Whats the difference between a combined planer thicknesser and a jointer?

cheers

Dewy's got it spot on

If you only have a thicknesser you will never be able to straighten a bowed board as it will come out as bent as it went in. Thats why I can't see much point in only having a thicknesser and not the planner/joiner to go with it.

The advantage of two separate machines is that it saves time in having to keep changing from one setup to another which can take a while especially if the joiner tables have to be raised for thicknessing

Jason

What's your method of thicknessing with the jointer as, like Dewy, I only have a jointer (Rexon 6" model) and would appreciate any tips when it comes to slightly cupped or non square stock?

At the moment I'm truing up one face then by holding the now flat surface against the fence I get nice straight edges but I find the opposite face tends to be a bit hit and miss if its badly outta sorts, the problem being passing it across the jointer at a parallel particularly with thinish stock.

Ta in advance, Mike.

Dewy did you say cup upwards I was always told that the hollow should be at the bottom which stops the board rocking.

Doc.
The best you can get using a planner and table saw is one face side and two parallel face edges. plane face (widest dim) first, hold this face against fence and machine one face edge. Then over to table saw, face side down, face edge against femce, rip parallel 1mm oversize. back to planer face side to fence and plane the second edge.

If you are dealing with timber that is less than your Max saw cut you should be able to get that square by running it though with the first face & edges against the table & fence.

The other thing to bear in mind is that you can only easily strainghten a piece of timber 2.5 times longer than the planer table so the bigger the better.

Sorry, should clarify a little.....

Max cut of my saw is just a fraction under 80mm, dimensions below this aren't a problem using the plane/joint face/edge/rip/joint method, and that's the procedure I usually use. But say I wanted 6" wide boards, what then? Hence the problem.

Yep, I know I could remove the saw guard and riving knife then pass the stock on edge twice but wouldn't fancy doing that, and also wouldn't expect anyone here to recommend trying it!

One thing that did spring to mind was gluing a temp shim on the face to be planed so that when offered to the jointer the good (face up) side is parallel to the bed - anyone tried it?, if not will try it tomorrow and report back.

Ta for replies, Mike.

I wouldn't try gluing bits on the face you are going to plane. IMHO these machines are dangerous at the best of times and it is just too dangerous, if the piece catches in the cutter .

Jason wrote;
"Short answer is to buy a thicknesser or sharpen up your handplane. "

sounds good advice to me.

You can always use a handplane to take off the worst irregularities then run it across the planer to get a final finish.

thats bloody good value
if its any gooood £130 +£10 delivery

hi doc,
i am sure dewy could give you some guidance on this
one message and i posted a picture!!!
and i know nothing lol
john
sorry for nominating you dewy
john

depends depends and depends

depends on quality of your hand plane

depends on the quality of your power plane

depends on what your doing

curly wurlys hand plane 8) 8) 8)

hamster beding power plane

They'll remove a lot of wood in a short time Doc.
I wouldn't use one for getting something dead straight but for scribing face frames to a wall you can't beat them. Same with planing a door to fit.
My jointer was the Nutool one from B&Q (£129)
The bed isn't very long so it's only used for jointing fairly short pieces. 3' is the longest timber I've used on it. When I first used it I thought my technique was wrong as I had snipe on every piece I planed. I soon found that the blades werent level with the outfield table, they were slightly above. 30 mins looking at the manual then adjusting the blades was well worth it. Nice straight cuts now. Replacement blades arent much either, £10 direct from Nutool or £12 from MSCtools.

I was in B&Q last week and they had the Nu tool jointer on at half price £65,was tempted .

NuTool only make a 6" jointer & B&Q only sell them in the B&Q warehouses not the smaller shops.

Something that I like about the Rexon 4" jointer is the blade guard. It's the American style of sprung cam that automatically holds the wood to the fence unlike all the others that you have to slide across the blades to leave the smallest gap between the wood & guard then lock in place. I mentioned about it in Machine Mart a couple of years ago when I saw the Rexon 6" jointer there. The assistant tried to tell me that those cam guards are illegal here.

Thank you Jason for the information, I'll certainly check out the site. PS Seen your pictures on there a while back - nice work, you should be proud.

Dewy, I'm puzzled as to why the camlock type of guard would be deemed illegal over here, did the MachineMart person give you any more info? Just curious....


Mike.

Have to agree with you Dewy, I'd have preferred the spring loaded cam-type guard as well... it did however come supplied with two decent pushblocks made from tough acrylic and that rubber stuff used for non-slip matting on the bottom.

Mike.

Yup, tis excellent stuff for lining car boots - haven't got round to doing mine yet, Volvo 740 Estate, will need quite a bit lol!  

Mike.