Planer/ thicknesser quandry

[Pond]

Dear all,

I am in a quandry whether to upgrade my P/T.

I bought a new Axminster MB9020 little benchtop one a few months ago. It is very good for the cost (£180) but is EXTREMELY noisy and will only take off 0.5 to 1mm of oak at a time, making progress slow. The aluminium table is showing signs of wear already and the fence holding mechanism is not the most accurate. The dust extraction could be better too!

I could probably sell it for £100-150 but the next step up (with a cast table and fence) start at £6-700!

My question is, do you think the extra cost of £600 is worth it for a hobbyist, or should I stick with the little Axy until I kill it?

 

[Peter T]

I used to have separates, DW733 plus a SIP 6 inch bench-top planer, both of which performed very well but were very noisy. As a hobbyist, working in my garage, I decided the noise was unacceptable, both to me and my neighbours.

So, I sold off the separates and got an Axi 106PT, which is much quieter, although obviously you still get noise when when actually planing.

As a hobbyist the changeover time from planing to thicknessing is no big deal and I get the benefit of a good solid machine with cast iron tables and a 3 knife cutter block.

Good luck,

 

[stuartpaul]

I used to have separates but sold them and went to the axi p/t.

Hated it and went back to separates!! - much happier.

Could you work by using a separate thicknesser and keeping your current machine to plane? I've got the axminster thicknesser (£300 or thereabouts) and yes it is a bit noisy but then they all seem to be as they used brushed motors for some reason.

You could always keep an eye on the bay for reasonable 2nd hand stuff?

 

[Pond]

So, I sold off the separates and got an Axi 106PT, which is much quieter, although obviously you still get noise when when actually planing.

That is the machine I am looking at. Are you happy with it

You could always keep an eye on the bay for reasonable 2nd hand stuff?

I've been looking on Feebay, the HMS260 (scheppach and Metabo IIRC) come up occassionally, but still go for £500 ish. Also the transportation cost and logistics put me off buying anything this big used, almost as cheap to get Axi to deliver a brand new one!

 

[Peter T]

So, I sold off the separates and got an Axi 106PT, which is much quieter, although obviously you still get noise when when actually planing.

That is the machine I am looking at. Are you happy with it

Generally speaking, yes, very happy.

My main criticism would be the extract when thicknessing, which is poor and I end up with a lot of the chippings on the out-feed. I guess this is better than having them flung around the workshop, but it would be nice if a few more ended up in the extractor!

The only other thing I can think of is that the knife setting tool provided is worthless! I tried other systems but have fallen back on the piece of wood with pencil lines on it routine.

Apart from these the machine seems to be well built and easy to set-up and I find it does a good job on the maple and oak that I mainly use.

There will always be the debate about separates vs combo machines and, yes, if I had the space I would go for good quality separates, but I don't and I see this machine as the next best thing.

Good luck,

 

[goldeneyedmonkey]

I got a 12" Sedgwick P/T off the 'Bay a while back, cleaned it up a bit (by this I mean cleaning the tables/ beds down and waxing and levelling them) and it runs like a dream. It was £550 or so and then £45 on top for delivery (Brooks Transport from memory, I can get you their number if you need it). If you have the room for it I'd go for something like this, the bench-top ones are notoriously noisy and with the model I have there's no need to mess about moving the tables to thickness, you just move the dust extraction chute and away you go.

Good luck with it. Cheers _Dan