Planer thicknesser .... which one which brand.

[Charly]

Hi. I'm assuming it's been covered a few times but not recently I think.

I am buying a planer/thicknesser.
Now I've been a carpenter for many years on the building side of things. And I am now setting up a workshop and need a planer/thicknesser but struggling with which one.
Budget ain't crazy either.

Any recommendations ?

I'm thinking that if I don't find anything else I could fall back on dewalt thicknesser as I used it before and it's Not bad at all but it does not plane and I am looking for something a bit more pro/sturdier/better quality.

I am doing doing a bit of everything from wardrobe to shutters table etc.
Mdf soft and hard wood.

Thank you for your help.

 

[deema]

Just my opinion, I think that most of the lift up P/T systems don’t offer the structural rigidity needed for a commercial, environment and will allow the infeed / outfeed tables to require frequent adjust to keep the coplanner. The industrial machines I’ve looked at, Felder and SCM have a rigidity and weight or material that isn’t found on the lighter machines. If you look at the older machines of Wadkin, Cooklsey, Diminion etc they all had fixed planet beds that didnt lift up and solid cast iron sections to reduce vibration.

There are two routes I would look at, new and second hand.

New, in order of cost,
Sedgwick - lovely machines that will stand any amount of abuse. I have a 16” machine.
Hammer - not played with them but they loom to be really good machines
Felder - really nice to use.
SCM - my preferred option if money want an option.

Secondhand
Any of the above, in fact if you can accommodate a 16” machine there have been recently a lot of SCM machines on eBay for very very little money. I’ve almost bought one myself! For a small machine a light blue and blue or white and blue Sedgwick PT can’t IMO be beaten! The colours are for the more modern machines with the longer beds.
Wadkin, dominion built like tanks, not much to go wrong with them, you have to accept that if anything is missing gets broken that you will have to have it made. It’s actually not really an issue as there are small machine shops that will make a new gear etc if required. However, in most cases if they work, and the bits are present they will work for a lifetime with a little TLC.

 

[Charly]

Thanks. I agree that fix bed sounds better.
I have looked into hammer/felder and actually lost a good auction for a hammer a331 on eBay.

I see a lot of charnwood and scheppach around which look like crap to me but I don't actually don't have any idea. The fact that you havent mention them reinforce that feeling. I do not want a hobby machine that's breaks every other day or don't keep true.

Thanks again I'll keep my eyes open some of these.

 

[kevinlightfoot]

Another plus for Sedgwick,I have the PT 260 which has done me well for about 20 years can't see much on the market to persuade me to change.

 

[memzey]

Another vote for Sedgwick here. Rock solid and capable of doing the job it’s meant to with the minimum of fuss. If you can find one with a Tersa head then all the better.

 

[Phil1975]

I have a Sedgwick PT260. I wouldn't swap it for anything else. The older (green) ones come up from time to time on eBay, Gumtree etc & are worth waiting for.

 

[MikeJhn]

If you already have the DeWalt thickener, it may be better to consider a dedicated planer, the fixed table planers can be a bit of a pain trying to get bulky timbers into/onto the thickening bed, with a dedicated planer, infeed and outfeed tables are not a major problem and can be fixed in place.

Mike

 

[Charly]

No I've only used one that wasn't mine. (Landed)
But I see your point. You reckon 2 different machine would be better ?
I do believe so too but for money and space reason I have to go with a combi.
And I think I rather have top table in way than having to reset it too often.
Thanks appreciated

 

[MikeJhn]

I only think two different machines would be better if you already own one or the other, I personally think a combination machine is more convenient in a restricted workshop that most of us have, I don't have a particularly restricted workshop, but still have a fairly modern fixed table combination machine, I am just not into antiquated piece's of old iron.

There are modern machines available that have the infeed and outfeed tables combined and lift as one and so minimising the possible discrepancy between the two when lifting and re-locating between thicknessing and planing, this is just one example: https://www.scheppach.com/product-detai ... 2000W.aspx

Mike

 

[ScouseKev]

Another vote for the Sedgwick PT260.

I have a 1980's machine 240v i got off fleabay for £700

I looked around at many different options first including buying new.
I went to the Ally Pally show and watched a guy demonstarte a Metabo 260.
He had to hold the machine while adjusting it to stop it moving.

People will tell you that it only takes 30 seconds to change over from planing to thickness mode.
That may be true in some cases but it's still a faff.

All in all the Sedgwick was the best buy i ever made...it's super reliable,accurate and easy to use.
After 6yrs of owning it, it hasn't missed a beat.

Hope this helps.

 

[heimlaga]

Very little if any progress has been made in the mechanical design of planer/thicknessers since the 1910-s with the exception of cutterheads and of cause a few guards which can be made or retrofitted.

When I branched out from carpentry to making custom doors and windows and various types of custom joinery I stated out with a 260mm planer/thicknesser combination (made by Ejca in the 50-ies) and a home built table saw. Very soon I found that neither the width of the planer/thicknesser nor the lenght of the planer tables were sufficient for efficient work. I bought a Swedish made Stenberg KEV600 four in one combination machine with 600 mm planer/thicknesser and 400mm/3,7 kW table saw and 2,3kW spindle moulder. It was manufactured in 1957 and was very worn so I rebuilt it entirely in my spare time. I just couldn't afford anything newer so I had to take the hard route.
However I ended up with a very good machine in the end. Excellent value for the money spent but there are quite a few unpaid workdays in it.
However I rekon that as a one man band time spent working for oneself costs only at ones hourly net pay after tax and commuting costs and VAT are deducted. Often there are unpaid dead time that can be utilized between paid jobs. All this is of cause provided that there are marigins so one can afford having days without paid work.

