Thread: Thicknesser or planner

JH,

The correct answer in a perfect world is BOTH...They do different jobs.

If you have a piece of timber that is twisted or bowed then the planer (jointer) helps you achieve a flat surface.

Once you have a flat surface on the timber you feed it through the thicknesser to get the other side of the timber also flat at a certain thickness.

In the case of a thicknesser..."Banana in...Banana out". This means if you timber has a bow in it along its length, it will still come out as a bowed piece of timber BUT at a constant thickness.

1) Use Jointer/Planner first to flatten 2 adjacent sides of a piece of timer

2) Next through the thicknesser to achieve 4 flat straight surfaces at constant thickness.

Hope this helps

Totally agree with Skot.
I was at similar point to you some months ago. I couldn’t afford both and besides, I don’t have the room. I bought a thicknesses, and following instruction on the Web made a “jointer” sled. Using wedges and a hot glue gun, I believe I can achieve about 90-95% of what a jointer can do but it’s a lot of time and trouble. On a wide board, this method will only allow one side to be flattened.
Look the method up on the Web.
I use my thicknesses often, more often in fact that I believe I would use a jointer.

Hi John,
There's a lot of very good woodworking clubs and men's sheds in the North East. A lot of them have some extraordinarily good equipment. A bit of a search and a visit might help you make up your mind. Bet you end up wanting both!

Thank you you have explained just what i wanted to know without going round in circles, now the $64 dollar question what is the preferred buy among everyone. This evening I have been looking a de Walt, Makita and now the Jet all portable machines. Should old adage of buy bigger for later come into the question. Carbatech CTJ381 appears to get a couple of good writes ups.

If this is the Carbatec machine you mentioned (new code for the CTJ381 you posted) then it’s a very nice machine IMO

https://www.carbatec.com.au/machiner...-code-ctj-381x

It uses a 15A plug so hopefully you already have one in your workshop. I have a smaller unit, the Dewalt 735XE which has straight blades. Yours has spiral cutters which is a major advantage. I am very happy with my unit but it certainly doesn’t have the capability of the one you are looking at.

Originally Posted by Lappa

If this is the Carbatec machine you mentioned (new code for the CTJ381 you posted) then it’s a very nice machine IMO

https://www.carbatec.com.au/machiner...-code-ctj-381x

It uses a 15A plug so hopefully you already have one in your workshop. I have a smaller unit, the Dewalt 735XE which has straight blades. Yours has spiral cutters which is a major advantage. I am very happy with my unit but it certainly doesn’t have the capability of the one you are looking at.

If you can stretch the budget a wee bit more, consider a combination planer & thicknesser. Here you're spending $3300, and yes, it's a nice 15" thicknesser.

But - do you need 15"? Consider that most times, if you can thickness 15", then you want to joint 15" boards too. And possibly resaw 15" on your bandsaw. All of that is pretty high end kit.

You might be better considering a combo machine that is either 10" or 12": https://www.carbatec.com.au/machiner...er-thicknesser

Ok to clarify, you do not NEED both. For one project, I would consider only getting one, and I would make it the thicknesser.

A planer is a more important tool which does a more important operation with which you cannot dispense. With that said, you can jig a thicknesser to do a planer's job, or you could do the job of a planer with hand planes (I did this for years).

If if I were you, I'd buy the thicknesser and then either find a friend with a planer, jig the thicknesser, or flatten it by hand. If you enjoy making furniture, then go buy a planer.

Or buy a combination machine and be done with it. Also keep in mind you have to use dust collection with a thicknesser, and you probably also need to with a planer, so that's another thing to buy.

Hope that helps,
Luke

If your real needs are occasional, have a look on utube for using a router and a pair of rails and a simple sled. I tried this a few months ago and was impressed with what can be achieved. Also did a bunch of other timber on planer and thicknesser and that is way faster of course. But if needs be, the router sled approach definitely gets the result.

Considering you're considering spending $3.3k on a thicknesser, why not go for two, slightly smaller machines (or one combination machine)? You really will need both, and I doubt I ever use one without the other. This is especially true if you want to work with rough wood or recycle (and buying dresses wood is crazy expensive here). You could make a jig for the thicknesser do do the jointer's job, but that's so much trouble. I currently have a 15" bench-top thicknesser with helical head I paid around $800 for, and I'm very happy with it, not that it wouldn't be nice to have a bigger machine but this one really does all I need for now. Only one note for the jointer - don't go for 1hp models, I have one and find it very underpowered. The same boards that my thicknesser processes with no issue, the jointer simply can't plane without a LOT of tearout. I'm a beginner myself so this is not expert advice, but something I've found being in a similar situation as yourself.

If you're itching to drop $3k on a new toy I'd get the Carbatec combo machine.

Depending on how much use you'll get out of it, as others have said its good to have both (but not essential) as there are ways around either machine. eg I've got both and depending on what I'm doing I will sometimes use only one machine, sometimes both. at the moment I'm making solid wood edge banding for plywood cabinets. the lumber gets squared on the jointer and straight onto the table saw.

I wouldn't ever spend more on a thicknesser than what the current Carbatec unit has to offer. I've taken a good look at the Powermatic unit and feel like the Carbatec unit is too similar in fit and finish to spend the additional cash.

In your origional post you are talking about the cost of sandpaper and wood filler. If you are talking about finishing then jointers and thicknessers are not your problem.

If you don't like the cost of sandpaper learn to use a cabinet scraper. You can make your own wood filler from wood dust and a binding agent (like wood glue).

I have a hepco beckam combination jointer/thicknesser. It has a 10" capacity and I bought it second hand for about $450 as I recall. Have a look on ebay and gumtree. If you get one with the knives shot you can get a spiral head upgrade for about $500+. It will last a lifetime and improve the performance of the machine.

I've also got a 13" thicknesser with dro. I've switched it on to see that it works but never put a piece of timber through it.

If you have a router those router sleds can be made cheaply and work extremely well. Their capacity is only limited by the length of the rails you make. The right hand held router can solve an extraordinary number of problems with a selection of jigs. They are remarkable machines. I have 3 and use them a LOT.

These might be worth a look. Not sure where they are in relation to you..

https://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/menz...er-/1168886514

https://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/chir...er-/1168545016

https://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/wong...ine/1166311034

combination machine 3 phase so...

https://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/scor...ine/1167891657

has a single to 3 phase converter ... ?

People seem to be asking big money for everything at the moment..