Thread: Hafco Helical Head Thicknesser - Not impressed

Originally Posted by RossM

Ive seen articles where people have added an "auxiliary bed" to the thicky - you will lose some capacity, but get a level bed from infeed to outfeed. A length of melamine would do the trick. By all accounts it is a cheap way to improve a low end thicknesser. I have not tried this myself, but might give it a go.

I've done this with mine using 16mm melamine and feeding the timber on an angle uses all the cutters and eliminates snipe. It's a cheap easy fix.

We've also done this at our Men's Shed. It made a big difference - along with the TC cutters from Steve and making sure we optimised the vacuum.

Brian

Today I picked up some TC cutters from Steve and have already fitted them, but it's a bit late (8.05pm) to be firing up the thicknesser ). My neighbours are uncomplaining and I'd like to keep it like that

I'll report back tomorrow. I have that gnarly floorboard material that refuses to be planed without tearout...

I was hoping for a miracle but they seem a bit thin on the ground lately. Here's a photo of three of the floorboards edge jointed and then they've been put through the thicknesser:

sample.JPG

I've come to the conclusion that this stuff is just impossible to plane. I've tried everything and the only thing that gets it smooth is sandpaper.

Some pine does this no matter how sharp the cutters nor how tiny the cut. The grain just scoops out in little chunks.

For these timbers, they are fed into the thickness sander feet first! Some 80 grit does the best job.

Not sure if you are into hand planing, but they can deal with this, especially the high angle ones that act almost like scrapers. (I'm no expert)

Thanks woodPixel. I've tried hand planing with very sharp irons (though not the type you're suggesting) and results are still poor. I'm happy to accept it just can't be done and use the remaining amount of this stuff for use where it can't be seen. It's a strange material because as you can see from the photo the other two boards (of the same timber) plane fine. But if you run your finger over the surface of the offending board the lighter coloured parts feel like end grain.

I buy some magic timbers from Tasmania that are wavy like this. They look absolutely unbelievable, but they do tear out on these little double-backed pockets of grain. Its tricky stuff.

Looks like scraping, sanding, or a thickness sander is in your future.

Ive a Veritas low angle smoother, but it won't handle this kind of tearout perfectly, but it does do a pretty good job at it. Derek Cohen has a blog where he discusses this kind of trauma in some detail amongst the various reviews: Tool Reviews

Originally Posted by safari

What brand of aftermarket head was fitted Sawdust Maker?

The carbatec thicky was fitted with an aftermarket shelix - I believe it had to be sent to the US to be machined to fit the carbatec thicky (this was quite a few years ago)

the new thicky came standard with the helical

Apparently the carbatec thicky got a lot quieter with the shelix fitted (so I'm reliably informed) but the powermatic is so much quieter it is amazing

Thanks for chasing that up Sawdust Maker. It seems that the Shelix is definitely the one to go for.

we ended up buying a special torsion spanner as the lads kept overtightening the cutters

Torque wrenches for push bikes are ideal.

After thinking all my problems with my thicknesser had been resolved I decided to clean up a cutting board yesterday. This is the result:

DSC_2530 (Large).jpg DSC_2531 (Large).jpg DSC_2532 (Large).jpg DSC_2533 (Large).jpg

I don't know about you but I don't find that acceptable. There was nothing difficult about the timber, it's straight dry hardwood. I was trying to take off minimal amounts and did multiple passes. I can plane it easily with a hand plane.

So the things I've done to try and fix it are:

° Returned it to Hare & Forbes to have the infeed and outfeed tables aligned

° Applied some Silbergleib to the bed to prevent sticking (this seems to have worked so far)

° Replaced the original cutters with a set of TC cutters from SJE Tools

I must admit I've run out of ideas. Do I sell it?

Tony

I havent got an answer for you but that fourth photo shows a definite pattern - almost like it’s a uneven feed speed but with a rhythmic pattern or a row or two of cutters higher than the others. Two lines separated with a small space then a larger space then the two lines again separated by a small space?
Are the cutters in a straight line or spiral? How many rows of cutters are there?

Originally Posted by Lappa

I havent got an answer for you but that fourth photo shows a definite pattern - almost like it’s a uneven feed speed but with a rhythmic pattern or a row or two of cutters higher than the others. Two lines separated with a small space then a larger space then the two lines again separated by a small space?
Are the cutters in a straight line or spiral? How many rows of cutters are there?

The cutters are in a straight line and I think there are six rows of cutters if I remember correctly, four of four and two of five. The funny thing is I ran some other timber through it yesterday afternoon and apart from a bit of snipe it performed as I would have expected. It's this inconsistency that concerns me...