New planer thicknesser/Jet or Axminster or neither?

[Dom Brider]

Hi All. I’m on the hunt for a planer thicknesser. I’ve had a good look through some previous threads on the subject. I’d come to the conclusion that a 2nd hand Sedgwick with the Tersa system would best suit. Unfortunately, as I’m building my workshop in my garden i really need to keep the noise down. Which leads me to spiral/Helical head options. My budget is no more than 3K.

I’ve found a Jet JPT310 with helical heads from £2800 (£3300 brand spanking, going up 6% next week apparently). The other option is the Axminster spiral at £2800 but that brand new with a guarantee. I’m leaning toward the Jet but I thought I’d put the feelers out? helical heads do sound like a faff, but I’m assured the noise is significantly reduced. I also run most of my dust extraction through a 3 motor Camvac. Presumably the smaller dust/chips produced by the HH would be better suited to HPLV Camvac?

Thanks in advance

Dom

 

[curryjunkie]

I have the 12 inch spiral jet, it's a great machime, single phase,much much quieter and has handled any hardwood i throw at it, I use a twin motor camvac and a cyclone into a dustbin for shavings, they are smaller than regular shavings but I can still fill the bin up pretty quickly. I got mine new, it's expensive but worth the cost

 

[Ollie78]

Look at Itech, SCM, Felder/Hammer, Robland, Rojek. Sedgewick do a spiral head now but not sure it will retro fit or if they will let you buy it separately
.
Note that all helical insert heads are not equal, the Felder silent power and SCM ones are much better designed than some of the axminster type heads, the nicer ones are smoothly integrated into the cylinder for safety and quietness, some of the cheaper ones are like a pineaple with the knives sitting proud on little stalks.

I have a Helical hammer one and I will not go back to a straight knives, it is better on really figured wood and the inserts last ages (buy the non official ones at AMS for much cheaper ) they are a bit of a pain to change because there are loads of them but if one is damaged you just turn or change that one, also they do not require setting unlike my old planer which I always found a worse faff as all my knives were worn different amounts.
Second hand might be the way.
It does make smaller chips as well, camvac will be no problem.

 

[Spectric]

Note that all helical insert heads are not equal

From the reviews a helical head is better than a spiral head but given the choice then for me I would want a 4 blade tersa, easy to change the blades and a good finish.