Thread: 254mm Combination Thicknesses / Jointer

Haven't used any of them, but just a few observations...

Going off the pictures, the Sherwood and the Woodman are the exact same machine with a different paint job; the Sherwood does have some red paint though, so it must be faster

The H&F appears to have more substantial jointer tables and the roller extension on the back of the thicknesser table is a nice feature. The dust chute also appears to be larger and better suited to converting to use a 6" extraction hose.

Hi Ray, I have the carbatec 10” one, with the helical multi head, and quite frankly, it’s excellent value for the money. Only gripe I’ve found is it’s a little underpowered, but it cuts well, just needed a little tuning up.( but I’m really fussy) I looked at them all and this one fitted the bill most suitably.

Under & Overs, Planer Thicknessers, whatever you call them (seems there's regional & national differences in nomenclature) were once extremely popular.

Consequently, there's still many well-made fairly reasonable quality examples around, still operating reliably since their heyday in the late 70s & 80s.

The most popular & affordable sizes were the 10" x 6" size. I've extensively used examples of this size many years ago, & found them all pretty acceptable in terms of performance & finish. Some of these 10 x 6s have been the Austrian Emco Rex, Italian DeWalt/Elu 1150/1151, a couple of different Scheppachs (one dedicated & another with modular extra fittings/appliances/tools, numbers not remembered; Solo??), Elektra Beckum/Metabo 260??, Metabo (different, more plasticky & much lighter but with Stainless covered tables for extra "slip" & an extremely high (8000 RPM) cutterblock speed, & a Swiss Inca. The pick of 'em was the Electra. So good, in fact, that I think its the only one still made (as a Metabo) to this day!

I only ever owned one myself. DW 1151. Good (but not outstanding) machine. Lightweight & portable enough as to be separable from its base & sufficiently compact to fit into a small car boot.

But with U&O's, light is not necessarily a good thing. Esp. when you're thicknessing heavy long & large timbers. Think railway sleeper size, for instance. They'll want to tip & tilt when overbalanced with the timber sticking out one side or another.

Replaced mine with an infinitely superior Kity 638 12" x 9". More useful capacities, longer planer tables, 3 cutters, easier (semi-auto) cutter height adjustment, more (but still not enough) power, heavier & more stable & accurate. Still using it to this day 32 years later.

Most Euro brands (perhaps not Scheppach?) will just be made "better" than more modern "cheaper" East Asian machines I suspect. As many (most?) are still going well after some 20-30 years or so, and are usually available for a couple of hundred second hand, this may very well be better buying than a new Chinese machine @ a grand or so.

Of course, I may very well be wrong in my assumptions. I often am. But I still think that maybe a second hand Euro 12" x 9" Combi machine (the biggest practical single phase machine available without extensive & expensive domestic wiring upgrades) will simply be cheaper, better quality & I suspect longer-lasting than a new Asian machine will.

The next time you see one of those older European over and under machines for 'a few hundred' please send me an urgent PM Ratbag. In my experience they don't exist for under $1,000. All the machines that the OP is looking at are priced between $2,567 and $2,805, definitely well beyond 'a grand or so'. The other major difference between what you're recommending and what he's looking at buying is that the one's he's looking at all have spiral cutter blocks.

Maybe you could cast your net a wee bit wider. Just done a quick search of used Elektra's 260s sold in the UK for the past few months: from a lowest price of about AU equiv. $220 to a high of AU $600-ish. A lovely little semi-cast iron Kity 10 x 8 machine went for a mere smidge over AU$250!

Planer Thicknesser Kity 636 10" (not including hose) | eBay

Brand new Electras (as predicted) are still available new for about AU $1200 plus about $310 shipping plus of course the obligatory Greedy Scumbag Tax.

Metabo HC 260C Planer Thicknesser 2200W 240V 4003665431284 | eBay

OK, so there's a bit of freight to add onto any alien purchase: $300-ish from ol' Blighty for the 10 x 6s, maybe twice that for the "Commercial" grade single-phase 12 x 9s, (Kitys, Elektras etc.) up to about maybe a grand or so for the more Professional grade SCM, Minimax, Startright, Sedgwick, Robland type machines (all or mostly cast aluminium &/or iron).

Full-on Industrial machines (Wadkins, Cooksleys, Sagars) will be invariably 3-phase (415v) & will likely weigh the best part of a ton or so & frankly @ this level of machine you'd probably be better off acquiring a pair of dedicated separate-function machines than a hernia-inducing cast iron removable infeed table on a combi version.

A used DeWalt DW1151 (with much better-looking, unmolested feed roller rubbers than mine had) was sold in November in NSW for $401. So there's still bargains out there!

DeWalt DW1151 Planer/Thicknesser | eBay

My Men's Shed has the Hare & Forbes unit, really does a lot of work and does it very well.

The on/off switch is brilliant, you push it on with a finger in the middle, then you can use your open hand or a knee to push the big red plastic switch to turn it off.

The extraction system works brilliantly when planing on the top and pretty good when thinning material on the bottom. The bulk shavings coming from a 1.5mm full width cut, is something to behold, it does that well.

As for how good is it overall, put it this way, most members after using this unit all ask the same question, "how much is it?". Almost everyone would like to own it.

H&F don't actually have a heavy duty mobile base that can take this, but we bought the H&F heavy duty mobile base, then cut it down to size. If you are interested, I can take a picture of the cut down base when I'm at the shed tomorrow. The mobile base is really good.

Another good point, it uses a 10A power supply.

Mick.

Originally Posted by riverbuilder

Hi Ray, I have the carbatec 10” one, with the helical multi head, and quite frankly, it’s excellent value for the money. Only gripe I’ve found is it’s a little underpowered, but it cuts well, just needed a little tuning up.( but I’m really fussy) I looked at them all and this one fitted the bill most suitably.

+1 on the Carbatec one. In practice the relative lack of power isn't a big deal as I prefer not to take more than about half a mm in either mode at once anyway for a better finish. Mine required some fettling as well, in particular two bolts securing the fence came already stripped but after retapping the holes and substituting more substantial bolts it all works as it should.