Planer/Thicknesser advice needed

[woodyone]

Quite soon i will be putting a small workshop together and am thinking of buying planer/thicknesser but they are bit out of my price range, so are thicknesser really nessesary for a small workshop because don't planers do the same thing as a thicknesser but just take off less material. If this is true i could save myself quite a bit of money by not buying a thicknesser and just getting a planer. But i'm a bit confused over this :? and dont know if im asking a stupid question so if anyone could help me out with this that would be great.

Thanks

Woody.

 

[DaveL]

Hi Woody,

A planer is used to produce one flat surface and a square edge on a board.

A thicknesser uses the flat surface produced by the planer as a reference and machines the other face parallel to it.

I have seen set ups where the timber has the first flat surface produced using a thicknesser, a sled is used and the timber has to be packed level on the sled. I think it is a lot of effort to use one if you are machining lots of large boards. For small stuff it would probably work OK.

 

[bjm]

Hi Woody

Planer/thicknessers both remove wood but the difference is in how they are used.

Planers (more correctly, surface planers (jointers in US)) are used to produce a flat surface on a face of the wood. The wood is passed over the cutter block and across the outfeed table which, being flat, will produce a flat surface on the wood. Once you have a flat reference surface you would turn the wood over and pass it through the thicknesser - because there is a constant dimension (whatever you set) between the thicknessing bed and the cutter and you have a flat (planed) face you will get timber with two parallel faces.

Brian

 

[woodyone]

Thanks brian and dave

So tecnically to just remove waste material and to square the wood just having a planer should work. right?

Thanks

Woody.

 

[Chems]

With out a thicknesser you will end up with 2 faces at right angles, and another 2 at right angles but the 2 sets of face wont be in sync with each other.

Watch the Woodwhisper (another annoying american) episode 6 he explains it all very well.

 

[woodyone]

Where can i watch it? any links?

Thanks

Woody.

 

[woodyone]

Found it, i thought it was a show rather than on youtube

Woody.

 

[Chems]

It is a show,

http://thewoodwhisperer.com/

But probably better speed on YouTube anyway. I found it very instructive, Im ordering a Axminster Combo machine this evening.

 

[NeilO]

woody,
try www.thewoodwhisperer.com

and view all episodes, well worth the watch....

 

[bjm]

Hi Woody

Forget the Whisperer - it's degenerated into a series of long commercials.

Have a look at this video. The rest of the series is also worth looking at as well.

Brian

 

[woodyone]

Thanks bjm both videos have explained it well

Woody.

 

[Chems]

Yeah thanks BJM, hadnt seen that other video. Im all set to go now!