Omec 750 v Brookman dovetailer

[bluezephyr]

Ive used An Omec 750 auto dovetailer and i think theyre the dogs todger when it comes to production dovetailers, Before that all i had to use was a hand router bench jig combo which was a real pain when you have 40+ drawers to get done, Its what i use now and am desperately trying to find a secondhand Omec or similar to give my hands a break from all the vibration!.

I keep seeing brookman Dovetailers for sale, These seem to be a proper cabinet makers tool, Big solid machine looks like it will chomp through the hardest of woods with ease, But ive never seen one working, Is the operation similar to the omec as far as clamping the wood is concerned? I realise with the multiple pins, its just one operation and it cuts the dovetails all in one go, where as the omec works its way up the machine and also gives time (if youre quick) to mess about with something else at the same time.

So. Omec or Brookman for longterm investment? or is there something else?

Thanks for reading
Tony

 

[Scrit]

I've seen the Omec in action but never used one, whereas I do have some experience of the Brookman 15- and 25-pin manual machines. The Brookman is indeed a very heavy piece of kit with a solid cast iron frame. Its' durability is one reason they have such good resale prices, so if you do buy one you'll not lose much money on it providing you maintain it (i.e. keep the gearbox filled with oil and lubricate the points weekly). They were available in 15 or 25 pin versions, manual clamping and later automatic clamping/actuating. The machine was originally designed by R.S.Brookman of Loughborough for Guillet et Fils of Paris around about 1925 and despite its' many years of production (up until around year 2000) the basic design didn't change a whole lot. They are extremely solid cast iron machines and will batch cut dovetails very quickly. The automatic version (introduced after WWII) is even faster.

The main downsides, as far as I'm concerned are that:

- they are all marked/measured in Imperial units

- they have a fixed pitch which cannot be varied (which means that your drawer heights must always be multiples of the machine's pitch)

- the initial cost of tooling and its' maintenance is pretty high. For a 15-pin machine you'll need at least 30 cutters (2 complete sets) plus a few spares at a cost of around £500 a set in HSS and quite a bit more in TCT. The cutters need to be sent out for sharpening and "balancing" (in the same way that replacement carbide teeth on a saw are ground alike with the existing teeth when a saw is repaired and sharpened) as a complete set and maintained as such to avoid uneven dovetails.

- setting up a new or reground set of cutters can be a bit time consuming although fortunately it's not a daily task

- the results always appear to be "mechanical" or machine made to my eyes

Against that the machines are a very fast way to produce repetitive dovetailed drawer boxes and worth their weight in gold if you are attempting to turn out even one or two complete kitchens a week, especially if you can live with the downsides.

For anyone unfamiliar with the Brookman machines, here's a photograph of the working side of a (refurbished) Brookman 15-pin manual dovetailer (I believe this one's a model 15RMN):

Work is clamped both horizontally and vertically simultaneously in the two sets of cam clamps and the dovetail motion is controlled by using the lever to the left. The carriage performs its motion by using a template and follow pin mounted in the front centre of the machine which is just visible. below is a smaller picture of an older pre-WWII Brookman:

Scrit

 

[bluezephyr]

Thanks for the Brookman info, I think i'll wait patiently for an Omec to come along as it only needs one cutter and a machine i wouldnt struggle setting up.

 

[Scrit]

Just out of interest I've located a photo of a 1920s Brookman dovetailer, as made for Guillet:

Amazing how similar it is to later models despite being overhead lineshaft driven

Incidentally, could you perhaps supply a comparison of the Omec against the Brookman for my benifet (if not for others)?

Scrit

 

[bluezephyr]

Hopefully this works

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=ocFreRXTnSk Not sure of the music but this should be a video on youtube.

This being the only dovetailer ive used, All i can say is theyre a simple peice of kit Easy to set up, The cutting bit can make the dovetails tighter or looser depending on what marking you set it at on the tooling chuck.
Ive never bought a replacement cutter but as far as i can remember theyre about £50 each.
They need compressed air for the piston clamps and cutter arm on the back,
Hopefully the Youtube video explained its operation better than i'd be able to write it.

 

[BradNaylor]

Is this one?

http://www.exapro.eu/uk/produit-20884-u ... noner.html

It says Omec 750 tenoner so I'm a bit confused...

Search the same site and they've got quite a few second-hand Omec machines. A couple of days in France might be nice this time of year!

Otherwise, you can get a nice new one for £7200!!!

http://www.maximach.co.uk/stock_list.html

Looks a serious bit of kit. Are you making pine furniture? If so, you must be the only one left!!

Cheers
Dan

 

[bluezephyr]

Hiya, Thanks for the link, Ive looked at that one already and had no emails back so i didnt persevere with it.

Theres plenty of companies willing to sell me a new one, And the £7200+ vat is one of the cheaper prices, Im sure ive seen them for £8000+vat.

I started making pine furniture when i was 18, Im 30 Next month and had about 3 years out of it through trying other things, But nothing seemed to give me the satisfaction i got from making furniture so i went back to it for a year, The boss a total Wnker, To Us and the trade customers so they got me to do it myself and Its nice now to have no boss(But still the pressure!) Im looking at taking someone on fairly soon.
Ive worked with Oak Beech and Walnut, Made some nice peices, I'd like to make some now but I dont have the room to store anything other than what i have, So I have to wait my time to get a bigger unit.

Apparently there arent many places left in the country where people like pine, But Norfolk is and i seem to be doing well, I Know im competing against all the import rubbish but there are still people who appreciate locally made furniture made to their sizes and specs.

 

[wysong]

I'll be looking a Brookman 15rmm dovetailer, manual
what does one of these Weigh?

thanks