Powermatic made in Taiwan to a standard, not just a price. It shows!
Powermatic made in Taiwan to a standard, not just a price. It shows!
Yep already got a 10" Woodfast jointer, just restored it and fitted a helical cutter so pretty locked into a standalone thicknesser now.
Beyond Tools in Malaga also sell Rikon and Laguna thicknessers. The Rikon is roughly the same ballpark $$$.
You might also be able to get a better deal at the WA Wood Show in August.
Sigh - price on the Powermatic at Carbatec has just gone up by $700. I don't know what the hell to do now.
Powermatic & Jet, made in the same factory, some interchangeable parts and owned by the same company and both good machines.Quote:
Originally Posted by aldav
What about this?
https://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/kala...ter/1148713818
No helical cutterhead, but you should be able to pick one up for it.
If I were in your shoes -- i.e with a good 10" jointer -- I'd almost certainly buy the 3 knife DeWalt DW735 lunch box thicky.Quote:
Originally Posted by bueller
The upgrade would then be to sell the Woodman and buy a Hammer A3.
I hear nothing but praise from A3 owners, and the 3 knife DeWalt is, by repute, a very good capable machine.
I think I'm just going to put out a wanted ad on Gumtree and see what comes up, I didn't really want to take on another project of that size so soon but it's looking like the smartest option now from a financial perspective. Not keen on combination machines and spent a fair bit upgrading the Woodfast to helical so that's here to stay.
I did see that Jet thicknesser but the seller wants $1500, the most I'd pay is a grand.
Like Ian said you might just have to grab a lunch box thicknesser with spiral cutter head for now.
Regards
Dane
That's a fair price hike for the powermatic. It's now in the same price range as the hammer thicknesser. If you're still prepared to spend that much, have a good look at the hammer A41D. Felder has 10% off in October so there's a fair bit of savings to be had. I got the A331 and it's awesome.
The other option is the bench top dewalt thicknesser as Ian mentioned. I've seen good reviews especially with the byrd head installed.
I'm looking at a 2nd hand Dewalt 735xe this weekend. They hold their value as two 2nd hand units are $750 and $760 respectively with no plates ($999 new with no front and rear plates). However a Shelix head from Wizard is $850 and a CTS is $695. Starting to get expensive for a portable thicky.
The Carbatecs spiral unit has HSS parallel cutters, not shearing cutters and to buy Carbide cutters it's another $324.
Why not check out the WA Wood Show in August? Might be some deals there
Regards
Dane
I am not surprised PM has become so expensive in this country and as a general statement from someone who has owned both a PM and currently owns a Hammer A3-31 the Hammer wins every time. I always rejected the idea of having a combination machine but since buying it I have no regrets at all and I have yet to hear of anyone who has bought one then sold it due to unhappiness with the machine. Minimax would be a close second and the only reason I did not buy one of those was there was no helical head option, they use a Tersa head which while being a very good and mostly giving the same results (some people swear it is better) I couldn't overcome my resistance to using straight knives even of they could be changed in 30 seconds.
Yeah I can appreciate the quality of Hammer equipment, have actually seen a couple in use and they're very nice. In saying that there's very little chance I'll be bringing one home. I'd need to pay for electrical work as they're a 20amp motor (expensive because the workshop is out bush) and there is very little chance the Woodfast is going to be leaving me. Put too many hours into it and I know the Perth second hand market, I'd probably be lucky to get a grand for it.
With the Hammer and silent head being around 6 grand I'd be better off with the Woodfast and a Powermatic for less money and more thicknessing capacity. Slightly less jointing capacity but I don't think the 2" will make much difference when I can do 10" boards, hardly restricting.
HAMMER NO BUENO. For me anyway 😁
There's also the matter of multiple people at work. My old man will likely be in the shop a lot as well, with 2 machines we could move through the dimensioning phase a lot quicker than 2 people sitting at the combo.