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  1. #16
    Join Date
    May 2010
    Location
    Not far enough away from Melbourne
    Posts
    4,200

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by hugh reid2 View Post
    and liked the fact that the table stays at the same height and the cutter goes up and down
    I like that too. I cannot for the life of me understand why they changed to the table moving up and down. Every time you move the table you have to move the in an doutfeed support. The old ones are the best and well worth upgrading.

    Cheers

    Doug
    I got sick of sitting around doing nothing - so I took up meditation.

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  3. #17
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Location
    Drouin Vic.
    Posts
    166

    Default Woodman 15" Planner

    I have a Carbatec 15" CTJ-381 that is now about 5 years old. 1.5 years ago I fitted a Byrd helical cutter head which made a huge improvement and such a difference to the finish when dressing difficult blackwood that I would not go back to straight cutters . I do also have a Minimax CU-300 machine which is excellent but as this has straight cutters I only use it for edge jointing. Whilst the Carbatec machine is quite good it does have several niggles and I am looking to replace it shortly. One other machine that may be worth looking at is the Woodfast TH-410 but if budget allows a Hammer A3-41. The Carbatec issues are;1-Constantly leaking gearbox.2-messy access to cutter head-(have to take off one side of the top rear roller mount,4 bolts on top of cutter hood & 3 hex screws under dust outlet. (The woodfast and Hammer have a hinged access panel) 3-Like all similar machines fiddly to set up for very accurate work. From talking to a lot of industry experts I understand there is quite a lot of difference in both design and quality of the Helical cutters that impact on both performance as well as power demand on the motor. Hammer claim their unit draws 40% less power but I note it has only 42 cutters while the Carbatec has 75. In my heavy use of the helical head I have turned the cutters twice so far and replaced 8. These replacements were due to cracks and bad chips from hitting knots and from possibly cutting too deep. I now only adjust the wheel half a turn rather than one turn. I do think the standard 14mm x 14mm x 2mm cutters that are individually secured with a central screw can be a little fragile and close attention is required to follow correct fitting.
    Cheers,
    Paintman

  4. #18
    Join Date
    Apr 2009
    Location
    Mount Barker, South Australia
    Posts
    60

    Default Good post Paintman

    Interesting critique and of course very helpful. I have purchased and am using my Carbatec and although I am in the process of buying the Helical Cutter (Byrd Shelix) from Grizzly in the States, I am using the blades that are set up in the unit until I do. Only about 4 hours work so far, but it seems to me that for what I need it for, once the new Cutter is installed, it'll be just what I needed.
    Obviously the heavier work as described in Paintnman's post is going to be more challenging and as he describes, he has to adjust how he uses the machine, but for me, I am much more likely to be working withOregon, Hoop Pine and similar, as well as some Asian type Mahogany that I am dressing at the moment, so it's pretty light on by comparison. Having said that with the standard cutters that I have installed now, that Mahogany doesn't allow me to hog into it as much as I'd like to, but I suspect the replacement Cutter will.
    I'll certainly post my experiences as I go with that.
    One thing though, that constantly leaking Gearbox you speak of, should be something you can fix, surely it would be the exception rather than the rule! I'd be ringing Carbatec and get their take on that one.

  5. #19
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Location
    Drouin Vic.
    Posts
    166

    Default Good Post Paintman

    Hi Terry,
    yes you would think a constantly leaking gearbox would be easy to fix but so far not so. I recall reading a lot about this on the forum in the past where many other users have the same issue. I have been using a lot of old very hard recycled red gum as well as some mahogany gum but the main throughput is Jarrah that I use for boxmaking. This machine is my second Carbatec unit and overall it is a good value proposition especially with the motor now mounted below and with the internal wheels making moving around very easy. I am also looking at the Leda D-52 which is more of an industrial machine with electric rise and fall but unfortunately is 3 phase only so involves a lot of extra expense to fit single to 3 phase power as well as spiral cutters. It does seem from reading the forum posts that the Hammer 41D will likely be the best option for quality at an affordable price.
    Cheers,
    Paintman

  6. #20
    Join Date
    Apr 2009
    Location
    Mount Barker, South Australia
    Posts
    60

    Default

    Just throwing out a request for help here guys! I bought a Helical Cutter (Byrd Shelix) from Grizzly, to install in my Carbatec Thicknesser. But after looking at the instructional stuff, I don’t feel up to being able to do it with any confidence. Anyone know of someone who does this sort of stuff that I can contact?

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