Thickness Planer
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Brice Burrell
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Henry, for the money, the Delta TP305 is hard to beat. Read the reviews on amazon.
mastercabman
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i have the makita and i'm very please with it.
Mr. Henry, perhaps if you shared your intentions and budget we could "drill down" the options for you. There is just a cornucopia of knowledge at your disposal here; and so many options.
What will you be utilizing the planer for?
How often do you anticipate running your planer?
How precise do you need to be?
How will you be finishing your product?
How wide of boards are you planning on planing (say that 10 times quick).
Those types of general questions will give us a better idea of your needs.
t
What will you be utilizing the planer for?
How often do you anticipate running your planer?
How precise do you need to be?
How will you be finishing your product?
How wide of boards are you planning on planing (say that 10 times quick).
Those types of general questions will give us a better idea of your needs.
t
Good Evening Mr. Henry, with the criteria you describe...price point...I would have to concur with Dr. Burrell. The little Delta TP350 is a good deal. You can probably find that item at the Home Center that starts with an L for a good price. I think this is the way to go rather than the Orange tool that you can get at the Home Center that starts with a H.
Knives are readily available, and parts are a plenty for the Delta lines. You can't go wrong with it unless you happen to get a Lemon. If you don't try to "hog" off the boards, and cut long to allow for snipe, you'll be gold dude!
Timmy C
Knives are readily available, and parts are a plenty for the Delta lines. You can't go wrong with it unless you happen to get a Lemon. If you don't try to "hog" off the boards, and cut long to allow for snipe, you'll be gold dude!
Timmy C
Brice Burrell
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Henry, I have the TP350, pick it up at amazon for cheap, free shipping about a year ago. If you can wait for them to have the free shipping again, that would be the way to go.Timmy C said:
Dr. Burrell
Lou Miller
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Just wanted to chime in here with something that hasn't been mentioned yet. The Delta planer listed above doesn't appear to have a cutterhead lock (forgive me if it does and I didn't see it). While I'm sure its a fine planer overall, that's a feature I wouldn't be without. There are several options available on the market that won't set you back a whole lot that do have a cutterhead lock. The cutterhead lock can make a big difference in terms of snipe.
IMO, any one of Rigid, Delta (2 speed), Dewalt, or Makita are excellent machines and you'll be happy with them for a long time. Just look for the best deal you can find as there won't be much at all that separate them in terms of performance. Most of these machines go on sale frequently and can be had for reasonable prices. I paid less than $300 for my old Delta 2 speed and it was a great machine as far lunchbox planers go. I had a Jet lunchbox planer before the Delta and it was a total piece of garbage.
IMO, any one of Rigid, Delta (2 speed), Dewalt, or Makita are excellent machines and you'll be happy with them for a long time. Just look for the best deal you can find as there won't be much at all that separate them in terms of performance. Most of these machines go on sale frequently and can be had for reasonable prices. I paid less than $300 for my old Delta 2 speed and it was a great machine as far lunchbox planers go. I had a Jet lunchbox planer before the Delta and it was a total piece of garbage.
Brice Burrell
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No Lou, you are right. This planer will snipe. I got it because I need a planer that is portable and cheap, I don't need to plane stock down all that often. Last year, $180 at amazon, free shipping, thats hard to beat.
Lou Miller
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Brice Burrell said:
Hard to beat? I guess that depends on your perspective. I wouldn't pay $80 for a planer if I had to constantly deal with snipe. My time and wasted wood are far more valuable to me than the initial cost of a machine. Then again, I probably run somewhere around 10,000 board feet of wood through my planer in a year. Which is why I no longer use lunchbox planers.
Hey, if it works for you, more power to ya...
Brice Burrell
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Lou, I bet I don't plane 40board feet a year.
As is true with all things bought; "you get what you pay for." As is true with any woodworking question; "you ask 10 woodworkers a question, you are going to get at least 16 answers." My perception of Henry's initial question was that he accentuated the budget aspect.
The Delta, Rigid, Makita, (Jet no longer makes a little guy in the under 250 range), Ryobi are all within the price point Henry would be looking at. Of those, it is my opinion that the Delta would be the most reliable and the easiest to have serviced or find knives, belts, etc. The Makita is somewhat relegated to dealer or online. Rigid is Home Depot, good luck with questions and parts; or the hassle of boxing it up and taking it back for exchange. Ryobi.....well, Ryobi.
It would be nice to afford the DeWalt 735, or the Delta 22-580, or even a Jet that has undergone considerable modifications in years past. Or how about a nice Powermatic? All of these that offer the feature Lou discusses are out of Henry's price range.
I concur with Lou that it would be nice to have a cutter-head lock to try and eliminate snipe. But I do know that for folks that work in a shop with a limited budget there are methods of work that can greatly reduce snipe; starting and ending the planing cycle with a "lead" and "posterior" sacrificial piece of board can often reduce that nasty snipe factor.
Just some morning thoughts...
T
The Delta, Rigid, Makita, (Jet no longer makes a little guy in the under 250 range), Ryobi are all within the price point Henry would be looking at. Of those, it is my opinion that the Delta would be the most reliable and the easiest to have serviced or find knives, belts, etc. The Makita is somewhat relegated to dealer or online. Rigid is Home Depot, good luck with questions and parts; or the hassle of boxing it up and taking it back for exchange. Ryobi.....well, Ryobi.
