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.

 

[Chris Puttick]

I bought, and only just finished getting down to the shed and setting it all up, an iTech 260SS. Once you get your head around how the setup is done, it's easy enough - and for those with a way to get it into position using the eye bolt inserts it should be set up from the distributor. Results are excellent, the machine is very quiet (the extractor is louder). I fed some recovered oak (former half sleeper raised bed timbers) through the planer and then thicknesser and the end result was perfectly square by steel rule measure, and the finish very good - wouldn't need to use more than a fine sandpaper.

 

[Chief Sawdust Maker]

A plus one for the iTech 260ss I have had mine for nearing 5 years and it has done a lot of work mainly on Oak of all types and also reclaimed scaffolding boards.
Scott & Sargent setup and PDI the machine before it leaves them, yes there was dust and chips in the crate and it was bang on for flatness and squareness stright out of the box.
I had read of people having issues with the screws holding the inserts in not specific to this machine but generally on this type of head, with this in mind I loosened and retightened all of the inserts using a brand new Torx bit.
When I have turned the inserts I have removed them all and soaked the inserts and screws in cleaner before reinstalling them again using a new Torx bit, I have had no issues with ceased screws or inserts.
I have just last week ordered a new set of inserts 66 of them to replace the entire set which has meant 1 turn every 12 months I have chipped a few cutters and usually just swap those out with an outside cutter. They are not cheap to replace but the ease and longevity but I feel the cost and time scales are acceptable.
Would i replace like for like yes I would but with one alteration, I would buy the iTech PT310B which is a pretty much the same machine but with a 300mm cutter width because a few times I have needed the extra width
Scott & Sargent have some deals on with planer thicknessers and fine filter dust extractors, which was how i brought mine. They often have demo machine set up in their showroom, if they havnt and you want to see one in action drop me a PM if you want to come and visit.