Thread: The ongoing saga of the ML392

Thanks outback, lets hope I am as lucky as you have been. I am overall happy with the quality of the machine. I do not have the space for two separate machines so it was a no brainer for me. It is also significantly less noisy than my old GMC thicknesser which is a major bonus.

I will be trying out the thicknesser over the weekend, it may need some alignment.

The fence may well be a problem for chamfering as it is not perfectly flat but it does a good job of jointing.

regards

Marios

Good luck with the fence, they are a dodgy piece of gear, follow the advice above about packing, shimming, swearing and hitting. I was lucky, mine was straight, it is just a poor system they use for alignment, neccesiatating a full realignment each time it is removed and replaced.

Ok here it is, a summary of my impresions of the AW106 so far...


I have used the jointer for a few days and I am very happy with it, I did not need to make any adjustments to the tables at all. The fence needs to be checked every time you move it but adjustment is quick. Extraction on the jointer is near perfect. The finish obtained on softwoods and hardwood is very good, much better than what I have been used to.

The thicknesser is also a fantastic machine, it is very quick to adjust to the correct height, but dont trust the scales, these need re-calibration. One annoying thing about the thicknesser is that if you are thicknessing small pieces (not very thick that is), when you change back to jointer mode you need to wind down the table. I suspect this is a limitation of all combos. There is NO snipe with my machine which is a huge change between my previous thicknesser, the GMC. Dust extraction on the thicknesser is satisfactory but not perfect, every now and then you have to wipe down the table.

A huge benefit more me as I live in a residential area is that the machine is relatively quiet compared to my previous thicknesser. Also having placed te combo on a mobile base it makes it extremely portable and very easy to push into the corner of a small shed (I have very little shed space).

All in all my impressions over this week are favourable. It is difficult to know whether the machine will be reliable in the long run but for now I am very happy with this purchaase and I would recommend it to anyone who needs a jointer and thicknesser but doesnt have the space for stand-alone machines.

regards

Marios

I concure with all your findings.

I only use the scale a as a really rough guesstimate, if I'm after a perzact thickness I measure.

Winding down the table is a PIA, but that's life.

I have recently brought a ML392 from timbecon. I have had no major dramas other than those listed in the thread. The one issue I do experience which I cannot see that anyone else has experienced is that when in thicknesser mode, you have set the height to what you require, I feed the wood through and the thicknesser, the locking mechanism does not lock the table off fully. I can refeed the wood through 5 or more times and it is still takes a cut from the face. It is like the table is flexing. I have also noticed that the handle drops even with the table lock mechanisim fully turned in.

Has anyone experienced this problem?????and do you have a solution?????

I look forward to hearing from all of you users....

Cheers

Speed80

Take the side cover off and check out the locking rod/nut at the post housing. It may be stripped.

cheers, will have a look at the weekend.

Speed80

Can anyone comment on where to get the cheapest blades for these machines from, I remember hearing that buying by the length and having them cut was cheapest but don't know where from? Online is good, somewhere in Perth is better. I know that you can get them from Timbecon and Carbatec but am looking for a supplier of possibly better quality at an equal or better price.

Originally Posted by jakiiski

The blade size is 260x3x30 (in millimeters).

Just in case anyone orders some blades based on this thread, I just pulled the blades out of mine and they are 250 x 30 x 3

Well I have to say that after spending a good few hours now tuning the machine, I am pretty happy I did not buy it and it is just on loan. It is my fathers machine and he reported that he had to force timber through it and it would not feed. My first through was that the machine had the common drive wheel rubber problem but that is in perfect order and the feed rollers are rotating fine (even marking the timber when it ceases to feed). At first I thought it was the bar in front of the kickback fingers catching the timber and causing it to stop, so I raised the infeed table as high as I could and reset the blades to match. This had the effect of bringing the blades out of the cutter head further and naking sure there was clearence between the bar and the timber.

This has not helped at all, the table is smooth and has been waxed but the timber continues to stall in the machine and when it does feed it tend to draw the timber across to the right. To give you an idea of how hard it is to feed the timber, I can push on it hard enough to move the machine.

Has anyone else had this problem and if so what was the solution?

The only time I have had a "jamming" problem is either when the thicknesser table needed cleaning and waxing, or when the side to be cut (top side) varies greatly in thickness. This results in the feed starting OK, then when an unacceptable thickness is reached it jams. Other than that, can't help. I assume that you have jointed one side before running it through the thicknesser. Just had to ask.

It has been run through the saw so the thickness is uniform but not jointed and the problem still persists after multiple passes on both sides (when it is definitley smooth and uniform). The machine has freshly sharpened blades and it is not labouring so I doubt it is from the amount of material being cut off (1/2 turn on the wheel).

The timber is about 40mm square so I am thinking that could it be the smaller surface area causing it - I will try putting through a wider piece tomorrow and see if it still does it.

I must admit I have not had any major problems. I think that the machine is probably underpowered at times but I suppose for the price (and more importantly for me - the footprint) it is an excellent machine. The only time I had troubles with the timber getting through and even tending to veer off on one side is when I hadn't realized that the dust extractor bag was full and I kept planing . After an hour of dismantling, cleaning and sharpening the blades it was all good again . Luckily I hadn't made a mess of the belts!

regards

Marios

May have nothing to do with it, but a similar issue with my H&F cheapie.

You mention timber drifting to side/skewing.

When this happens on mine, and board reaches either side on machine, there is a sharp edge which digs into the (say) 20mm edge of the board, and jams it, even if it looks like there is still clearance. Have to yank the leading end of the board sideways to clear, and then feeds again.

If I concentrate on controlling board feed to keep away from sides, problem doesn't arise.

regards