New toy

[agg221]

I won't be using it for that size timber all the time, thats probably just the maximum size I will want to put through it.

Do you know what the max size that can be put on the planer? And the maximum height and width that could be put through the thickneser?

 

Does anyone know anything about the Dewalt D27300? Its a lot more money than the metabo though.

I've heard great things about the Dewalt 733 thicknesser. The only thing is I presume if I buy that then i would need a planer anyway to get posts straight before they go through the thicknesser? (unless there is some sort of modification you can do to the 733?)

 

I only have the DW733 so I use it as a planer and a thicknesser. Obviously it doesn't have a fence for doing the sides of thin boards, but it has a long enough table to straighten things out against the knives so long as you don't try to take too deep a cut on a springy bit. No problems so far in about 10yrs. Capacity is 6" deep by 12.5" wide.

 

Alec

[se7enthdevil]

Thought i'd resurrect this thread as would like to see how your getting on with the metabo?

I have been looking at getting something along these lines for a while. I can't go for anything bigger because of limited space.

What sort of wood will it take? The biggest i would want to use it for is maybe 6x6" posts, would that be asking a bit much of it?

 

James.

 

having used quite a few machines in the last 13 years i'd go with a cast iron job any day for 6x6" posts but if a little thicknesser is all you have then go for it.

[jamesd]

I only have the DW733 so I use it as a planer and a thicknesser. Obviously it doesn't have a fence for doing the sides of thin boards, but it has a long enough table to straighten things out against the knives so long as you don't try to take too deep a cut on a springy bit. No problems so far in about 10yrs. Capacity is 6" deep by 12.5" wide.

 

Alec

 

Have you used it to straighten out posts as well? Is it difficult to make sure you get a decent 90degree angle without having a fence like on a planer or have you not had a problem with it?

 

I presume the best way to do the posts would be just to feed the post through taking of a bit each time until the top edge is straight then turn the post 180degress put it through so then you would have two straight faces. Then repeat the process on the other two opposite faces.

Have i got the right idea or have i missed something?

[agg221]

Have you used it to straighten out posts as well? Is it difficult to make sure you get a decent 90degree angle without having a fence like on a planer or have you not had a problem with it?

 

I presume the best way to do the posts would be just to feed the post through taking of a bit each time until the top edge is straight then turn the post 180degress put it through so then you would have two straight faces. Then repeat the process on the other two opposite faces.

Have i got the right idea or have i missed something?

 

You get a pair of parallel faces pretty easily - rather than getting one perfect and then doing the other it seems to work better to take one face down to flat enough that it will always be in contact as it goes through, then flip the piece over and get the opposite face trued up against this. You can then choose which face to take defects out of until you reach the desired dimension.

 

Getting the other pair of faces is similar, but getting the two pairs to come out with a decent 90deg corner is slightly fiddly if they don't start out that way. You are better off either running the corner to a good square through a saw, or you end up manually twisting the piece as it goes through, which is possible but a lot of work by eye. If I really wanted to I could make up a fence which slotted in over the two table ends (I have done this to make jig for planed feather-edge from sawn wedges and it works fine).

 

You can't do a 6" x 6" as that is the biggest capacity of the thicknesser, so it couldn't be thicker to start with. The largest section I did where all faces were planed and I had to get a good square was 4"x3" x 13'. I did these by eye as I wanted to take out some gentle curves at the same time, which were longer than the table. They came out pretty straight.

 

Alec

[jamesd]

You get a pair of parallel faces pretty easily - rather than getting one perfect and then doing the other it seems to work better to take one face down to flat enough that it will always be in contact as it goes through, then flip the piece over and get the opposite face trued up against this. You can then choose which face to take defects out of until you reach the desired dimension.

 

Getting the other pair of faces is similar, but getting the two pairs to come out with a decent 90deg corner is slightly fiddly if they don't start out that way. You are better off either running the corner to a good square through a saw, or you end up manually twisting the piece as it goes through, which is possible but a lot of work by eye. If I really wanted to I could make up a fence which slotted in over the two table ends (I have done this to make jig for planed feather-edge from sawn wedges and it works fine).

