Which portable thicknesser would you choose?

[TonyW]

After spending a couple of hours making a small cupboard door frame (nothing fancy, just butted and biscuit jointed :lol: ) and struggling a little with slightly differing thickness and slightly warped timber I thought that a portable thicknesser would be a good idea for future jobs.

Trying to narrow down from the various models I have come up with the following shortlist:
DeWalt DW733
http://www.dewalt.co.uk/powertools/prod ... tno/DW733/
Makita 2012NB
http://www.makitauk.com/index.php?speci ... 9&catid=74
Metabo DH330
http://www.metabo.co.uk/Product-catalog ... 113.0.html

Which of the above would you choose and why?
I know that there are cheaper alternatives out there and would welcome any advice and user experience with other models.

Cheers
Tony

 

[wizer]

DW733 It's always had top reviews. Never heard a bad word about it. I had one but never actually used it before I bought a P/T. How will you surface the boards?

 

[TonyW]

How will you surface the boards?

Initial thought is to do this by hand - although the idea of a portable jointer is also appealing :lol:

 

[OPJ]

If it helps, the Makita is regarded as the quietest model on the market. At roughly 86dB though, that's still some racket! :shock: Haven't heard a bad word against the DeWalt either.

 

[Doug B]

Hi Tony.

I can only comment on the DeWalt, as i`ve not used the other two, but after using the DeWalt whilst "subbing" to a company who owned one, i immediately went out & bought myself one.

I must have had it 5 years, with no complaints, also when hooked up to a decent extractor, the extraction port works like a dream.

I would definitely recommend it.

 

[Mr Ed]

Another happy DeWalt 733 owner.

Before I had a surface planer I used a combination of good board selection, a bit of hand work and some judicious flipping of boards through the thicknesser to get flat stock. Its not quick but you get there in the end.

Ed

 

[Karl]

Hi Tony.

I've got the Makita, and think it is a very good machine. The chip collection isn't fantastic, but then again that my be my rather inadequate extractor.

Cheers

Karl

 

[TonyW]

Thanks for the replies. I did find some other information here (after doing a search ) about the Makita which gets good reviews.

I think I have narrowed my choice down a little further to either DeWalt or Makita. Two things are swaying me towards the Makita at the moment 1. the unit as stated seems to be the quietest (albeit still b***** noisy). Not sure how bad the DeWalt is though! 2. Also seems to be the lighter weight of the two - not sure if this is good or bad though.

Anyway going to investigate a little further before committing to buy

Cheers
Tony

 

[WellsWood]

If I had to have another portable it would be the DeWalt, no question. Had mine for about 4 years, brilliant peice of kit, only downside is the noise from the brushed motor but they're all like that.
It was the machine that convinced me, after many years of prejudice, that DeWalt is worth buying and is not always overpriced as previously thought :wink:

 

[OPJ]

The DeWalt model also appears to have resharpenable HSS blades, which would be a bonus to me. I think the Makita only has disposables, although they are double-edged (reversible).

 

[Karl]

The DeWalt model also appears to have resharpenable HSS blades, which would be a bonus to me. I think the Makita only has disposables, although they are double-edged (reversible).

Olly - I think that ther are HSS blades available for the Makita too. Don't quote me on it though.

Tony - you can come and have a look at my Makita if you wish.

Cheers

Karl

 

[user 5027]

i had the same problem as you... Differing timber sizes... I got hold of some 100 year old dirty 2x4 roof rafters, came out lovely and made new no-warp sash windows...

Screwfix matched an online 349 price AND they were doing an offer last month, spend £400 get £50... Just got my £50 voucher... So, £299... not bad

 

[user 5027]

oh, as I've only got a small portable vac please note these things chuck out lots of chippings... I went for the bucket (large) to collect most of it rather than keep filling bags up... then give them to who ever has a fire at home... but not the local kids... they will burn it in one go - as i used to... with a little petrol... Ah the good old days...

 

[frugal]

oh, as I've only got a small portable vac please note these things chuck out lots of chippings... I went for the bucket (large) to collect most of it rather than keep filling bags up... then give them to who ever has a fire at home... but not the local kids... they will burn it in one go - as i used to... with a little petrol... Ah the good old days...

Or put the chippings on the compost to help separate out the grass clippings.

 

[TonyW]

Tony - you can come and have a look at my Makita if you wish. l

Thanks for the kind offer Karl - I may take you up on that in the near future - will pm you.

Cheers
Tony

 

[Joiner]

Oops, sorry to be the one contrary voice on the DeWalt. Maybe they've improved on that model since I had one four years ago, but I'd only used it for a couple of months when the feed rollers stopped feeding, which was especially bad after putting material through a first time. The rollers (which were smooth rubber) simply slipped over the material and it was necessary to push stock through manually, the rollers just "assisting" the process. To add insult to injury, DeWalt insisted they have the machine back for assessment at their service department. That took ten days, after which they insisted on repairing the machine by simply replacing the rollers, which did exactly the same thing just a few weeks later. Luckily, to keep working, I'd gone out and bought a cheapo B&Q machine which actually had a better feed. I took the DeWalt back to the place I'd bought it and insisted on a refund, which eventually came three weeks later! I've never bought DeWalt since but never hesitate to buy Makita on the back of consistently good experiences with the make, although my current thicknesser is a SIP, the feed rollers of which are serrated and never falter and which is accurate to a thou on the setting gauge. My regular workshop machine supplier (I won't name them to avoid compromising them) has run down it's stock of DeWalt, largely as a consequence of their bad after-sales service. They now stock only a limited supply of DW power tools and no DW workshop machines.

 

[Gill]

I'm another happy DeWalt 733 customer .

 

[Gower]

Makita and delighted with it. I have an inexpensive but solidly built SIP 6" planer and well pleased with that as well.
Cheers,
Jim

 

[TonyW]

Must say I am also tempted to go for a planer as well. Seem to recall seeing a review of planers (wish I could remember where!)- SIP is quite a heavy model with a solid cast iron fence I believe - if memory serves it scored quite high

Tony

 

[frugal]

I just wanted to resurrect this thread to point out something else I have recently discovered about the DW733: changing the knives is a doddle.

I was really concerned about it given the large numbers of people on the forums who have been having problems with changing the blades on planers and thicknessers. However the DeWalt comes with two little magnetic dohickies that you attach to the cutting block. They are designed so that they only go in specific place and they push the spring loaded blade back the exact amount so that you can tighten up the bolts without knocking the blade out of alignment (or lacerating your fingers which is my usual trick).

So hopefully I will leave it less time between sharpening now