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7th November 2011, 05:06 PM #1Novice
- Join Date
- Feb 2010
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- australia
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- 24
Best Combi Planer/Thicknesser <$1500 - FIGHT!!!
Hey, so I know there is a wealth of information on this forum regarding Combination Planer/Thicknesser Vs Stand Alone machines, as is there a wealth of information about Combi machines in general. Read it all and it has all left me some what conflicted
I have $1,300 to spend (allocated by the Finance Minister (Wife)) on a combi planer/thicknesser. I understand in an ideal world I would have the money/space to purchase individual spiral head machines that do supremely well at what they are designed for however I am not a deity nor Twiggy Forest.
I have been looking at the following machines and would like to hear peoples opinions/experience with said machines
Scheppach hms 2600ci
Carba-Tec® 10" Planer Thicknesser
LEDACRAFT ML-392 10" OVER & UNDER(Seems to be Identical to Carba-Tec Machine)
Sherwood10in Combination Planer(Again seems to be Identical to Carba-Tec Machine)
I believe they are all made in China. Apart from the Scheppach machine they all have a serrated in-feed roller (Scheppach Vulcanised Rubber) and steel out-feed rollers (again Scheppach Vulcanised Rubber). They all seem to have 3 knife cutter heads (Scheppach only has 2x Knives).
All machines save the Scheppach are 10A machines.
All aluminium fences that I understand lend themselves to inaccuracy issues.
So after all that, what would be the best buy :P I understand a general rule is that more knives are better but I have read that the Scheppach consistently produces good finishes (this could potentially be due to a higher HP).
I have also read that rubber in/out feed rollers are rubbish and slip but have also read serrated in-feed rollers leave marks.
Like I sad only got $1300 to spend and want to make it worth my while.
Cheers for all your feedback peeps.
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7th November 2011, 06:13 PM #2The Russel Coyte of Woodworking
- Join Date
- Mar 2009
- Location
- Brisbane, Australia
- Age
- 52
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- 293
Mate
I have been down this road and had my heart set on the Jet JPT-260, it is a 10' machine and in my view a better construction and easier to use machine than the Carbatec version.
But did you know that the Woodfast sold by Carbatec is a 12' machine, I have seen this machine in action and although its not as good a build quality as the Jet it works very well. if your budget is $1500 max then stretch an extra 100 bucks and get the Woodfast.
I picked up a Jet JPT 310 HH on the weekend which they have unbelievable deals on at the moment.
Just my 2 cents
Bryan
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8th November 2011, 10:40 AM #31/16"
- Join Date
- Mar 2007
- Location
- Adelaide South Australia
- Posts
- 544
Combi planer
I have the leda 10in combi for 7 yrs and have put a lot of recycled timber thu it.
It has performed well with no major mechanical problems. I did discard the alu fence and made a better one of ply. I also bought a spare set of blades and a blade setter.
On the negative side you do need a dust extractor as it will clog up and with these machines a fixed outfeed table will not work so a max of 3m timber is all I can handle without adjustable rollers
With proper adjustment snipe and roller marks can be reduced to the point of a light sanding to eliminate them.Don't force it, use a bigger hammer.
Timber is what you use. Wood is what you burn.
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10th November 2011, 09:29 PM #4Member
- Join Date
- Jan 2008
- Location
- Melbourne
- Posts
- 51
Hi Kris
I've been using the Woodfast WPT-310 which is a 12in jointer for the past 3 years. I have very happy with the performance of the unit. I think Carbatec price is roughly in the ball park. Or you can go to Woodfast directly.
Please note that it uses a 15Amp plug and at start up draws approx 20Amps and then settles.
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20th November 2011, 02:06 PM #5New Member
- Join Date
- Nov 2009
- Location
- Goolwa, South Australia
- Posts
- 2
Gday Kris,
I too was on a tight budget when I purchased a 10" Carba-tech a couple of years ago now. I found the quality to be somewhat lacking particularly regarding the aluminium fence being hugely inaccurate, mine even had a twist in it, the adjust/lock handles on the fence are plastic and stripped out first use too. I have subsequently retrofitted it with a steel fence made from heavy blue tube (though not adjustable set at 90*) at minimal cost and time. I found this 100% necessary otherwise the planer was useless.
It's a chain driven machine as I discovered when I threw the chain guiding stock through the planner. The in-feed & out-feed rollers aren't well fitted and allow for a lot of side-to-side movement which led the chain afoul. Could have ended with more damage to the mechanism if I hadn't hit the stop button when I did.
Speaking of buttons, the unit is fitted with two sets of on and off buttons and a large emergency off button. From the start one of my on buttons has never worked.
