Planer Thicknesser question.

[ellal]

I need to 'finish' quite a quantity of wood that is rough on all edges and of varying thickness.

I know that to use the thicknesser, the flat surface has to be smooth, but does the flat surface also have to be smooth for the planer to work properly, or will it take out the varying levels and leave a surface to work from?

If it does, has anyone heard anything about This machine, or have any recommendations for a sub £200 one?

cheers

[big-all]

your timber must be converted into planks as you cant convert round timber

you pass your timber over the planer one or more times to level the face you then square one edge

you then pass the plank through the thicknesser on its edge first then finnish on the face

dependent on size length and width you can expext to loose 3 to 10mm between sawn and planed sizes practice will tell you how much

if your making several odd sizes into identical bits you plane as above
you then select the widest bit and take off the 3mm or whatever your machine allows you then try the next widest plank

in other words introduce you planks to the planner as you reduce the gap so you only have to wind it up once for all the planks

another tip is if you are converting lots of timber for a job/project leave 2mm oversized and cut the final 2mm on all the planks at the same time to give uniformity

__________________
big all
we are------------------ all still learning

[ellal]

Thanks for that...

"Converting into planks" was a much better way of putting it!

[big-all]

note the edit on my post

another point your timber must be seasoned and with a moisture content of around 12 pecent orherwise your wood will continue to move and shrink in width and thickness but not length

__________________
big all
we are------------------ all still learning

[ellal]

Thanks again

I'm hoping to get a uniform size and then biscuit them together to make some larger panels - so the explanation of the order in which to do things is very helpful.

Now I just need to choose the machine!

[big-all]

note the edit to the post above [again ]

__________________
big all
we are------------------ all still learning

[makitaman]

Last year I got the SIP 6"x4" planer thicknesser, just under £200.00 inc vat. Had an excellent review on GoodWoodworking magazine. I've used mine plenty of times mainly on softwoods, but it has performed just as well with hardwoods.

The SIP came ready to use, blades adjusted correctly and tables all set up.

Theres not that many 'good' planer/thicknessers around under £200 many are poorly machined and fiddely to set up, have a good look around and make sure the machine can handle the sizes you want to convert.

[ellal]

Due to it's larger capacity, I went for the Erbauer..so the following is a 'heads up' on this particular machine.

All went well for a while, but the blades couldn't even cope with the softwood I was putting through it and became serrated in no time at all !

To be fair screwfix offered a refund straight away, but I was happy with the sturdiness of the machine, so said I'd be happy with a new set of blades to try it again..

Err, no good - they don't supply replacements and have no idea where to get them!

So having got the refund I'm now looking again for an 8" model..

But thanks big-all, as having followed your 'tutorial' I've learnt how to machine wood!

[Jasonb]

HSS planer knives are resharpenable at a reasonable cost and any decent saw doctor should be able to supply suitable replacements, you just need to quote the blade size which is in the region of 210x25x3

Jason