Which Planer/thicknesser is the best for Startup?

[Jacob]

With the 1100 long bed how do you find it for getting longer lengths straight ? I have a kitty bestcombi but am looking at getting separates as getting anything over 6’ straight with the planer is hard work !

Basic planing principle - cut everything to length first, according to your design cutting list. Then plane it. It's much easier. Very short pieces can be left together to cut after planing as it's easier to handle, but you don't plane up your basic long lengths of stock - that way madness lies!
If you only have a thicknesser they can be fine for short lengths as long as you feed them in concave side down so they won't rock about, until you have one good side, then turn it over.

 

[johnnyb]

a thicknesser can be useful when your savvy enough to pick straight sections for items that need to be straight sections.

 

[Sneaky Pete]

Basic planing principle - cut everything to length first, according to your design cutting list. Then plane it. It's much easier. Very short pieces can be left together to cut after planing as it's easier to handle, but you don't plane up your basic long lengths of stock - that way madness lies!
If you only have a thicknesser they can be fine for short lengths as long as you feed them in concave side down so they won't rock about, until you have one good side, then turn it over.

I make mostly doors, gates and Joinery therefore much of my machining required if for lengths over 6’

 

[recipio]

A P/T is the bedrock of any workshop. You may plane one board by hand but how enthusiastic will you be tackling a few cubic feet. ? If starting out I would recommend a secondhand Scheppach HM260 , sadly no longer made. It has rubber rollers enabling you to thickness down to 3mm or so. If funds allow look at the HM3200 but it will need a 16 amp socket. Extension rollers are available for long lengths.
I can't quite understand the logic of benchtop thicknessers - the brush motors must put the neighbours on edge as well as the operator,

 

[jrm688]

My Taiwanese benchtop P/T lasted 30 years before the universal motor shorted last month. I never thought it would last that long. I looked around and the only bench top units available were few Dewalts that are now are double the normal price. Even the used ones are crazy. I saw one 20+year old 16” unit with rusty tables for$1000. I decided to upgrade so I ordered a new 15”, 600# unit with a 3hp motor. It apparently it is on a slow boat from China as I was told it is expected to arrive in a month. Other stores told me 2-3 months. If you can find a used one in good shape at a reasonable price grab it.

 

[TRITON]

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[Bojam]

A P/T is the bedrock of any workshop. You may plane one board by hand but how enthusiastic will you be tackling a few cubic feet.

Since I started woodworking about 18 months ago, I've been hand planing all my rough stock using a 5 1/2 jack plane to get one flat reference face before running it through a benchtop thicknesser to get a flat and parallel opposing face. I use the "hybrid milling" approach advocated by the Renaissance Woodworker, basically spot planing to only remove the high points identified with winding sticks and a long straight edge, etc. Once the board rests flat on the bench with no rock then it's good for the thicknesser. I think this approach has a lot going for it, especially for people just starting out, for those with limited working space, or for those who prefer to do more of their woodwork by hand.

I live in the tropics and use exclusively local hardwoods, which are often very dense and abrasive. I also try to use as much reclaimed timber as possible and the boards are usually quite warped/cupped/bowed. So the milling process can be time consuming but I've learned a lot about how wood works and have got progressively much more efficient. I make furniture and smaller decorative items (boxes, frames, etc.), so don't have to contend with milling a few cubic metres/feet at a time. If I was a carpenter/joiner then I guess this wouldn't be a viable approach.

I can't quite understand the logic of benchtop thicknessers - the brush motors must put the neighbours on edge as well as the operator,

I use an Axminster AT330ST benchtop machine. It screams! Thankfully the neighbours have been accomodating. But the spiral cutterblock leaves a super nice finish, even on very hard and figured woods. I have recently ordered a stationary combined P/T - with a helical head - which should obselete the benchtop machine and will (I hope) be considerably quieter. But I have no regrets about starting out this way. Incidentally, and probably quite controversially, Chris Schwarz wrote an article a while back in Popular Woodworking in which he suggested that "portable planers are better". One point he made was that the univeral (brushed) motors used in portable benchtop machines spin the cutterhead much faster than the induction motors in the bigger stationary machines (i.e. 8,000-10,000 rpm vs ~5000 rpm). Why does this matter? He asserts that: "In general, faster cutterheads leave a better finish. With a fast cutterhead, each knife takes a smaller bite, reducing the chance of tear-out". I'd be interested to hear people's take on his arguments...