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  1. #16
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Location
    NSW
    Posts
    90

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    Yep, as mentioned above, left side is for the first few passes, then finish with the right. When i replace knives, the first chip will determine what side i use, and i draw a big arrow on the top of the thicknesser to remind myself. When planing wide boards, the first pass will leave ridges, however on the finish pass bykeepingg the depth the same and reversing the way the board is fed in the machine, the ridges will be removed.

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  3. #17
    Join Date
    Feb 2016
    Location
    Melbourne
    Age
    37
    Posts
    38

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    Quote Originally Posted by Tahlee View Post
    I have one of these .. the spiral/helix head one ... for 2 years now ...

    Here is a video on them https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ppb52hCgKU

    I am very happy with the machine ... use it several times per week.

    You have to take the cast iron fence off and fold back the jointer table to access the thichneser ... takes less than 1 minute ... some say its a pain but I tend to do all my jointing and then convert my machine to a thicknesser ... I would think that this swap over would take less time than rolling out separate machines

    I have rotated the blades twice ... once a year ... I think you can resharpen them ... they are costly if you cant.... but I have another 2 years before the blades are rotated on all four sides.

    My big tip is to get the Axminster height dial gauge ... they are fantastic ... can really rely of the accuracy and cut reliably to within 0.05mm.

    The big note is that the motor is 1.5hp ... and it can really do a full 245mm board of walnut to 1mm .... but I prefer to do such wide boards at a lesser rate.

    The Jet 310 is a better machine ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuTkYUCX3ao but I have never been let down by the Carbatec model.

    You will need to get a dial indicator to confirm the setup ... BIG TIP dont mess around with the set-up unless you have a dial indicator.

    I get absolutely no snipe on the jointer ... or lengths under 1.5m on the thickneser ... for long boards of 2.4M i do get some snipe but only because i dont have a long outfeed table.

    The helix head is actually less s noisy than the dust collector .. do yourself a favour and get the helix head first off.

    Make sure you get a good 4 wheel base ... all 4 wheels pivot type ... the machine is heavy.

    Send me a PM if you would like to travel the Eltham to have a good look at the machine.

    Regards

    Rob
    Did you import one of them from the UK?

  4. #18
    Join Date
    Jan 2017
    Location
    Melbourne
    Age
    42
    Posts
    126

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    So I just picked up my new Carbatec 13" spiral head thicknesser... It's awesome!

    Straight out of the box, there was about 50mm of snipe at either end of the oregon I ran through as a test, with a small adjustment to the feed tables, that was gone.

    I ran a few offcuts of radiata pine, oregon and some ash through it and was really impressed. I was only taking 0.5mm - 1.0mm at a time but it wasn't noisy at all... To give you an idea of how quiet it is, my wife still managed to get our 2yr old daughter down for bedtime while I was running it 6ft away with only a brick veneer wall between us.

    Chip clearance was fine while just using my little Ryobi shop vac, I took the shroud off afterwards and checked for build up and found none.

    Really looking forward to running some more through it over the weekend.

  5. #19
    Join Date
    Jan 2017
    Location
    Melbourne
    Age
    42
    Posts
    126

    Default

    I put some more ash through it today, and some old spotted gum flooring... The gum made some racket, even taking just 0.5mm off, and it struggled to feed in some points. I think the tables were a little high after my snipe adjustment so the board was being pressed down in the middle by the head/rollers... but it was easily overcome by keeping some light pressure on the board as it went in, and then a light pull on the way out.

    Still very pleased with it, I might just be a little more selective about the hours I run hardwood through it.

  6. #20
    Join Date
    Aug 2013
    Location
    Montmorency Victoria
    Posts
    554

    Default

    Congrats on the acquisition.

    I note from your post of the 28th that you adjusted the tables .. and on the 29th you again had snipe ... take it from me ... personal experience with jointer .. that you don't really want to go changing the table's factory settings unless you have precision measuring equipment ... avoid the temptation.

    The snipe at the beginning of the piece is usually caused when longer pieces are fed into the machine at an angle other than perfectly horizontal ... and if they drop on the outfeed they will also snipe .. If you aint getting snipe on short pieces (say 500mm or less) but on longer pieces then the angle of approach and departure is most likely. Build some infeed and outfeed tables and see the results before adjusting the machine tables.

    I do get the occasional snipe on my combo thicknesser on heavy long pieces .... and my table is one piece of solid cast iron for its entire length. But I live with it as the logistics of 2ms of infeed table and 2m of outfeed is well beyond the price of the snipe ... also my tables changes height ... not the cutter head.

    Have lots of fun with the new machine ..(I think Carbatec recommend tungsten blades if you are doing hardwoods)

    Regards

    Rob

  7. #21
    Join Date
    Jan 2017
    Location
    Melbourne
    Age
    42
    Posts
    126

    Default

    Thanks for the feedback Rob, i'm quite new to some of the machines i've got now, so I appreciate any insights from those with much more knowledge.

    The snipe was on a workpiece about 450mm long, the fact it was even both ends, and the snipe was the same length as the distance between the drive rollers and the cutter head, I assumed it was due to the piece entering in an upward angle, and then dropping as it exited... Because the feed tables were too low.

    When I placed a straight edge (1.2m Kingchrome level) on the bed, I found that the tables were in fact low at the extremities, so I adjusted them to level this out. I slightly over adjusted them to allow for any flex in the tables, but it looks like the flex is less than I expected as on longer pieces the machine was struggling in the centre section as the cutter head was bending the longer timber down in the centre because the end of the table were slightly higher than the bed.

    Because the adjustment bolts for the table are so close to the pivot point of the tables, even a tiny adjustment becomes significant when that angle is projected out to the end of the tables. Shouldn't be hard to get right though.

    I'll be investing in the carbide cutters once these ones dull, which i'm expecting to happen rather quickly with the tiber i'm using... This is a price i'm willing to pay for the learning experience.

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