Thread: Is my thicknesser a dud or am I the problem?

I have the crapatec thicknesser and it had HSS as standard when new.

We have the Carbatec bench model with the spiral head at our Men's Shed. Came with HSS square cutters. Improved out of sight when we replaced the cutters with carbide ones from SJE (thanks, Steve).

The other thing that made a HUGE difference was getting the chip extraction right. Originally the cut became rough pretty soon after we got it (couple of months) and extremely noisy. When we looked at the cutters it was clear the chips were not getting cleared fast enough, building up inside and creating a serious heat problem. Once we sorted out the extraction there was a big improvement in cut quality and reduction in noise. The thicknesser we have, at least, needs a good strong extractor to keep it clear.

Brian

Homey, do you or could you get a pic or describe what was done to improve the chip collection? (if you know).

Ive been thinking of replacing the black screw on collector as the hole is on the wrong side.

I quite like BobL's PVC masterpieces and was thinking of making a new one up.

I was actually going to mention Chode's extraction earlier, but decided to stay on point. In the vid it looks look there's a 100mm hose going off a choke point that looks to be about 50mm(?).

This is disastrous for good air flow, and knocks the extraction right down. Dust Collectors are all about air volume, not air speed (which is the domain of Shop Vacs). When 100mm is choked down to 50mm the cross sectional are is only ¼ of what it needs to be, and this inhibits extraction dramatically. There only has to be one point in the line at 50mm for this to occur (so if a 100mm hose goes into a 100mm hose, joined by a 50mm connector....yer buggered).

Manufacturers appear to have no concept of the fundamentals of air flow. Almost all machines seem to have ports that are too small.

Originally Posted by FenceFurniture

Manufacturers appear to have no concept of the fundamentals of air flow. Almost all machines seem to have ports that are too small.

I think it's more likely that the manufacturers of very low end thicknessers expect that the typical user will either disconnect the dust shroud, or connect it to a shop vac.

Hi Woodpixel,

Sorry - nothing extraordinary. We just had a poor shop vac connected and replaced it with a connection to our main dusty. Given the amount of chips that are created I think the 2.5 inch dust ports are crazy. I'm thinking of building a replacement dust shroud with a proper 4 inch port. I'm convinced this is the source of many people's problems with these otherwise OK machines.

Did think about removing the closed end of the dust shroud and installing a fan to "push" the chips towards the exit port, but it wouldn't take a big fan so probably not much value.

Love to hear if anyone else has a creative solution.

brian

Update:

I turned all of the original HSS blades around and used a bit of wax on the base of the machine (I only had candles on hand) and voila! It's working like a treat. So in summary, I was the dud (and the blades to some extent) but the machine is perfectly fine. I really underestimated the quality of the original blades and the effect blunt blades would have on feeding the timber through.

Hopefully someone finds this useful in future if they're trying to troubleshoot the same issue. Thanks to everyone for your help.

I was actually going to mention Chode's extraction earlier, but decided to stay on point. In the vid it looks look there's a 100mm hose going off a choke point that looks to be about 50mm(?).

Correct. It's a 100mm hose but the machine only came with a 50mm output which is annoying but not much I can do about that atm. When I get more serious I'll update all of my dust extraction components.

look at it go!

Maybe we should build a bed for them like this dudes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eadz-uNuD-4

Originally Posted by woodPixel

look at it go!

Maybe we should build a bed for them like this dudes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eadz-uNuD-4

Yeah I have seen that before. I thought an adjustable table you could roll around and place on the outfeed side would be better.