Old Planer thicknesser. Advice needed.

[Phil1975]

I have been trying to decide what to replace my recently deceased Woodstar PT with something a bit heavier duty.
After having looked at a few newer machines I have decided to go with something British & something Cast Iron. I had initially wanted to go with 240V, but have quickly realised that it's easier to go with a 3 phase machine & get some form of inverter/converter.

The 3 main contenders seem to be:

1. Wadkin BAOS.
2. Cooksley BPJ.
3. Wilson PAK.

Has anybody got any opinions on how the 3 compare in terms of usability, reliability, parts availability etc? Also which of these machines will happily work with a phase converter/inverter?

 

[heimlaga]

I don't think you can get any parts whatsoever for neither machine unless you stumble on someone who is parting out an old machine. Maybe you can find some parts for the Wadkin.

Bearings and belts and everything electric can be replaced with standard parts. Missing bolts and nuts can be replaced with new Whitworth bolts and nuts.
Other parts rarely break and when they do new parts can be made. A burned out motor can be rewound. Most smallish macchine workshops are willing to turn and mill one off parts for local machine fans between mayor orders. When you own and use old machines you will very quickly get to know local machinists and vintage tractor fans and steam engine fans ans scroungers of all sorts. When applying their collective knowledge plus a bit of your own time and ingenuity to a broken or missing part nothing is ever impossible.
The ultimate worst case scenario is a broken cast iron part. Very often worn down surfaces can be filed and scraped to fit once again. Very often a crack can be nickel welded back together. If that isn't possible it is often possible to fabricate and machine a substitute part from mild steel. If that isn't possible you can make a wooden pattern for the part and send it off to a foundry and get a new cast iron part back.

Several of my machines are vay too old for any spare parts nor any technical documentation to exist. The maker may have closed down 50 or 100 years ago. So far I have never ever had any problems with lack of spare parts except Whitworth threaded bolts and nuts which aren't impoted to Finland anymore and oil hole covers which had to be ordered from USA before a webshop got started in the UK.

 

[memzey]

I'd add Sedgwick to your list. Cast iron, made in England and parts still available. The MB is easily equal to any of those you have listed IMHO.

 

[deema]

On the older machines e.g. Wadkin BAOS the tables tend to be very short compared to more modern vintage machines. Unless your short of room, short tables are a pain and limit the ability of the PT to straighten long lengths of stuff. The Sedgwick 'green paint' vintage machines equally have similar shorter table lengths, where as their blue / Blue and Blue / White machines have significantly longer tables.

I would either go with a secondhand Sedgwick or Wadkin separates where you can get long bedded planers at this size level.

Dominion made good machines, however for the 10" size of machine I can't remember how long the tables are. I suspect they all copied each other and had similar lengths of bed.

If you can squeeze in a Wadkin UOS or any of the brands you mentioned at 16" width they all have good long beds, and arnt that much bigger.

The Wadkin BAOS has two motors so you would either need two inverters or a 3ph converter.

 

[RobinBHM]

If you have room for separates, you may find that an easier option to obtain in old cast iron than combined planer thicknessers and without much difference in price.

As mentioned above, you will find the combined machines generally have shorter surfacer beds, I suppose that is because these cast machines have fixed tables making the thicknesser bed a bit hidden under the surfacer table.

I used to have a multico surface planer and separate thickness planer, both 12" which were pretty good machines, in the middle band in terms of solidity, IE cast tables on welded sheet bases.

The older machines will tend to have 2 knife blocks rather than 3 or 4 and wont have the noise reducing cutouts, but they will work all day long without missing a beat and will have very solid fences and beds, no flexing at all!

You will find Wadkin will retain a higher resale value and the manuals are online for most models.

 

[Fitzroy]

The wadkin baos has a separate feed motor and cutter motor, which means you would need two inverters! It could be a very interesting machine as it would give you infinitely variable speed control on the feed rate, but perhaps a little over complicated!

F.

 

[memzey]

I agree with everything deema says above however I'd just point out that the early long bed Sedgwicks came in two tone green. The later blue/white/blue ones are almost identical but a different colour.

 

[Phil1975]

Thank you for all your advice. It's very much appreciated & really helps me to make a decision that I'm less likely to regret.
I would love to have seperates, but I'm using somebody elses workspace so a combination machine would be preferable. Having said that the old Wadkin BFT's do look like a very good bit of kit, so never say never - there's always a way to make things work.
I will err towards the Wadkin/Sedgwicks & see what comes up for sale over the next few weeks/months.