It would be nice to afford the DeWalt 735, or the Delta 22-580, or even a Jet that has undergone considerable modifications in years past. Or how about a nice Powermatic? All of these that offer the feature Lou discusses are out of Henry's price range.
I concur with Lou that it would be nice to have a cutter-head lock to try and eliminate snipe. But I do know that for folks that work in a shop with a limited budget there are methods of work that can greatly reduce snipe; starting and ending the planing cycle with a "lead" and "posterior" sacrificial piece of board can often reduce that nasty snipe factor.
Just some morning thoughts...
T
Lou, do you actually eliminate snipe with a bigger planer? I've always assumed that snipe and planers are an unavoidable combination. I have an older model dewalt that I've had many years that has a cutterhead lock and i get about 4 inches of snipe, so I just plan for it.
Brent
Brent
Lou Miller
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Brent,
I got virtually no snipe at all when I had my Delta 22-580. You might want to check your infeed and outfeed tables. Raise the cutterhead up enough so that you can fit a straight edge in. Preferably something like a 4' level. Don't adjust your tables so that they are even with the planer bed, make them a hair high on their outer edges. With the staight edge in place, it should be resting on the outer edges of both the infeed table and the outfeed table. However, it should not be touching the planer bed at all. About 1/32" is what I used in terms of clearance. I'm willing to bet if you do this, you'll cut down on your snipe dramatically.
As to bigger planers, I can only comment on the one I have (Yorkcraft). It has cast iron infeed and outfeed tables. I have them adjusted as I described above. I still occasionally get snipe, but its very rare. For the most part, if I've flattened one face completely on the jointer before going to the planer, then snipe is a non-issue. Its when I look at a board and think its flat enough the way it is and hope to be able skip a step that I typically get any snipe. The lunchbox planers leave a better finish, but the larger planers are SOOOO much faster. I can take a full 1/8" off on a 15" wide board and the machine won't even slow down. Do that with a lunchbox (obviously it would have to be a board that was around 12" instead of 15") and the thing will scream. Do it often enough and you'll certainly kill it.
I got virtually no snipe at all when I had my Delta 22-580. You might want to check your infeed and outfeed tables. Raise the cutterhead up enough so that you can fit a straight edge in. Preferably something like a 4' level. Don't adjust your tables so that they are even with the planer bed, make them a hair high on their outer edges. With the staight edge in place, it should be resting on the outer edges of both the infeed table and the outfeed table. However, it should not be touching the planer bed at all. About 1/32" is what I used in terms of clearance. I'm willing to bet if you do this, you'll cut down on your snipe dramatically.
As to bigger planers, I can only comment on the one I have (Yorkcraft). It has cast iron infeed and outfeed tables. I have them adjusted as I described above. I still occasionally get snipe, but its very rare. For the most part, if I've flattened one face completely on the jointer before going to the planer, then snipe is a non-issue. Its when I look at a board and think its flat enough the way it is and hope to be able skip a step that I typically get any snipe. The lunchbox planers leave a better finish, but the larger planers are SOOOO much faster. I can take a full 1/8" off on a 15" wide board and the machine won't even slow down. Do that with a lunchbox (obviously it would have to be a board that was around 12" instead of 15") and the thing will scream. Do it often enough and you'll certainly kill it.
Wow Lou, I wish I had talked to you about eight years ago and a couple thousand 4" chunks later. I'm going to give that a shot next time I haul that wee beastie out of the truck. All I have to do is remember to pull the level out when done tuning.
When planing I don't try to push much past 1/32" in one pass. Of course this depends on the material, the width, and what the machine sounds like in that initial pass but 1/32" works well. Of course this makes for very slow surfacing, four passes to your one, but I learned the hard way when I had an employee planing down some Ipe through the Dewalt that deep passes will cook the motor, (actually maybe the lesson was explain everything to employees in annoyingly specific detail), (no actually, now that I'm thinking about it the lesson employees=bad).
Recently, while looking through a Tauton Fine Woodworking book I saw a set up in a professional grade woodworkers shop where he had large planer and the Dewalt 22-580 next to it. The Large planer would leave tracks in the wood and the smaller planer cleaned up the tracks. Maybe someday.
Several trees in the Brazilian rainforest and myself thank you for the tip.
When planing I don't try to push much past 1/32" in one pass. Of course this depends on the material, the width, and what the machine sounds like in that initial pass but 1/32" works well. Of course this makes for very slow surfacing, four passes to your one, but I learned the hard way when I had an employee planing down some Ipe through the Dewalt that deep passes will cook the motor, (actually maybe the lesson was explain everything to employees in annoyingly specific detail), (no actually, now that I'm thinking about it the lesson employees=bad).
Recently, while looking through a Tauton Fine Woodworking book I saw a set up in a professional grade woodworkers shop where he had large planer and the Dewalt 22-580 next to it. The Large planer would leave tracks in the wood and the smaller planer cleaned up the tracks. Maybe someday.
Several trees in the Brazilian rainforest and myself thank you for the tip.
