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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    Australia
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    752

    Default Wood Fast Model PT310 Planer/Thicknesser

    I'm looking at buying Model PT310 Planer/Thicknesser $2199.00 from woodfast.
    http://www.woodfast.com.au/index.php?p=1_22

    It got good reviews in Australian Wood Review.
    The JET/Felder models are a little out of budget.
    The Carbatec/Shepach models are a little.

    Some argue for wider thicknesser and jointer such as a 8" jointer and 15" thicknesser. This is a slightly more expensive option. Moreso, the shed is a single garage, so combo machine is much better on floor space.

    What are people's experience?
    Happy? Unhappy?
    Any mod's they've done?

    Dan
    My blog: ~ for the love of wood ~ - http://theloveofwood.blogspot.com/

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  3. #2
    Join Date
    Mar 2004
    Location
    Brisbane (western suburbs)
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    77
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    12,093

    Default

    Hi Dan.
    I've had one for a couple of months. I really wanted the 12" planing capacity - already had a 12" thicknesser, but only a 6" jointer, which was a real limitation when trying to dress wide boards, & since I have access to a few trees now & then, I end up with some nice boards I certainly don't want to saw down the middle. The appeal of scrub planing large areas of wood kind of disappeared, along with my youth & endurance. I decided on the combo approach because of space limitations, too - would like a wider thicknesser, but then I'd like a wider planer to go with it. Have put mine on a set of wheels (the kind with cam-operated castors that let the base sit back on the floor when you flip the locks up) and it all works very nicely & sits firmly on the floor in use, with no walking around. Then in a few seconds & with no effort I can wheel it away to its alloted corner, where it sits happily when not being used. I looked at the Jet, but couldn't see just by looking where the extra 1200 bucks worth was. Might have been different if I could have used each for a while, but the strange thing about buying machinery is you don't get to try before buying, you just have to take it on faith it will do what it's claimed to do!

    Initial impressions are that it's a reasonable value for money compared with some other combos I've used. It's solid, apart from the thicknesser platten winder (see below). The planer works quite well, better than I'd hoped, in fact, & the table length is a good compromise, IMO. It looks shorter because of the width, but is actually almost as long as my 6" with extensions up. I was a bit dubious about the aluminium fence, but it seems to work fine, with no serious deflection, even when jointing a fairly heavy board. Be warned about one little habit - the sharp corner of the fence is designed expressly for taking chunks of skin off your knuckles as you joint a 6" board, however, a bit of work with a fine file has reduced that hazard considerably (after the second time I tore a chunk of skin off! ). The infeed table sets easily & locks firmly despite the fairly lightweight-looking locking system. I've put some heavy boards over it & it hasn't budged.

    The planer works ok, but doesn't do as fine a job as my old screamer - a Hitachi with a univesal motor, which runs its cutter head about 50% faster, and gives a very fine finish despite having only 2 cutters vs. the Woodfasts's 3. While on the subject of cutters - it's a no-frills cutterhead, so is going to be the usual PITA to set blades accurately when changing. The Hitachi has the most elegant and simple system, that works like a dream, so I'm going to miss that. A simple indexing lock at top dead centre for the cutter head would go a long way to helping, & surely wouldn't cost more than a few $$s to include at manufacture?

    The thickness indicator is very basic & quite inaccurate, but that doesn't worry me at all as I never use them for anything but a rough guide. I'm glad they save a few bucks there & don't foist some dinky digital system on me that I don't want or need (at great extra cost).

    So far, my only worry is the thicknesser platten raising/lowering system. It relies on a couple of pretty ordinary nylon (or similar plastic) cogs to transfer the horizontal hand wheel rotation into vertical rotation of the 4 screws that move the platten. If you crank too hard, or the table jams against a piece of wood, the cogs simply jump over each other. The chain-driven platten screws aren't the fattest I've seen, but seem adequate, and the platten says firmly where you put it. Not sure how the jumping cogs translate into long-term wear, but I guess we'll see. Everything else seems solid & functional enough.

    In short, you gets what you pays for - for a weekend warrior like me, it does what I need without (quite) breaking the bank. I read the review, too, & it influenced my purchase quite a bit, but there were a few things like my gripes above that the reviewer either didn't notice, or diplomatically neglected to mention. On the purely positive side, I've run it flat out nearly all day a couple of times & it didn't complain at all - in fact I'm still getting used to how quiet it is compared to the old screamer. So apart from the few minor gripes, I'm a happy camper.

    Be interested to hear what others who have one, think.....

    Cheers,
    IW

  4. #3
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    Australia
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    Default

    Thanks for the feedback. It doesn't matter how many times you read the specifications there'll always be these little things.

    Did you come up with any tricks to set the cutter head? Any jigs etc?

