Thread: The $90 thickness planer

GREAT way to start off Simon. Do all the learning you can on cheapo stuff and acquire the skills and knowledge to make the right decisions along the way. As tempting as it is to get all the 'big things' straight away, don't make that mistake like I did. Now i have a cabinet saw with no dado capacity, which I would love, a combo thicknesser/planer, which is limiting in thicknesser width. Mind you, everything is a compromise isn't it?

As for snipe, yes there are some great Youtube clips; Matthias Wandel probably the best to start with.

Good on you Simon, enjoy your woodworking.

Sounds like a good plan.

Let us know how the blades hold up with the hardwood.

Good pick up! My only suggestion is really pretty obvious - to make double sure you check all recycled wood for bits of nails or screws left behind. Saves a fortune in new blades!

Brian

Thanks Bendigo Bob, glad I'm not crazy! ha. I've just upgraded my Ozito mitre saw to a nice Makita SCMS, and use Makita drills and impact drivers, but the $25 ryobi biscuit joiner and $50 Ryobi table saw are still going strong and have allowed me to do things I never could have if I was still saving for a Sawstop.

The old blades were as sharp as a spoon, the previous owner built a fence and passed every single board down the centre of the planer 1 at a time, so there was a nice curve in the middle. Haven't had a chance to test it out since rotating the blades (the neighbours probably wouldn't appreciate the sound at 10pm) but will give it a good run this weekend

I used one of those for about 7 years but have recently upgraded. For the money it was ok. Give it a good clean and some lube on the windup threads. Unscrew the stainless plate on the bed and clear out any shavings under it. Reload with sharp knives then check it planes level with the bed. The book has the setup procedures in it. I got blades in bunnies. The Ryobi double sided. To sharpen I made one of these.
Planer knife sharpening jig - DIYWiki
You can avoid a bit of snipe by adjusting the in and out feed tables level with the bed and by gently lifting the wood as it comes out. There will always be a bit however so when milling just be a bit longer then cut the sniped ends off.
Regards
John

Originally Posted by SimonLw

Anyway, I have opened it up and rotated the blades (brand new on other side) I'm wondering if there is anything else you recommend to make a cheap planer more useful? I have seen a few videos recommending building a longer bed to avoid snipe.

I intend to use it for planing down recycled hardwood in lengths up to 2m.

Hi Simon

Best think you can do with a lunchbox thickness planer is to ensure that the bed is coplanar and that it is rigid and does not move.



Add support under the extensions, or attach a section of melamine MDF through the machine so that you have a flat, unyielding bed. That will deal with most snipe.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Derek's suggestions will help a lot with snipe, but on the cheaper thicknessers some of this is caused by the entire cutterhead assembly moving up/down the support posts slightly as timber enters and leaves the machine. If you watch the cutterhead closely you can usually see this happening. The Delta thicknesser pictured in Derek's post (sadly no longer available) was actually one of the better versions, as it had a cutterhead lock to prevent this effect. If you search the forums you might come across old posts detailing homemade fixes for this problem - usually collars added to the support posts with a screw to lock them in position. I used to have an old Ryobi AP13K which exhibited severe snipe no matter what you did with it.

If you are thicknessing several pieces of timber, snipe can be reduced to just the front edge of the first/back edge of the last boards by feeding them through nose to tail with no gap between boards. Alternatively, just allow about 50mm extra length at both ends of a board and cut the sniped section off.

Thanks everyone for your suggestions, I gave it a test yesterday and am really impressed with the results, this is after 3 passes with a half turn between passes. Some snipe showing, but I haven't even taken any of the suggestions on board yet, I think this was $90 well spent!
IMG_5327.jpg

Absolute bargain - as long as the blades are sharp I'm sure it'll do everything you need.

Sure beats a lot of hand planing, eh?