Dear All,
Am I the only one looking for some quality small machines for working in a limited space. I want them to be well made, be under 15kgs so they can be lifted easily onto a worksurface when required, and have dust extraction that attaches to a vaccum cleaner such as Henry. They need to be able to handle most timber sizes that a hobbiest woodworker would use. The market seems to be totally lacking. This is what I'm specifically looking for;
1) A thicknesser that can cope with timber about 6-8" wide and up to about 3" thick (can't find anything between the proxxon DH40 (6kg) which looks brilliant but just too small (80mm x 40mm max) and all other thicknessers that weight about 30kgs and are too big and heavy.
2) A Jointer/Surface Planer about 6" wide (the Triton TSPL152 look promissing but could do without the handles and is still a bit heavy to be lifting frequently at 20kgs), doesn't look like a quality item either. Haven't seen much else.
3) A Table Saw with perhaps a 6" blade that would be capable of 50mm cuts (sort of like a circular saw but made into a table saw). My 18v circular saw has plenty of power and can cut deep enough but need the aligning fence and accuracy etc. of a table saw.
4) A very accurate Mitre Saw, again perhaps with a six inch 80 tooth blade, that can cut maybe 120mm widths and 50mm depths.
Perhaps they could be in the same range with the surface heights being the same, so outfeed surfaces could be easily made/purchased to cope with longer timber. They could all share the same footprint so that it would be easy to prepare a station or stand that could be used for all. They would be designed so that they can easily be clamped to a worksurface. They would have the quietest motors avaliable, share the same power leads and dust extraction ports so that they could be easily left in place. The thicknesser and Jointer/Planer could share the same type of blades, as could the Table Saw and the Mitre Saw, so keep a spare or a range of blades would be much more economical.
Am I out on a limb here, or are there loads of fairly serious hobiest woodworkers, with limited space and finances, who are not trying to build walnut tables to seat 12 people, but want to be able to process their timber and work to a high degree of accuracy.
Is it time to set up a new company?!
PS: I have seen plenty of planer thicknessers that sell for £200-300 and look nasty, are fidly to swap between functions, and are clearly not quality tools. Not interested in this market either.
