festool ehl65 planer vs older planers

[fin]

been looking at getting a festool planer recently as my old one blew up. the bearings disintegrated inside the motor and its basically knackered.

the knackered planer is the same as this one on ebay

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Bosch-proffesional-planer-GHO-31-82-/321358448134?pt=UK_Home_Garden_PowerTools_SM&hash=item4ad274c606

i can use an old elu planer but its a tad awkward to use and tends to fly all over the place..

this is the elu planer i can use
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Elu-Electric-Planer-/271439399184?pt=UK_Home_Garden_PowerTools_SM&hash=item3f330c8910

the elu is very heavy and as i said when the trigger is pulled it has a bit of a gyroscopic effect going on. and always wants to move about.

the bosch was nice and light but had a few things wrong before the motor broke.

it seems a bit daft going for a second hand planer. if i have the spare cash i may aswell get new. so what improvements would i expect to see from the festool planer over other makes?

how does the depth adjustment work? on the bosch planer the front was a wedge shape that adjusted by up to 3mm with a quarter of a turn of the adjustment knob. but the elu planer required a few turns to adjust by the same amount.

cheers guys

 

[R.W_Carpentry]

I made the switch from a 4mm makita, and it's a world of difference, I actually never had a problem with the makita and really liked it, but it broke on me and whilst repairing it got a festool. I've repaired the makita and not really used it since.
The festool for a start is so much lighter than most others, and the dust/chip extraction I find much better, especially if used with an extractor.
The angled blade also is a big benefit, it gives a glass like finish , working on a very simple principle.

The only down side I would say is the cost of blades, and if you do many doors where you risk hitting staples, being a single blade, one ding in it and you end up running a little bulge on everything.

The depth adjustment I find nice and easy and can be done whilst moving easily enough, it's just under half a turn iirc to go from 0-4mm.

I'd not look at any others after getting mine, I tried using my makita the other day and it was so heavy and cumbersome in comparison, you don't know what you're missing til you try it, then you won't want any other.

 

[gkaiseril]

Staples are a pain no matter on what lumber they appear. They are hard on hands and other tools. I just pull them before using the material.

It sounds like a metal detector would be helpful.

 

[fin]

aye like what norm abram uses before he puts timber through his thickneser. wonder how much they cost.

i do often find the occasional staple in cheapo doors like. having said that though the planer my mate recommended to me which is a newer bosch model than the one i linked up has only one blade so would suffer the same as the festool if it hit a staple or whatever.

i have a midi extractor anyway. so id probably go festool with the planer aswell.

i once used a diy black and decker planer and that was a pretty much one handed job it was so light. heavy planers can be a bit harder to control. my bosch planer was pretty good. but basically needs a full on rebuild to fix it.

 

[carlb40]

Fin try axminster or rutlands for the metal detector. They don't cost that much now.

 

[fin]

ahh nice one. ill check it out.