 

You can't do a 6" x 6" as that is the biggest capacity of the thicknesser, so it couldn't be thicker to start with. The largest section I did where all faces were planed and I had to get a good square was 4"x3" x 13'. I did these by eye as I wanted to take out some gentle curves at the same time, which were longer than the table. They came out pretty straight.

 

Alec

 

Thanks for the info, i'm not to worried about not being able to do the 6x6 posts as i know someone with a large planer who could do that for me, its just smaller stuff i'd be using it for a lot of the time. I have a few 4x4 and 3x3 oak posts i would like to plane with it though.

I was thinking along the lines of making a fence for the in and out table on the machine which was at 90 degrees to the table so once i have one surface flat as you described above i could rest this face against the fence and it should then come out at a perfect 90 degrees???

I hope that makes sense?

Sorry for the all questions, i don't really want to buy something and then realise it won't do what i want!

 

The metabo does look like a nice compact machine but i don't think it has a big enough capacity thicknesser fo 4x4" posts but i can't find the exact specs on that machine.

[Macpherson]

Hi, I bought the Metabo HC 260 about a year ago, its a great addition to my workshop, I can`t complain about the build quality and yes it can deal with reasonably big timber near to it`s capacity albeit with many passes taking off small amounts.

I use it in conjunction with 2 roller stands which helps greatly, specially if your working alone, and as has been mentioned the machines rollers can do with a bit of a hand at times.

I don`t have a problem with the safety features which I haven`t disabled although it can be a bit of a pita if you are changing from planing to thicknessing every five minutes and also it really needs to be used with an extraction system to get rid of the chips if doing a lot of work.

As has been said a cast iron, British built Wadkin or similar is far superior, and I would love the real thing specially for doing really big stuff, but if you want to put a 6m length through a machine you really need a 45 foot work shop [ which I don`t have ], so with it`s wheels kit the Metabo has the added bonus of being portable which lets me take it outside when I need to deal with long stuff.

The only other thing I can think of is that Metabo say that the knives aren`t resharpenable in comparison to some of the other makes available, and although I can`t see why, it didn`t put me off buying the machine, but it did have me deliberating, but there`s always something, hope this helps, cheers.

[jamesd]

Hi, I bought the Metabo HC 260 about a year ago, its a great addition to my workshop, I can`t complain about the build quality and yes it can deal with reasonably big timber near to it`s capacity albeit with many passes taking off small amounts.

I use it in conjunction with 2 roller stands which helps greatly, specially if your working alone, and as has been mentioned the machines rollers can do with a bit of a hand at times.

I don`t have a problem with the safety features which I haven`t disabled although it can be a bit of a pita if you are changing from planing to thicknessing every five minutes and also it really needs to be used with an extraction system to get rid of the chips if doing a lot of work.

As has been said a cast iron, British built Wadkin or similar is far superior, and I would love the real thing specially for doing really big stuff, but if you want to put a 6m length through a machine you really need a 45 foot work shop [ which I don`t have ], so with it`s wheels kit the Metabo has the added bonus of being portable which lets me take it outside when I need to deal with long stuff.

The only other thing I can think of is that Metabo say that the knives aren`t resharpenable in comparison to some of the other makes available, and although I can`t see why, it didn`t put me off buying the machine, but it did have me deliberating, but there`s always something, hope this helps, cheers.

 

Thanks for the info, do you know what the max capacity is for the metabos thicknesser and planer is please?

I'm struggling to find this information.

Also where did you buy yours from?

[Macpherson]

Hi, 160 mm max thicknessing, also just seen a planer blade conversion kit for the 260 for sale on fleabay but it doesn`t say why it needs converted, perhaps to resharpenable knives ?? I`ll need to check it out, cheers

[Macpherson]

Yeah, converts from disposable blades to HSS, £53, you might be able to find a new machine with these already fitted or persuade a seller to do a deal when buying new, perhaps Metabo have upgraded as most of their competition uses HSS knives and there cheaply and easily sharpened, I`m not sure, but that`s what I`ll be going for next time. cheers.

[jamesd]

Hi, 160 mm max thicknessing, also just seen a planer blade conversion kit for the 260 for sale on fleabay but it doesn`t say why it needs converted, perhaps to resharpenable knives ?? I`ll need to check it out, cheers

 

That works out to be around the 6inch mark then? so i could comfortably put a 5inch post through the thicknesser then?