Thread: Scheppach vs Carbatec Oscillating Spindle Sander

Originally Posted by Hermit

I won't know myself when everything's all set up properly.
VERY TRUE! I had no idea of what I was capable of doing until I accumulated a garage full of machinery. I am now building a few cabinets to fit in odd places around the home and I reckon that my cabinet making has benefited from my initial interest in making small boxes because I am now pretty exacting with things like hinge placement and one or two tricks that I learnt in doing same for small boxes has paid off when hinging cabinet doors.

Only mainly need the planer/thicknesser and a table saw then. (The H&F combo planer/thicknesser and Carbatec Contractor's Saw are still on top of my list.)

A thicknesser is a great asset. They scream enough to wake wake the dead so I tend to be judicious about the time of day that I use mine but they are very handy.


I recall that you were being cautious about spending your savings on your tools and machines but as the spindle sander example shows, you can get a lot of utility from modestly priced machines. My thicknesser is the cheapest that H & F sell and I waited until one of their annual November sales to get it but I am very happy with it.


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Originally Posted by Charleville

A thicknesser is a great asset. They scream enough to wake wake the dead so I tend to be judicious about the time of day that I use mine but they are very handy.


I recall that you were being cautious about spending your savings on your tools and machines but as the spindle sander example shows, you can get a lot of utility from modestly priced machines. My thicknesser is the cheapest that H & F sell and I waited until one of their annual November sales to get it but I am very happy with it.

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Yeah, the lack of a thicknesser is my weak link at the moment. I just cut an 8mm slice of Rosewood 11" long and 4" wide with the bandsaw and need to take it down to 1/4" for the base of my Roadster. Gotta do it the slow way - belt sander to get it close, then W&D on perspex to finish. Can't wait to get the $$$ together for the planer/thicknesser. It'll be a few months, though. I already overdid it with the workbench. It's up to $518 so far, with at least another $100 to go for plywood and hardware.

Edit: I've already warned the neighbours on that side that I'm getting the planer/thicknesser and that it's REALLY noisy. Also added that I'll be careful regarding when I use it. They're not concerned and support my new hobby.

Be wary of the Scheppach Thicknesser/Planer. I bought one and had issues:

1. Kept destroying drum drive belts - had to figure out for myself and convince them that the poly-v drum drive belt pulley had not been finished machined and had a castellated shape instead of the vees. The supplier got 2 replacement machines that arrived damaged and also had the same bad pulley anyway. Eventually got a good pulley shipped to me along with (after I insisted) a new belt.
2. Broke feed roller drive belts - cheap belts, got a decent one and adjusted correctly.
3. Stopped feeding - very cheap roller bearing used in idler pulley got flats on rollers- got a decent brand from a bearing store.

Overall the frame is flimsy and the thicknesser height adjustment squeaks as you turn it. Not at all sure lubrication in the drive train is adequate long term. Had to do some adjustments to get it to thickness reasonably evenly. Fiddly to adjust the knives, book is next to useless. Knives are non-standard and expensive from local sources, cheap from the UK though ($40 instead of $130). Still can't get the planer to cut right, but probably my complete lack of experience in adjusting it.

After all that, it seems to be a reasonable machine from my very amateur perspective for occasional home use provided you are willing to fix the various issues as they arise. It is a significant chunk of change to outlay so you tend to expect more, but in the end it has handled my boat building uses so far.

Originally Posted by Trackhappy

Be wary of the Scheppach Thicknesser/Planer. I bought one and had issues:

1. Kept destroying drum drive belts - had to figure out for myself and convince them that the poly-v drum drive belt pulley had not been finished machined and had a castellated shape instead of the vees. The supplier got 2 replacement machines that arrived damaged and also had the same bad pulley anyway. Eventually got a good pulley shipped to me along with (after I insisted) a new belt.
2. Broke feed roller drive belts - cheap belts, got a decent one and adjusted correctly.
3. Stopped feeding - very cheap roller bearing used in idler pulley got flats on rollers- got a decent brand from a bearing store.

Overall the frame is flimsy and the thicknesser height adjustment squeaks as you turn it. Not at all sure lubrication in the drive train is adequate long term. Had to do some adjustments to get it to thickness reasonably evenly. Fiddly to adjust the knives, book is next to useless. Knives are non-standard and expensive from local sources, cheap from the UK though ($40 instead of $130). Still can't get the planer to cut right, but probably my complete lack of experience in adjusting it.

After all that, it seems to be a reasonable machine from my very amateur perspective for occasional home use provided you are willing to fix the various issues as they arise. It is a significant chunk of change to outlay so you tend to expect more, but in the end it has handled my boat building uses so far.

Gives me a feeling of deja-vu.

I just jumped through similar hoops with a new bandsaw. I don't want to make a habit of it.

I won't be buying a planer/thicknesser for a while, (gotta save), but before I do I'll take another look at others in the same size/price range and also start a thread to see if your problems are isolated or representative of the model.
I don't need to worry just yet.

Thanks for filling me in.
I don't mind doing a few things to 'fine-tune'. A couple of belts and a bearing aren't too bad, at least. It's back up to $1600, though, so for that, as you say, you really tend to expect more.

Incidentally, you said "Had to do some adjustments to get it to thickness reasonably evenly."
What do you consider reasonably evenly? How much variation and could it be adjusted out if more time were spent?
I don't mind messing around a little with adjustments to get it to thickness evenly, as long as it's possible.

Thanks again for the nice, accurate description of the problems. This will definitely influence my final decision.

