Wadkin BOA planer head upgrade

[Hornbeam]

I am looking at upgrading my planer from a Startright 12 inch and would ideally like a 12 inch with tersa or spiral cutter head.
There was an article on here where somebody was upgrading the standard head on a BOA to a spiral one but cant find it. Has anybody done this and what were the costs and the end performance like.

Ian

 

[Doug71]

I'm just looking at buying an old Sedgwick planer and wondered about upgrading the head on it because ideally I want tersa, this is what I found :shock:

https://www.applebywoodturnings.co.uk/1 ... shaft.html

 

[Trevanion]

I think this is the thread you're referring to, I don't think he ever completed it or at least he never continued posting about it:
https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/forums/wadkin-12-bao-s-planer-thicknesser-project-t114281.html

For a rough gauge of cost, a Wadkin BAO head from Shelix will set you back roughly £800 before shipping and import duties which will make it well over the value of a Wadkin BAO by the time it's arrived. Arguably, the head will make the machine worth more but I reckon it won't make it worth much more than half of what the head was worth.

I guess you've just got to weigh up the pros and cons of it and make a decision on whether it will work for you. I put miles of timber through my machines every year and I've decided a helical cutter head whilst a nice luxury isn't really needed, I get decent results even from a two-knife cutter head and good quality HSS lasts a long time before needing to be re-ground and re-set. Even with the old-fashioned straight knives it takes me maybe half an hour to swap out the knives and be back up and running, for £800 I could buy a lot of knives, have them re-ground and spend time re-setting them, probably enough to last the rest of my career.

Or you could put up with the regular HSS knives for a bit and wait until the helical cutter heads become a bit more common and inexpensive here, Sedgwick have only really just started fitting them to their new machines. I suspect it won't be long before we see a British/European Manufacturer of the heads that isn't exclusive to Felder.

 

[Hornbeam]

Thanks Trevanion. The link appears broken but my memory (whats left of it) is that the project was never finished.
I would prefer the tersa system but the noise factor is the main interest in spiral
Tersa heads are available at around £1300 all in, so combined with a basic machine works out at around £2k.
If I could find a decent machine for £2k ish I would go for that without the hassle
Ian

 

[Trevanion]

I fixed the link in my post, there was a pesky extra https:// for some reason.

I saw a lovely 16" Dominion P/T on a four knife tersa head sell for £1800 the other day, an absolutely mint-looking machine. Keep your eyes peeled and you'll come across a bargain. I've been told that the helical cutter head is only marginally quieter than a four-knife tersa head anyway because of the Tersa's low air-movement and many knives, it's noticeably quieter than an old-style two or three knife though where there's a lot of air-movement and banging of the knives against the timber.

 

[deema]

There is another far cheaper option to changing the head. The Esta Bruck Barke system that uses a carrier that you set once into the machine and then buy and pop in disposable knives. The knives are automatically set by the carriers, so you don’t need to set them. The knives are very similar to Tersa knives, you can get different materials for different jobs. They are double sided, and you can hone them once yourself.

For a two knife block, 10” wide like the Wadkin BAOS or the Sedgwick PT they cost around £110 for the two carriers and then about £20 for a set of blades. (I.e. around £10 for each sharp edge).

 

[heimlaga]

......provided that the "old" head is a modern gibbed round head.

If I could come up with a cheap way of upgrading from an ordinary square head to at least a gibbed round head or even better a Tersa head then my dream of a dedicated 24" thicknesser could come through one day.......

 

[Trevanion]

......provided that the "old" head is a modern gibbed round head.

If I could come up with a cheap way of upgrading from an ordinary square head to at least a gibbed round head or even better a Tersa head then my dream of a dedicated 24" thicknesser could come through one day.......

A Shelix 24" cutter head is only 3000 euros! Bargain :lol:

 

[yetloh]

......provided that the "old" head is a modern gibbed round head.

If I could come up with a cheap way of upgrading from an ordinary square head to at least a gibbed round head or even better a Tersa head then my dream of a dedicated 24" thicknesser could come through one day.......

I know it's not Wadkin but if I were in Sweden I would have (as I do now) the Moretens H410 p/t which is a great machine. Only two cutters but the higher block speed gives equally good results and the absence of conversion between planing and thicknessing will save you many times more than having a tersa block rather than standard knives. Over 15 years of ownership I have found it to be reliable and the tables never go out of adjustment. In my opinion a much better machine than the Sedgwick for all its cast iron, of which I also have experience.

