New Sherwood 13in Deluxe Thicknesser with Helical Spiral Head on it's way

OK, we have now used it for the first time.

Whole bunch of positives and a negative.

Compared to the old GMC this thing is quiet.
Cutting timber it's really not much louder than just spinning
The finish from the helical head is nice.

Negative: note this may only apply to my machine, need to talk to Timbecon
The front of the unit has the anti kick back pawls mounted behind some steel plate, the plate has a couple mm of cutout in the center BUT the outside 1/3rds the bottom of the plate is effectively level with the bottom of the arc of the cutter head.
It's like the cutter head is a couple mm smaller than the design calls for.

I did shoot a video of the chip ejection with the dust shute attached to understand how it looked and it seems the ideal direction may be to face to port to the right as you look from the back

I put the video up on Vimeo, video shoot at 120fps and edited at 25fps so a bit under 1/4 speed - Sherwood Helical cutter in action on Vimeo

Interestingly the chips are flying fast enough they fully clear the rear table by at least a foot and only right at the end do any chips go forward


Cheers
Phil

Be interested to hear what you get back from Timbecon regarding the anti kickback pawls as I noticed the same thing. Very hard to get a board started past them and if trying to use the centre section to take a deeper cut it is impossible.

I spoke to them on Saturday and again today but was quite fairly told as per their website that warranty issues are dealt with via email, photo's and description have gone off so the wait begins.

For others reading this I'm hoping that this is one that slipped past the QA gods and we get it sorted because feeding hardwood or softwood via the center and having it take some timber off is just a pleasure. It's very effective, super smooth finish and compare to my old one actually quite quiet. No issue taking off 1.6mm from 100mm wide hardwood board with no change in the sound of the motor.

Generally the chip extraction works fine with minimal and i'd say expected chips left on the bed and to the front.

@treecycle : i think i have the anti kick back pawls worked out and they are easy to fool by just lifting the timber up and feeding in so the pawls are engaged then lowering the timber to the bed.... it's just a different feed practice.

Cheers
Phil

All credit still to Timbecon, they called me on Tuesday and talked through what i was experiencing an in conjunction with the photo's have arranged for the unit to be picked up and looked at. The technician was listening.

Hopefully I just got the lemon out of the batch or they identify an issue and we all benefit.

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Some more positives though as part of proving this I put 3 x 120mm wide and about 900mm long, nearly 20yrs shed aged, dry as a bone hardwood floor boards, one of which has some interesting grain, the finish was super smooth and the back side with the 1.8mm deep grooves disappeared in two passes with no change of tone or sound of struggle.

I have no idea how it compares to a higher end cast iron 15"+ unit but for what it is.... i'm impressed.

Dust/Chips : the supplied hood with the adapter to 4" seems to work fine with my 2HP DC. I notice when i pulled the hood off for shipping back the fine dust layer build up angled towards the outlet so that also indicates it's being pulled away at least.

Update:
Most of the delay has been/was in the unit getting to Timbecon, congrats to T for turning this around inside 24hrs. They checked out the unit, seems i did get a lemon and seemingly a one off. They confirmed my reported issue, have said it's the only one they have seen and shipped a replacement unit back effectively the same day after checking it was good.

I've now looked at photo's at least of the other segmented cutter style units and it seems the shallower cut out to the left and right seems to be a feature so the following suggestion applies cross brands maybe.

Suggestion: check that you can take a cut across the full width of the machine without the timber getting caught up at the front.

Best guess is I will get delivery on Friday in time the CBR long weekend and we will be away for the weekend :(

Cheers
Phil

Looking forward to your impression of the replacement unit. Have they just sent you another one with the same problem or was yours for some unknown reason manufactured incorrectly.:~

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Treecycle

Looking forward to your impression of the replacement unit. Have they just sent you another one with the same problem or was yours for some unknown reason manufactured incorrectly.:~

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They have unboxed the replacement unit and checked it before sending out, so in theory I will get one that works., being away next weekend means it will get delayed before I can check it out.

Cheers
Phil

You would think i'd be writing about how good or bad the replacement was .....

but NO

Toll with all it's freight experience can't get a box from Mel to CBR, scanned into their MEL depot 13 days ago today.
I rang them last Friday to complain and asked for a call back.... crickets
Rang on Tuesday and asked for the same thing plus daily updates ..... crickets
Rang Timbecon on Tuesday and asked them to follow up AND ring me back.... crickets

thumbs up for Timbecon for turning this around on the day but serious thumbs down for not calling me back

just how frigging hard is it to pick the phone up and call... from either company

Maybe the Timbecon guys might spot this here, maybe/likely not.

Toll took 14 days to get this back to MEL, fair enough with the lockdown that happened but 14 days back at least is just WRONG .... not TC's fault per se but i will now be without this item for a month!

Phil,

Um no comment, because if that was me,the comments would start with the number 6 letter in the alphabet Gordon Ramsay style and end using the 6th letter in the alphabet.

Cheers Matt.

getting call back from business is a nightmare most don't /won't do you the courtesy of ringing back ,my response is to not bother with these folk even though I appreciate that covid has been a pain in the proverbial ,simple call.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mature one

getting call back from business is a nightmare most don't /won't do you the courtesy of ringing back ,my response is to not bother with these folk even though I appreciate that covid has been a pain in the proverbial ,simple call.

