Sedgwick PT PlanerThicknesser

[Blackswanwood]

I have been offered the opportunity to buy a secondhand Sedgwick PT planer thicknesser by a friend of a friend who is upgrading for his joinery manufacturing workshop. It is eight years old but has been well looked after and appears to be in good shape.

The only snag is that it is 415v which means I will need an inverter. I thought this would be straightforward but having looked at a few suppliers websites am now confused . Can anyone recommend a trustworthy supplier that it’s worth having a chat with or any advice on what to look out for?

Thanks.

 

[Fitzroy]

Best thing to start from is the motor plate, to make sure it’s dual voltage and what power delivery you need from the drive. Also make sure it’s only a single motor else you’ll need two inverters, I only raise this as I was looking at a Wadkin baos for a while until I learnt they have two motors, cutter block and drive rollers.

Going to a uk drive distributor/manufacturer like Direct Drives will cost you more (£250 for 3kw) but will give you support which you won’t get if you buy a huanyang (£110 for 3kw) on eBay.

I’ve bought two huanyangs over the years and they’ve been fine for my occasional use. Wiring/setting up can be interesting with the comprehensive but badly written instructions. However if you are fairly confident with electrics and technology it’s very doable, if money is your constraint.

Fitz.

 

[Blackswanwood]

Thanks - I will give them a call.

 

[Sideways]

The PT is a single motor 1.5kW machine, with the one motor driving both block and rollers. It uses a 90 frame size motor.
If you are competent with elctrical installation, a VFD is very practical. Just beware the need for ventilation and dust proofing. A dust proof VFD is fairly expensive and a non dust proof one needs to be fitted in a suitable enclosure that will allow the air to circulate but heat to dissipate from the box.
It may be cheaper to just swap the motor for a single phase equivalent. You'll need a 4 pole motor and you'll need to be able to wire up a Direct Online Starter with the proper sized thermal overload relay. That's around £150 of parts. A single phase PT will run off a 240V 16A outlet with the blue CE plug and socket.
Either way, it's a nice machine when setup properly, but can sound like junk if poorly maintained or meddled with by someone who doesn't know what they're doing.

 

[Blackswanwood]

Thanks - I had dismissed replacing the motor thinking the inverter route would be simpler but on reflection I’m not now sure that is the case.

 

[ndbrown]

You will have to be careful over your choice of replacement single phase motor as some with larger top mounted start/run capacitors will foul against the central pillar. The original Crompton single phase motor supplied with new machines has the capacitors located on the side of the motor. My PT ran fine from a standard 13A plug with its 1.5KW Single Phase motor as did my bandsaw with a similar motor but it may depend on how your supply is protected at the main consumer unit. If you want some additional illustrations/information on a motor swap, check out my older post here; sedgwick-pt255-strip-down-and-rebuild-t66864.html#p738600

Direct link to section on the motor swap here: Post post742790.html#p742790

Nigel

 

[Blackswanwood]

Thanks Nigel - that is really useful - I wish I had found it earlier. Pretty sure I will be swapping the motor now.

 

[kevinlightfoot]

I have the same machine,mine is wired with 4mm cable through a 20 amp fused switch,mine is single phase and it won't run through a 13 amp socket,by the way they are good well sought after machines,easily maintained but genuine spares I believe are expensive.Saying that I have never needed to buy any and I have owned mine from new for over 20 years,hope this helps,best regards Kevin.