Edit: I waited until I wasn't busy to reply, so I could absorb your info properly.
And just to be sure, your's is a hms 2600ci, I assume? (The same model I'm contemplating.)

Yep. Same model.
The book isn't useful, the only way to adjust the thicknessing over the width seems to me to be to change the mesh of the chain driven sprockets that drive the 4 vertical lift screws. I think I have it within about 0.2mm across the 10" width, which I guess is ok? it would be no good if you tried to edge glue boards I suppose as that would be very noticeable. I didn't work out how many degrees one tooth was to work out the increments that you could adjust, but they would be pretty small. The first one delivered the lift screws wandered around like drunks and the wheel was very difficult to turn. I suspect that the pallet had been dropped and the heavy lower table had bent things. The second one delivered had similar issues and broken plastic bits. At one stage the dealer had 3 in his shop to get the best one out of them.
One other thing that I have read about is that it is double rubber roller feed. Doesn't mark the timber on the way in I guess but what happens when the rollers get a little shiny? More robust ones seem to have metal in, rubber out.
Another small criticiscm, you have to watch the infeed as it is easy for the timber to go to the side and climb up on the edges of the lower table and start making a real mess. That's probably a rookie mistake though.
The thicknessing indicator is terrible, but I tend to measure with a vernier as I go anyway and just use it as a rough initial guide.
To me, the flimsy frame is the major issue, you can grab the table and twist the whole thing quite easily. Once setup in place it isn't an issue but longer term I don't know.
It doesn't seem to lack power unless you try to approach its maximum cuts or go full width, but it is definitely not a heavy duty machine.
If I had my time over, I'd probably get a used thicknesser only machine of better quality and a separate dedicated used planer (I don't have space issues at present). I don't use the planer function much, particularly on longer pieces because of it's lack of accuracy I have to admit, but maybe some more time working out better knife setting would solve that. The "setting aid" is a piece of mild steel with two marks about 3mm apart. I had to figure out that you put that on the outfeed table hanging over the cutter and rotate the cutter to see how far the knife drags that along the table. When the distance is the same as the two marks, the knife height at that point is correct. I guess thinking about geometry that would be accurate enough.

For home intermittent use by an amateur like me, with some fiddling it seems ok but I suspect an experienced woodworker wouldn't like it much. Once again though, for building my boat (which has few straight lines) from rough cut stock it has been fine. If you were making small boxes and toys and the like I suspect it would also be adequate. I just find it all a bit flimsy and cheap, but them I come from an engineering background where all machines tend to be much more solid.
Aynone near the Sunshine Coast North of Brissy is welcome to come have a look.

Originally Posted by Trackhappy

Yep. Same model.
The book isn't useful, the only way to adjust the thicknessing over the width seems to me to be to change the mesh of the chain driven sprockets that drive the 4 vertical lift screws. I think I have it within about 0.2mm across the 10" width, which I guess is ok? it would be no good if you tried to edge glue boards I suppose as that would be very noticeable. I didn't work out how many degrees one tooth was to work out the increments that you could adjust, but they would be pretty small. The first one delivered the lift screws wandered around like drunks and the wheel was very difficult to turn. I suspect that the pallet had been dropped and the heavy lower table had bent things. The second one delivered had similar issues and broken plastic bits. At one stage the dealer had 3 in his shop to get the best one out of them.
One other thing that I have read about is that it is double rubber roller feed. Doesn't mark the timber on the way in I guess but what happens when the rollers get a little shiny? More robust ones seem to have metal in, rubber out.
Another small criticiscm, you have to watch the infeed as it is easy for the timber to go to the side and climb up on the edges of the lower table and start making a real mess. That's probably a rookie mistake though.
The thicknessing indicator is terrible, but I tend to measure with a vernier as I go anyway and just use it as a rough initial guide.
To me, the flimsy frame is the major issue, you can grab the table and twist the whole thing quite easily. Once setup in place it isn't an issue but longer term I don't know.
It doesn't seem to lack power unless you try to approach its maximum cuts or go full width, but it is definitely not a heavy duty machine.
If I had my time over, I'd probably get a used thicknesser only machine of better quality and a separate dedicated used planer (I don't have space issues at present). I don't use the planer function much, particularly on longer pieces because of it's lack of accuracy I have to admit, but maybe some more time working out better knife setting would solve that. The "setting aid" is a piece of mild steel with two marks about 3mm apart. I had to figure out that you put that on the outfeed table hanging over the cutter and rotate the cutter to see how far the knife drags that along the table. When the distance is the same as the two marks, the knife height at that point is correct. I guess thinking about geometry that would be accurate enough.

For home intermittent use by an amateur like me, with some fiddling it seems ok but I suspect an experienced woodworker wouldn't like it much. Once again though, for building my boat (which has few straight lines) from rough cut stock it has been fine. If you were making small boxes and toys and the like I suspect it would also be adequate. I just find it all a bit flimsy and cheap, but them I come from an engineering background where all machines tend to be much more solid.
Aynone near the Sunshine Coast North of Brissy is welcome to come have a look.

Thanks for the extra info. When the time comes, in a few months, I'll try to get similar reviews from owners of other machines I'm considering, then will pick the best of a bad lot, I guess.

I've come to realise that virtually all of the smaller machines, whether they're jointers, thicknessers, bandsaws or whatever, are all pretty poor quality. Not good, considering the outlay for this particular one is $1600 - a lot of $$$ to most of us.

I do only usually make small stuff like boxes and scale models, so could get away with this one if I had to.
I might still consider saving for longer and buying something better. I'd love to buy one that doesn't need rebuilding before use.