    Not much you can go about the nylon, I'm sure they can be replaced if they ever failed.
    My blog: ~ for the love of wood ~ - http://theloveofwood.blogspot.com/

  5. #4
    Join Date
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    Quote Originally Posted by BozInOz View Post
    Did you come up with any tricks to set the cutter head? Any jigs etc?
    Not yet - I bought a second set (ever notice how you always hit that nail on the Saturday afternoon of a long weekend? ) but have yet to fit them. The machine comes with a dinky bit of Aluminium square tube & some unintelligible instructions, but I guess I'll figure it out when the time comes (with a few expletives & a deal of head-scratching....)

    Quote Originally Posted by BozInOz View Post
    Not much you can go about the nylon, I'm sure they can be replaced if they ever failed.
    I'm sure - but will I be able to source any??

    Cheers,
    IW

  6. #5
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    Australia
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    Default

    Carabatec has quoted me $2085 plus $261 to ship it.

    How big and heavy is the box? You reckon I could pick it up in my suburu forester?
    My blog: ~ for the love of wood ~ - http://theloveofwood.blogspot.com/

  7. #6
    Join Date
    Mar 2004
    Location
    Brisbane (western suburbs)
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    Quote Originally Posted by BozInOz View Post
    Carabatec has quoted me $2085 plus $261 to ship it.

    How big and heavy is the box? You reckon I could pick it up in my suburu forester?
    Boz - I doubt it would fit in the back of the Forrester. The machine itself is 175Kg, and it comes to about 225Kg in the shipping box, if I remember rightly. So weight isn't too big a factor - it's the length of the box. It was a comfortable fit on the back of my little Proton ute, which has a bit less than 1.8M of useable floor length, so if the Forrester has about that much room with the back seat out, you might squeeze it in. They loaded it for me with the forklift, so that was no drama (the bloke on the forklift had done this once or twice before - took him all of about 45 seconds). To get it off, I stripped the box away, put two poles under the thicknesser platten (as instructed in the manual) & four of us lifted it down & got it into the shed easily. I managed to get it onto the mobile base from there by myself (with a few grunts & snorts!).

    You got a better price than I did - but no shipping, so we're about even!
    Cheers,
    Edit: If you like, I can measure the box dimensions when I get home tonight - the bits are still there....
    IW

  8. #7
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    Australia
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    Hi Daniel,
    The box sizes are 130cm x 57cm x 114cm and the weight is 225Kgs you would need a trailer if you were pick it up.
    If you could pick it up would be the cheapest option to ship it would require being delivered by a tailgate truck.
    You did not indicate where it would be shipped to if you let me know I may be able to work out the cheapest delivery cost.
    Regards
    Graham Dowling
    Manager Wood Fast
    A box that size might fit in the back. I'll probably take a trailer from Newastle to Syd to get it. I don't fancy a forklift going into the back of it either.
    The problem is my driveway is on a serious angle (bout 30 degree) for 5m from a narrow lane.
    I have some blackbutt (4x2) (yet to be machined workbench pieces) I could use under the platten (if it's designed for that.)
    Now I'll just have to have a BBQ and conveniently have some blokes over.

    Also waiting for carb-a-slow to update my quote to include some other smaller items.

    Thanks for the advise. Keep it coming if you think of any.
    My blog: ~ for the love of wood ~ - http://theloveofwood.blogspot.com/

  9. #8
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    Australia
    Posts
    752

    Default

    A quick trip to carbatec and back and the thicknesser is now in my shed.

    $1950 was the final price.

    Loaded onto trailer with forklift.
    Used two blackbutt boards through the forklift holes on the palatte.
    Slid it into the shed with the help of 5 blokes.

    Filled two dust bags full of chips and I'm pretty happy with it.
    Nice machine.
    My blog: ~ for the love of wood ~ - http://theloveofwood.blogspot.com/

  10. #9
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    Jan 2008
    Location
    Australia
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    Default

    I noticed yesterday that the outfeed table is about 1mm higher than the cutterhead. This is preventing easy jointing as the wood runs into the outfeed tap and then jams or jumps.

    Can the table be adjusted? or the cutter head raised? or will all the blades need to be lifted slightly to compensate?
    My blog: ~ for the love of wood ~ - http://theloveofwood.blogspot.com/

  11. #10
    Join Date
    Mar 2004
    Location
    Brisbane (western suburbs)
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    Quote Originally Posted by BozInOz View Post
    I noticed yesterday that the outfeed table is about 1mm higher than the cutterhead. This is preventing easy jointing as the wood runs into the outfeed tap and then jams or jumps.

    Can the table be adjusted? or the cutter head raised? or will all the blades need to be lifted slightly to compensate?
    That's a serious impediment to getting a straight edge! I haven't even noticed if the outfeed is adjustable or not on mine - it is perfectly aligned with the blade edges & produces a straight board, thankfully.

    As the outfeed table is the one you lift out of the way for thicknessing, is it sitting back properly & locked-in after you moved back to jointer mode? (Can't see how it wouldn't be, but worth a check).

    Otherwise, you are up for resetting your cutter knives - something I'm not looking forward to, when I have to do my first cutter replacement. The lack of a few extra $$s worth of bits like a snap-lock for blade TDC turns a very simple procedure into a right tedious, PITA!

    Good luck...
    IW

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