Looking back I would say that 350-400 mm is the absolute minimum planing width one needs for doing this sort of work with reasonable efficiency. 600 mm is nice to have but not necsessary. First and foremost it must be solid enough.
Looking back I have learned that separate machines are more efficient than a combination in the same size. You loose valuable time every time you go from one function to another on a combination. However I also found that once I had learned to organize my work as production runs I got way more efficiency out of a big and solid combination than I could have gotten out of the sort of small separate machines that I could have squeezed into the same limited workshop space. However modern the separates would have been.
Just what I learned.

My ideal planer/thicknesser for a one man business would be an elderly cast iron one preferably with fixed tables. Let's say a Wadkin or Kölle or Dominion or Robinson or Bäuerle or Sagar but retrofitted with a modern Tersa head. Then I would get the very best out of two worlds.
However Tersa heads for retrofitting tend to be expensive..... so my second best choice would be a similar machine with it's original gibbed round head and the option to upgrade to a Tersa head later on.
Just my thoughts

 

[johnnyb]

Hi Charly
Simple question....how much?
Under 1500 buy Sedgwick pt mb
Under 3000 new Taiwanese jet or startrite(or the previous category)
Under 5000 new European minimax Felder
What that says is Sedgwick used is a real bargain.

 

[Charly]

Heimlaga. Thanks
This is what I thought as well. People recommend the Sedgwick or which looks like a terrific machine but I'm worried about the 255 max width. Just a shelf as example that is 300 deep wouldn't feet and it straight away tale longer to flatten it. Not efficient.
But on other hands machine bigger than 260 jump in price quite a bit.
I guess I just have to wait for a good opportunity to come up online.


Johnnyb. Thanks.
I reckon my budget is 1500 but if something is worth it I could maybe go up to 2000.
I have been dreaming of a felder though.

 

[memzey]

I got my single phase Sedgwick MB with a Tersa head for less than your stated budget. There are bargains out there if you look and are willing to be patient. As I mentioned earlier if you aren’t a heavy user and therefore unlikely to be changing knives with any great frequency, I’d seriously consider looking for a machine with a Tersa head or similar as you won’t get slick at changing them which will put you off doing so and running with blunt knives will create all sorts of trouble for you.

It’s not all good news though; one thing to bear in mind with this type of machine is the weight. My MB weighs in at over 800lbs. Once it is in place you will not want to move it about too often!

 

[johnnyb]

The 255 width restriction is not as restrictting as you think. I was in a timber yard two weeks ago and the chap pointed to a 500mm wide slab we've just found a chap with a big enough thicknesser to take that. It's an hour round trip though! I said just do it by . They all roared with laughter.
Any way accuracy in thicknessing/ jointing is more important than overall width. It's very easy to join two accurate 6inch widths to 12 inch.and more stable(much more stable)

 

[Charly]

Memory
I should be able to have mine fixed in position but I am indeed worried about the weight as in how to get it inside the workshop as there isn't big doors just normal ones. But I guess I'll worry about that later on.
I will wait cause no other choice at the moment. It will be use quite often though as the point of buying the P/T is to not have to buy PSE timber anymore and reduce cost of materials.

For the knives I'll have to deal with what I can get. Even if it's painful I'll have to suck it up and deal with it.

I guess I'll just have to wait now. And see what eBay has to offer. I looked Into machinery website and it's out of budget so yeah patience will have to be.

 

[Charly]

Memory
I should be able to have mine fixed in position but I am indeed worried about the weight as in how to get it inside the workshop as there isn't big doors just normal ones. But I guess I'll worry about that later on.
I will wait cause no other choice at the moment. It will be use quite often though as the point of buying the P/T is to not have to buy PSE timber anymore and reduce cost of materials.

For the knives I'll have to deal with what I can get. Even if it's painful I'll have to suck it up and deal with it.

I guess I'll just have to wait now. And see what eBay has to offer. I looked Into machinery website and it's out of budget so yeah patience will have to be.

 

[memzey]

If you’re planning on using it on an amateur basis then as long as you don’t use certain woods or run into stray metal, grit or some other contaminants then you should be able to go for ages without having to change knives. This might seem a good thing but I suspect it is a double edged sword as when the time does come to change them it will seem like an almighty faff and more likely than not be put off to later than it should. If I’d got a machine with standard knives then I like to think I would have practiced swapping them out to get good at it - but probably wouldn’t have in reality! You might be more disciplined and better at that sort of thing than me though so good luck to you!

 

[Charly]

To be honest it is likely that I can't be bothered to changed them but when you have to. Def not for an amateur workshop no. It will be used daily. Therefore the tersa head makes sens.

 

[memzey]

In that case it probably won’t make that much difference to you either way as you’ll either benefit from the quick change over times of Tersa or get slick at changing sharpenable knives. I caveat all of the above by stating that I am a complete oaf and would not take my advice if my life depended on it!