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Bud
20th October 2003, 02:03 AM
Hi Guys, I am thinking about buying a Ryobi portable thicknesser. Model No. AP13.
I can get one at a very good price. Does anyone have one? if so have you had any trouble with it? I realise this is a handy man model, however, I will probably only be using it on average once a fortnight. Any information will be most appreciated.
Bud.

Dean
20th October 2003, 05:57 PM
Try this:
http://www.onlinetoolreviews.com/reviews/ryobiap13.htm

Nice little machine. Might have to build a better infeed/outfeed platform to reduce snipe if it is a problem though.

DavidW
20th October 2003, 07:17 PM
G'day Dean, I read the review some time ago and it seems like a good machine. Have you seen or read about the Carba-Tec machine and if so how does it compare? Bunnies have the Ryobi for under $400 ATM.

BTW how are the table saw and jointer going?

Dean
20th October 2003, 07:28 PM
David, I've seen the carbatec machine, but not read any reviews or used it personally. Looks like a reasonable machine also. If its the one I'm thinking about, it has a headlock feature which the ryobi doesn't. Not much else is terribly different, apart from the price tag of course, but both machines will do a good job of planing and thicknessing your work.

Jointer and tablesaw are going fine so far. Getting a good amount of use out of the jointer lately dressing all my old scraps of wood into a useable state.

If Bunnies do have the Ryobi for under $400 then that would certainly be a good buy at that price.

Daniel
21st October 2003, 04:48 PM
At the Melbourne Wood Show GMC had a thicknesser ready to go on the market at some stage in the near future.

I am not sure who they copied it from but a few people were giving it close scrutiny and it appeared to get the thumbs up.

From memory it was under $400.

Daniel

Barry_White
21st October 2003, 05:30 PM
I purchased a Ryobi Thicknesser from Bunnings. It is a powerful little machine and I have put Radiata through it and also so 20 year old stringy bark and it did a beautiful job of it an although they were only short pieces there was no snipe on them. This could be a problem on longer timber but you can always cut it over size.

Regards

Bazza

Barry_White
21st October 2003, 05:35 PM
I purchased a Ryobi Thicknesser from Bunnings. It is a powerful little machine and I have put Radiata through it and also so 20 year old stringy bark and it did a beautiful job of it an although they were only short pieces there was no snipe on them. This could be a problem on longer timber but you can always cut it over size.

Regards

Bazza

DarrylF
21st October 2003, 09:25 PM
I bought the Ryobi, hated it, returned it & bought the DeWalt, which I love - but maybe I'm just a picky SOB :)

Barry_White
21st October 2003, 11:38 PM
I suppose it is horses for courses at a $700.00 difference I would love the DeWalt over a Ryobi also but it is what you can afford and what you want the machine to do.

Regards

Bud
22nd October 2003, 12:46 AM
Hey Darryl, can you tell me exactly what it was you did'nt like about the Ryobi. This would help me re. going ahead with my purchase of same. I believe they're just a basic thicknesser, without the bells a whistles of the more expensive machines. However, this does'nt worry me. I have also heard that they are fairly noisey. Regards Bud.

DarrylF
22nd October 2003, 07:18 AM
Bud,

There's a thread here somewhere from about a year ago I guess from when I bought the Ryobi - worth taking a look there.

All 12" thicknessers are noisy - to varying degrees - with the Delta being the quietest, but not by a lot. Until you get into the 15" range with TEFC induction motors it's something you gotta live with. Even they aren't quiet. Good set of ear muffs and bugger the neighbors :)

The main problems with the Ryobi that stick out to me now are the general finish of it, lack of dust collection, alignment of tables, snipe, and the fact that I could not convince the thing to remove more than 1/32" in a pass - even from narrow pine. The casting at the infeed side would not physically allow it.

Only removing 1/32" at a time doesn't sound like too much of a problem - until you resaw a piece of hardwood and try to flatten the resulting undulating rough as guts piece of timber and it jams on infeed or refuses to feed at all. On the DeWalt with a really rough resaw job I can let off the head lock and it'll feed just about anything.

On a tight budget, look seriously at the Carbatec - at least they will demonstrate it for you.

If you want better, look at the Delta from Carbatec, or do what I did and get a DeWalt. Find a Gasweld store near a Bunnings. Gasweld's normal price is about $100 cheaper than Bunnings' normal price. Take their cattledog into Bunnies and make them beat it by their 10% guarantee. Also worth looking at the Jet.