I also found that the beds weren't parallel when I got it home and they were difficult to adjust with nothing in the manual about it. Im about to lengthen the beds to better accommodate longer stock as I found the beds to be very short, only suiting stock about two meters in length max.
Having said that I have put 100s of metres of paulownia stock through the thicknesser at the maximum width and it has chewed through without too much trouble indicating that the power is enough to drive the thing at max input.
All in all I'd say that for the money I payed for it I at least expected it to work out of the box but in my opinion it didn't and required retrofits and difficult adjustments.
Well, thats my two cents. Goodluck mate
Benavitch
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20th November 2011, 02:10 PM #6New Member
- Join Date
- Nov 2009
- Location
- Goolwa, South Australia
- Posts
- 2
Oh yeh, I might add, roller marks only occur if you aren't taking enough off with your cut. On my Carba-tech that seems to be a minimum of .7mm cut. Perhaps other units are adjustable in this respect?
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13th February 2012, 04:05 PM #7Novice
- Join Date
- Feb 2010
- Location
- australia
- Posts
- 24
So if anyone is interested I eventually went with the Scheppach HMS 2600ci. The governing factors where price($1100 @ the time), durability of build and fence. I went and looked at all prospective machines and found the Scheppach to have the best fence by far. Although the fence itself is ally, the alignment is cast and heavy. The alignment is easily adjusted as it is like a rip fence on a table saw with a positive lock mechanism in front of the table.
Adjustment to thickness depth is near perfect just by spending 10mins with some accurate veneer calipers and an allen key. The 1/10th mm adjustment for thicknessing is brilliant, allows you dress timber to a level where you need only do light sanding/scraping.
All in all I have put around 1/4 of a cube of recycled (de-nailed) hardwood from an 80 year Queenslander through her so far and have not had a single problem. All square when jointing and exactly thicknessed.
P.S. Conversion from Jointer->Thicknesser->Jointer is very quick and easy without any discrepancies in measurements at this stage.
Cheers
Kris
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7th April 2012, 09:52 PM #8Senior Member
- Join Date
- Mar 2008
- Location
- Australia
- Posts
- 141
Kris, where did you get the Scheppach for $1100??
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8th April 2012, 11:05 AM #9Novice
- Join Date
- Feb 2010
- Location
- australia
- Posts
- 24
I got it during Hare & Forbes' 3 day sale last year in Nov. They just had another one a couple of weeks ago.
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6th May 2012, 12:21 AM #10
Kris, I just wanted to thank you for this thread and ask a quick question if you don't mind.
Is the Scheppach single-phase or 3-phase? I'm guessing single since it's under 2400W, but wanted to be sure. It's not mentioned on the H&F listing.
I almost bought the 10" Carbatec until I read this. Now I'll go with the Scheppach if it's single phase. Sounds like a much better low-budget buy.... Steve
-- Monkey see, monkey do --
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6th May 2012, 07:20 AM #11Senior Member
- Join Date
- Mar 2008
- Location
- Australia
- Posts
- 141
Having had a look at the Scheppach, it looks a well engineered bit of machinery. Looks a lot better made than the low end Jet machine. If I had the space and volume to do, I'd certainly be happy to get a scheppach. Download the brochures from scheppach.com - there are both single and three phase models available of the hms 2600 ci.
Only downside is that they don't make shelix spiral head cutters for them (yet).Last edited by blouis79; 6th May 2012 at 07:21 AM. Reason: added
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6th May 2012, 09:57 AM #12
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12th June 2012, 09:01 PM #13
Update
Hi Kris,
After some feedback regarding your Scheppach purchase, have a couple questions which I'm hoping you can help answer.
1) How good is the dust extraction in both modes?
2) Is your unit on wheels, if so what wheels?
3) Fence accuracy, any issues?
4) Are you happy with the general build quality?
5) Do you find the planer table width sufficient?
Any other comments welcome.
Thanks,
GarethAnnular Grooved Nails....Ribbed for the Woods Pleasure?
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13th June 2012, 09:34 AM #14Novice
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- Feb 2010
- Location
- australia
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- 24
1) How good is the dust extraction in both modes?
2) Is your unit on wheels, if so what wheels?
3) Fence accuracy, any issues?
When tilting the fence to 45o there is a reasonable gap between fence and table which is a little annoying however nothing that causes any problems.
4) Are you happy with the general build quality?
5) Do you find the planer table width sufficient?
I have put near 2m3 of recycled australian hardwood(after spending allot of time de-nailing etc and multiple passes with a metal detector) through this machine now and aside from the blades now being rather blunt it has performed perfectly. I am very happy with my purchase.
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