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One would hope that the reason that they don't call back is not because they are overwhelmed by warranty issues. :; :;

I've had my Sherwood HS thicknesser for a month or so now, no issues so far. I'm very happy with the unit, Timbercon's service and the delivery experience. Even the delivery guy was super helpfull.

Only one negative - I was a little peeved that I could not thickness below 1/4", :~ until I realized that the "quick setting" dial was set to 1/4" :- :rolleyes:. I had read the manual first as well. :doh: :doh: and another one for being so dumb! :doh:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mobyturns

One would hope that the reason that they don't call back is not because they are overwhelmed by warranty issues. :; :;

I've had my Sherwood HS thicknesser for a month or so now, no issues so far. I'm very happy with the unit, Timbercon's service and the delivery experience. Even the delivery guy was super helpfull.

Only one negative - I was a little peeved that I could not thickness below 1/4", :~ until I realized that the "quick setting" dial was set to 1/4" :- :rolleyes:. I had read the manual first as well. :doh: :doh: and another one for being so dumb! :doh:

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I'll reason that they have not called back as they have no information despite me asking for a call back even if they had nothing. In my opinion Amazon (love or hate) set the bar many years ago now with customer communications and very few firms have LEARNT the lessons from that.

The "no news, don't call" mentality is alive and well, i'm guilty of it myself at times.

However my discussions with Toll clearly laid out some expectations that haven't been met, maybe they have lost far too many parcels. My local Toll delivery guy is excellent and vastly helpful but it's hard to make up for the full crap experience.

When i did use the thicknesser testing it it was excellent otherwise i would have pulled the pin on it weeks ago

Unfortunately your freight / courier / mail experience is not uncommon.

I've been there myself, with E-go a couple of years back. They could not find or even track where my parcel had gone to, then quite unexpectedly and just as mysteriously it appeared in the local depot a week or so later. Now one could speculate on the reasons for it disappearing and then reappearing etc, and it would be speculation, however when people are involved, there is temptation, tardiness, negligence, slackness, dereliction ............. some with intent, some simply due to high workloads imposed by employers. We all understand interventions by nature or mishap, but we are paying for a service, and often paying quite high rates at that!

I reckon there should be some basic consumer guarantees forced upon the industry with real penalties for not providing a reliable service.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mobyturns

Unfortunately your freight / courier / mail experience is not uncommon.

I've been there myself, with E-go a couple of years back. They could not find or even track where my parcel had gone to, then quite unexpectedly and just as mysteriously it appeared in the local depot a week or so later. Now one could speculate on the reasons for it disappearing and then reappearing etc, and it would be speculation, however when people are involved, there is temptation, tardiness, negligence, slackness, dereliction ............. some with intent, some simply due to high workloads imposed by employers. We all understand interventions by nature or mishap, but we are paying for a service, and often paying quite high rates at that!

I reckon there should be some basic consumer guarantees forced upon the industry with real penalties for not providing a reliable service.

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I have to agree about consumer guarantees, at the moment it's all due care and zero responsibility.

I do hope that a rep from Timbecon does catch up with this thread and takes at least something on board. Not long after i posted two above this morning, I, note I, called them for an update, was told customer service area were in a meeting and they would call back, well they did and whilst they had news that it was found and should be delivered on Monday the online Toll tracking still hasn't been updated despite Timbecon say toll had scanned it into (again) the MEL depot on Wed.... me feeling really skeptical.
When I mentioned i'd also logged a query with Toll I was told we know all about that and why would you expect them (toll) to ring you back.... makes me wonder if they are plugged into the same back end system.......

I have spoken in the last 15 years with national managers in DHL that actually led to improvements and also Fastway whilst they were still independent, in those days they wouldn't even consider an authority to leave be held on file, again speaking with the correct national manager over a number of days actually ended up with that policy changed. at the time both Fedex and DHL held and honour authority to leave records.

This is not my first rodeo trying to drive improvement especially in just general customer service, I expect that some that read this may not be on side.

NOTE: my issues is not with the warrantly work, hell it's not even really about the 28 days of freight that should be 6 max really .... It is about the crappy need to chase this up myself and not being informed despite asking

Apologies for venting

Oh and a colleague at work ordered a product from Mel to CBR ... They got an advise on day 3 that it was ready for pickup from the post office..... in a country victorian town ..... no obvious reason for it to end up there.

When the volume of parcel shipping yet ballistic in 2020 it seems that some have handled it better than others

The whole logistics industry requires a shakedown imo. Centralized distribution hubs aren't the solution as COVID issues have highlighted. However we are currently stuck with them and the lopsided logistics model that sustains them. Freight is still largely one way traffic - the vast bulk of it is from central hub outwards with little back loading opportunity, and certainly not volume wise.

In QLD we have the absurd situation with many companies that freight from say Townsville to Mackay or Rockhampton goes via a distribution hub in Brisbane. Not only is there an unnecessary time impost, there is added risk, and a huge waste of resources - fuel! Or Brisbane to say Ayr or Bowen bypasses the towns to go to Townsville then is back tracked to them. :rolleyes:

I fully understand that freight volumes dictate the logistics model, however justifying the additional kg/km is a bit of a stretch, and certainly not sustainable in a carbon conscious economy. It also drives owner operator contractors to the wall or places unrealistic time pressures on them to "meet commitments" when in fact its the logistics model that requires tweaking.

Supporting businesses with a local bricks and mortar presence has huge benefits with freight aggregation, reducing shipping costs, but is a model seen as unsustainable by operators due to consumers preferences for online shopping.