Also remember that the DeWalt comes with the extra set of knives, tools & magnetic knife setting blocks, the dust extractor hood (believe me you NEED dust extraction), a spare drive belt and decent instructions.

gatiep
22nd October 2003, 02:30 PM
Originally posted by DarrylF
Bud,


On a tight budget, look seriously at the Carbatec - at least they will demonstrate it for you.




A very important point! Take a piece of timber of your own choice along and see how it handles it.


Have fun..........................keep turnin

mkcl
22nd October 2003, 04:05 PM
I also bought the DeWalt some time ago. While it is a good machine, and I'm sure I will get good service out of it, I found it had a few annoyances straight out of the box. When I tried my first test piece, the snipe was quite bad. The machine is supposed to be adjusted at the factory, but the tables on mine were clearly out of whack. After some adjustment, I managed to get the tables level, so I get much better results now.

Also, unlike Darryl, I didn't get a dust collection hood or an extra set of knives. (The unit was new in its box, which still had the shipping plastic and staples all intact, so I doubt anything was missing.) I thought the instruction booklet a bit poor by DeWalt standards, too--the pictures looked photocopied and grainy.

On the positive side, I got a pretty good price from Glenfords (on special).

BTW, if you're in Sydney, don't bother trying to price match with Bunnies. They don't carry it as a stock item any more. I searched all over Sydney for a Bunnies with one left over from when they did stock it, and could only find a lone demo model out at Minchinbury, which was covered in crud, missing its paperwork, and since it was $5 less than the cheapest price I could find, they wouldn't price match. I figured for $5 extra, I might as well get a brand new one!

Michael.

DarrylF
22nd October 2003, 09:49 PM
Not all the DeWalt thicknessers come with the extra blades & dust hood - didn't get them with mine a year ago, but looking around you will probably find the bundle.

My local Bunnies (Tuggerah) has the DeWalt in stock, and the Gasweld up the road has it cheaper.

craigb
23rd October 2003, 11:27 AM
I also purchased the DeWalt, due in no small part to DarrylF's experiences with it. :)

Although it doesn't get heaps of use, when I do use it it does a fansatstic job. Ultra smooth surface and zero snipe.

Unlike mkcl, I had no problems with the setup, it worked beautifully straight out of the box.

Mkcl is right Darryl, Bunnies in Sydney don't stock it.

Oh, and I had to purchase the dust hood separately.

Cheers
Craig

Ruffy
23rd October 2003, 02:48 PM
Have just recently bought the Ryobi AP13 thicknesser. First thing I did was check out the table levels - all was OK there.

Ran a couple of small pieces of scrap (pine & some old hardwood fence palings) through it, no snipe and other than being very noisy all appeared fine.

Decided to try it out on a long length (about 4.2m) of oregon that is lying there waiting for me to finish the pergola with.

Took my time setting up 3 of the Triton multi-stands 1 on the in-feed side and 2 on the out-feed. There was no visible snipe on either end and I took off 2mm in the pass.

So for the uses I need a thicknesser for this seems to be money well spent and allows me to spend more money on other equipment which I consider to be of more use/value.

:D

Daniel
23rd October 2003, 04:29 PM
Just out of curiosity, what is the maximum you can take off at a time with these small thicknessers.

Use 90*90 pine as an example.

Daniel

Dean
23rd October 2003, 04:30 PM
3mm

Arron
23rd October 2003, 08:21 PM
OK, thicknesser gurus. I know Hare and Forbes has an entry level thicknesser. I think its around $700 although I dont have a catalogue handy to confirm this. How does it compare to the brands you are talking about.
thanks
Arron

kenmil
23rd October 2003, 08:26 PM
Arron,

They have a 12.5" 1500 watt (T-12B)for $459 made in China and a 13" 1600 watt (T-13)for $699, made in Taiwan.
Don't have either, so can't comment.

DarrylF
23rd October 2003, 11:29 PM
3mm is the theoretical maximum cut with any small thicknesser, but it very much depends on the range of factors you'd expect it to - width of cut, hardness of the timber, condition of the blades & rollers etc.

Try taking 3mm off a 12" wide Jarrah board and you're being a tad optimistic :)

mkcl
24th October 2003, 10:37 AM
Probably getting a bit off topic here, but since we're talking thicknessers ... does anyone know the size of the dust collection port on the DW7331? Is it the standard 4", or do you need some sort of connector to use it with a normal 4" hose?

Michael.

craigb
24th October 2003, 11:08 AM
4" will work.
It also comes with an adaptor to step it down to 2.5". I don't know how effective the extraction would be through that size hose.