Thicknesser capacity compared to jointer capacity??

[chocwheaton]

Hi all,

I'm about to buy new table saw, jointer and thicknesser, but won't rehash all the usual decisions decisions guff going through my mind right now. So I have a different question instead :;

Does anyone know why jointer cutting capacity is so much less than thicknesser width cutting capacity? 6 or 8 inches seems to be the norm for jointers, but thicknessers with 13 inch and up width capacity are normal.

If you can only joint boards 8 inches wide, why do we need 13inches (or more) of width for thicknessing?

I guess it could be useful if you're thicknessing wide DAR boards, but it seems that the extra thicknessing width capacity might not be used very often.
Maybe I'm missing something (actually it's probably very likely :doh:)

Anyway it's not like I can buy an 8" thicknesser anyway, so this question doesn't effect my imminent purchasing decisions at all :B

Cheers

Greg

[Harry72]

Why... Because you can joint 2 boards on the jointer then glue up, then run them through the thicknesser.
But typically most people only joint the edge of the wood not the width, unless your dealing with badly warped wood.

Also having a thicknesser say 15" wide allows you to thickness 3x 5" boards at the same time.

[mic-d]

Why...But typically most people only joint the edge of the wood not the width, unless your dealing with badly warped wood.


Is that really what most people do?? I've always jointed a face first to ensure it is absolutely flat, then run that face on the fence and jointed an edge so you have a true face and edge, that are at 90º to each other. If you don't do this before you dress it in the thickmesser, chances are you'll end up with timber that's not uniform dimension and dressed square.

So from that point of view, I have no idea why a thicknesser needs to be larger than the jointer.
:?

Cheers
Michael

[SilentButDeadly]

I would love to see you try and put 15" worth of timber width through a 15" thicknesser and try and cut any more than what you'd expect a scraper to remove!!!

I've been putting 8" wide red gum boards through our 15" thicknesser and trying to take off more than half a mm tends to make the machine struggle!! I have run it aground and totally stopped the machine on just 1mm takes.

I still have no idea why they are so wide when they can struggle with narrower boards.......but I'm happy enough with it anyway!!

[silentC]

My thicknesser is 13" and I put panels up to that width through it often. My jointer is 6", so I'll generally work with boards of that size and glue them up to wider boards before a final pass through the thicknesser, although that can get you into trouble with grain direction and tear out. If I'm working on a lot of boards, I'll run two or three or more through at once. The other thing about having a wider capacity is that the blades last longer, provided you spread the wear. You'll probably find you make a lot more passes through a thicknesser than you do over a jointer.

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

Another way to look at it is from the "economics" point of view...

A jointer is primarily used for jointing. Funny thing, that. :D As a consequence, it's the section of the blade closest to the fence that sees the most wear. Sure, it'd be nice to have a 13" jointer (and I'm sure they're out there) but for most home workshops they'd not only be unaffordable but it'd be more expensive sharpening the blades and you'd be wasting a LOT of good steel every time you did sharpen the blades... as the outside 8" would probably have seen little use.

A thicknesser, on the other hand, benefits from being wider. Not only does it mean that you can feed through wider boards/glue-ups, but you can feed narrower pieces through on the diagonal to spread the wear evenly across the blade. Sure, a wider blade costs more (and to sharpen) but this pays for itself by either productivity or longer times between sharpens.

In practice, a combination of a small jointer and a 13"(ish) thicknesser is a helluva lot cheaper than a 13" jointer and of more practical benefit...

[Harry72]

Is that really what most people do?? I've always jointed a face first to ensure it is absolutely flat, then run that face on the fence and jointed an edge so you have a true face and edge, that are at 90º to each other. If you don't do this before you dress it in the thickmesser, chances are you'll end up with timber that's not uniform dimension and dressed square.

So from that point of view, I have no idea why a thicknesser needs to be larger than the jointer.
:?

Cheers
Michael
Yes, as most of my panel making is with 19mm pine, a small 2mm kick at one end of a board =15mm minimum thickness by the time its flattened! Not to mention the flex of the board compounding the difficulty of flattening.

When making frame work I pick the best lengths(clears)1st and leave the "featured leftovers" for the panel work.
With pine making panels you can take several opposing bowed or twisted boards glue them together to counteract each other... its one of the reasons we call it crapiarta!:2tsup:It can frustrating DAMHIKT:doh:

If working with thicker real wood yes I joint 2 sides at 90° to each other.

[Harry72]

"I would love to see you try and put 15" worth of timber width through a 15" thicknesser and try and cut any more than what you'd expect a scraper to remove!!!"

You havent got the TBW-3801 have you?
Yep they dont like full width 2+mm passes in hardwood as they only got 2hp, will do pine that width tho.
Question, if its stalling on small widths of hardwood... how sharp are your blades?, mine labours soon as they start dulling.

[DJ’s Timber]

I would love to see you try and put 15" worth of timber width through a 15" thicknesser and try and cut any more than what you'd expect a scraper to remove!!!

I've been putting 8" wide red gum boards through our 15" thicknesser and trying to take off more than half a mm tends to make the machine struggle!! I have run it aground and totally stopped the machine on just 1mm takes.

I still have no idea why they are so wide when they can struggle with narrower boards.......but I'm happy enough with it anyway!!

You've either got a dud machine or there is something wrong with it.

I can take 2mm off a 8" redgum board if I desire to do so with my 15" 3HP machine, but don't as it will increase the chances of tearout.

Have use the full width as well taking off 1mm no problemo :2tsup:.

As Harry says, once the blades lose their edge the machine will labour.

[SilentButDeadly]

You havent got the TBW-3801 have you?

Question, if its stalling on small widths of hardwood... how sharp are your blades?, mine labours soon as they start dulling.

No idea...ours is the Carbatec CTJ-381 or some such. Good machine....once you tighten all the nuts and bolts.

True that sharper blades mean easier work. The blades in our one aren't sharp by any means (which will definitely not be helping) but they still cut very well despite quite a few hours on them.

I'll be swapping in the second set this weekend and sending the blunt ones away to the family toolmaker to be sharpened up....still got way many sleepers to dress