
Thanks

 

[mikefab]

No personal experience but there is a F&C review here: http://www.woodworkersinstitute.com/page.asp?p=2332

 

[Tetsuaiga]

Thanks. Think I saw that but it's pretty basic, appreciate the help though.

I managed to find another good review on this forum and a few other recommendations here. I've decided to buy it but it would have been nice to find somewhere I could see the models side by side, nowhere near me seems to have them though. I might make some kind of custom bed to help reduce snip, i'll have to see how much there is when it arrives.

 

[sploo]

I don't seem to be able to get a link to a single post to work, but if you look in this thread portable-bench-top-thicknesser-which-one-t84718-15.html my post dated 24 Nov 2014, 15:42 has some thoughts of the DH330 I bought.

It continues to run fine, though I now mostly try to run it outside without the extraction port fitted (and just clean up with a broom).

 

[Tetsuaiga]

I think your may have been one of the reviews I read.

It'll be nice to have this, it drives me mad having to undo and reset the dust extraction on my woodstar planer/thicknesser. Although the reason for buying it is also I don't trust it in thicknessing mode anymore. Perhaps with investigation it could have been improved but that would probably take many hours.

 

[sploo]

I think your may have been one of the reviews I read.

It'll be nice to have this, it drives me mad having to undo and reset the dust extraction on my woodstar planer/thicknesser. Although the reason for buying it is also I don't trust it in thicknessing mode anymore. Perhaps with investigation it could have been improved but that would probably take many hours.

Yea, I have subsequently bought the dirt cheap Titan planer/thicknesser from Screwfix, and use that purely for planing. More machinery (though both are relatively small) but saves a lot of hassle in changing a combination machine over.

 

[Tetsuaiga]

I think mine came from screwfix too. Planer works fine.

The thicknesser came today and i'm very happy with it. I previously thought these style of thicknessers were mainly for builders on sites.

 

[sploo]

The thicknesser came today and i'm very happy with it. I previously thought these style of thicknessers were mainly for builders on sites.

They probably are TBH. I'd love a large cast iron induction motor-powered unit, but it'd be way too big for my workshop, and the little Metabo fits on a shelf under one of my workbenches.

I find the finish on timber is generally OK. I still struggle with snipe on the start/end, but I understand that's pretty normal. If you're careful with the cut depth it will even do end grain in pretty hard timber: my-first-end-grain-chopping-board-t86198.html

 

[Tetsuaiga]

I suppose so, when you compare them to large workshop units. I've managed to not get snipe on exit but theres a little on entry. I've been thinking I might make my own kind of longer false bed for it, it seems you can't really get the fold down ones perfectly level as they're not flush where the hinge is. The finish with the new blades feels like its around 200grit on the hard maple.

 

[sploo]

I suppose so, when you compare them to large workshop units. I've managed to not get snipe on exit but theres a little on entry. I've been thinking I might make my own kind of longer false bed for it, it seems you can't really get the fold down ones perfectly level as they're not flush where the hinge is. The finish with the new blades feels like its around 200grit on the hard maple.

Yea, I have noticed that you can't get the infeed and outfeed "wings" perfectly flat, so I'm sure that doesn't help matters. If I take a few really shallow final passes I can get the snipe down to something I can sand out, but it's still annoying. I've resorted to using a sled (as per the cutting board WIP) for shorter pieces.

 

[Tetsuaiga]

I might try this spacer block idea in future.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdDo3OEtjhc

Although i'm quite happy with the very small snipe, it was pretty much non existant when I finished off with the smallest turn I could make on the lowering handle plus locking head of course.