Planer Thicknesser Advice

[andycase007]

Hi All
I will be making some furniture out of wood soon, in particular beams/sleepers. Some softwood and some oak.
I am looking at getting a planer thicknesser but as i am new i dont want to spend 1000s
There are some on the market, like Clarke, Sealey etc that can do 10inch by 5-6inch, all for about £300-£400
Do you think they really can or would i be dissapointed?
The reason i ask is that i sell welders in my business, and i know that some that say they can do a 4mm rod on 160amps probably can for about 1 minute, then will need 30mins off!! You get the idea!

So, i obviously will be sanding and even hand planing should it need it, but i dont want to spend on one of these "smaller" machines to find they are rubbish

 

[ladylola]

I tried out one of the rexon thicknessers sold by screwfix and it was fine. However, if planing wide boards don't try and take of 3and 4 mm at a time, that really makes the machine grunt. Just take a few mm maximum at a time and you'll be fine.
If you are using old beams be very careful and look out for nails and the like, they will ruin the blades which aren't cheap.

 

[merlin50]

i had a clarke and the bearings kept going, to small so i had to modify the machine to take larger ones. i then sold it and bought a second hand machine that turns out much better work.

 

[r896neo]

It's all about the fence, i had the same dilema as you about 3 years ago and after much searching and going to look at them first hand i decided that the ones with aluminium tables and fences were just not up to it and it was worth the extra and plumped for the axminster AW106PT2

However it had slightly less bells and whilstles than the current model and therefore i got it for a good price of 410.

It is a great machine and churns out top results and is dead easy to use and well built. It is however as heavy as hell.

A word of caution, some of the cheaper machines can physically handle larger timber such as sleepers etc but when thicknessing in particular a smaller machine will struggle and you will end up taking 1mm off at a time.

Probably not what your wallet wanted to hear but that's my 2 cents

 

[maltaron]

I have a Rexon which I picked up from E-Bay at half price. I am more than happy with it. It has limitations but managed 8" wide Oak with no trouble but baulked at 10" wide.

 

[r896neo]

good luck trying to put a sleeper through the rexon.

 

[Jasonb]

You will want something with substantial tables, particularly for the planer part, any of the cheapies will just sag if not tip over with the overhang. Thicknessing will not be so critical but a sturdy machine would be best.

For sleepers and beams you really want to be looking for some second hand old iron or at least a machine with 4ft table length. Have a look at the likes of Axminster, sip, Warco - they are all far eastern machines with just different badges but a bit better than the clarke, sealy stuff.

J