Thickness Planer

[laudesan]

Could someone reccomend a good reliable brand please. I wish to buy one for DH Alan's birthday/Xmas present, and am amazed that most come from the Asian Market with only 6 month warrenty. We can't afford a Dewalt :( which was our first choice..

JJ

[DarrylF]

Nice pressie :)

Take a look at the Delta for $799 at http://www.carbatec.com.au - or they have a Chinese one under their own brand at $499 at the moment. Failing that the only other realistic choice would be the Ryobi I guess. Go for the Delta - I doubt you'd regret spending a bit extra for much better quality.

The subject has been discussed many times - take a browse through here and you'll find lots of opinions on various machines.

[laudesan]

Thanks..I will show Alan the Delta when he comes up from the workshop.. Are these a reliable brand???
What cost are invovled in repairs do you know??
Are they easily repaired??
Are the blades and parts easily available??

Don't want to know much do i?? :D

[DarrylF]

I'm sure will move this thread to the hand tools & machinery forum, but in the mean time... :)

Delta are one of the top brands in the US, have been for many years. Most of their machines (like most brands) are Chinese or Taiwanese made. With better quality control than most, they are better quality than most of the other brands.

Carbatec are the distributors in Australia - so parts etc come from them. Whether that's convenient I guess is dependent on where you live. Thicknessers are relatively simple machines, so with parts they are pretty easy to repair - but Carbatec handle servicing as well.

Carbatec have the blades as well - always worth having a spare set. Not entirely sure if the blades on this model can be sharpened, if so any reasonable saw sharpening service can handle that.

[laudesan]

After much thought and consideration, Alan has decided he wants the Delta. He is waiting until after Christmas so we can save a bit more money to get it :)

Thank you for your comments and help..:)