Jim

 

[yetloh]

... and it also has excellent extraction.

Jim

 

[heimlaga]

I already have a 24" Stenberg combination (a 1300 kilo cast iron monster) but as thicknessing is done above the cutterhead it often produces a slightly uneven result. I have found that I need those 24" of width. The Stenberg is a wonderful surface planer. Newer thicknessers in that size are very expensive. What I could possibly afford would be an old Swedish made Jonsered or Waco or Götened or Beronius thicknesser which are of very good quality though they usually have square head so then I need an affordable replacement head.

Before I got a planer/thicknesser of my own I often used a neighbour's Moretens H410 and it is way to small and lightweight for my needs.

 

[yetloh]

Before I got a planer/thicknesser of my own I often used a neighbour's Moretens H410 and it is way to small and lightweight for my needs.

No doubt, but I still can't understand why such a great comparatively small machine is not more popular in its intended market sector.

Jim

 

[Farmer Giles]

I'm mulling this over too as I'm thinking of upgrading from my DeWalt. Options as I see them

Buying new - all single phase but you may need a 16 amp supply. they all look to be "trade" standard but the itech 300C looks to be bordering on "industrial" build

Axminster AT260SPT Spiral PT - £1850 after VAT, 260mm planing width
Axminster AT310SPT Spiral PT - £2550 after VAT, 310mm planing width
ITECH 260S spiral PT - £1560 after VAT, 250mm planing width
ITECH 300C spiral PT - £3180 after VAT - 300mm planing width

or, buy a Wadkin BAOS for about 1K, maybe a bit more with a brake, probably 3 phase, and add the spiral head from these Canadian guys SHELIX for WADKIN BURSGREEN 12'' Planer, 12 BAO (I'm assuming this fits the BAOS as well but I will ask)

cost $1,430.50 Canadian, roughly £850 plus postage and import duties and VAT.
Shipping is $313 Canadian = £185 - not sure if this includes import duties but doubt it.

Looking at import duties, up to £630 its 2.5%, above that you have to get code for the product and look it up. I'm going to ask the manufacturer if they know this import code however if we assume 2.5% and then add 20% VAT it comes in at about £1050 plus £185 postage, call it £2250. I'm not expert in these things so don't take my word for this.

So for around £2.25k to £2.5K you get a Wadkin BAOS with a posh spiral head and 310mm planing width without having to mess about lifting tables etc. On the other hand the extraction on the others look better.

So just about make sense if you want the 300mm planer width , but not if you don't need 300mm width or don't have 3 phase and don't want to take on a project as the Wadkin may need other TLC.

EDIT - doing a bit of research, its only gifts that is up to 2.5%, anything else is over £135. However, the closest import code I can find is Commodity code - 8208200000 - For woodworking - Trade Tariff - GOV.UK which has a lower import tax of 1.7%. So if you get the sender to put "The UK commodity code for importing is 8208200000" on the shipment then the receiver should save 0.8%, not a lot but helps, especially as I think VAT goes on last....

Cheers
Andy

 

[Farmer Giles]

I've just received a reply from Shelix heads. The cutter probably fits the BAOS as the planer outfeed table does rise and fall, and there are several versions of BAO cutter blocks, they seem to cover them all but if you want to be sure fill in their enquiry form and they will send you diagrams. I think the thing to do is to measure the cutter block in your machine and match it up with the diagram just to be sure.

Decisions, decisions! I could take the easy route and buy a shiny new planer already set up, or I could have a pimped Wadkin that will last me out, and probably the next owner too.

They are more than happy to put the correct UK import code on the box to minimise import taxes.

Cheers
Andy

 

[LJM]

Did you proceed with this?

 

[Farmer Giles]

No, I couldn't find a donor machine at the right price and the missus wanted the kitchen finishing so bought a shiny new iTech 300C with the spiral head from Scott & Sargeant. Works great if you have a decent extractor. If the extract flow goes down then the feed tends to jam up, understandably.

However, its not Wadkin quality, not bad for a far eastern machine though. Also you have to hinge the table to use the thicknesser, it works ok but I would rather not. When I get a bit more time, if the right donor machine pops up I will take another look.