Thicknesser v Planner Thicknesser ?

[ru55ell1]

Hi all
Question
I understand that with a Planner Thicknesser that you square up the timber using the Planner then use the Thicknesser element to plane to size.
How do you use a pure Thicknesser to get a square and sized piece of timber ?
Sorry if the answer is simple.
Regards Russell

[julcle]

Hi Russell  --   Plane up a face side on the planer. Make sure that the fence is a true 90deg and using this
plane up a face edge. You now have two finished surfaces to work from, a face side and a face edge just as you
would if you were preparing by hand. keeping the face side on the thicknesser table reduce the oposite side
down to thickness a bit at a time turning the wood between face side and face edge for each pass until they
are at the dimention required. Hope this helps.

[Turners cabin]

it can be done with a pure thikness planer using it and a good table saw but this will only square the timber up it will not take out any bow in the timber

[Woodcrafts]

Hi Russell,
The planer is used to create a reference, or face side to a piece of timber by using in and out feed tables. The section of wood, just planed, rides onto the outfeed table and it is this which creates your reference face. A thicknesser won't do that, as the timber is just sandwiched between the table and the cutters, so if the timber is bowed you will still have it bowed, albeit nicely planed and even thickness.
One way round this is to use a sled, a trued up piece of timber, dead straight. Put your workpiece on top of this and feed the pair through the thicknesser. You may need to create an end stop to prevent the two sliding over one another, but light cuts usually do the trick. Once you've got one face 'true', you can dispense with the sled and use that face as your reference on the table. If you want the sides truing up, repeat the same process for them.
If you are using relatively thin pieces of timber, you may need to shim the work to the sled, otherwise it will flex and defeat the object of the sled.
I hope that all makes sense. It's much easier to show it being done than describing it!!

[thebowlerhattedturner]

Hi Russell,
                you can't,you need to true up a face side and edge taking the bow out,a saw will not do that as efficiently as a planer.
If you are trying to decide whether to buy one or the other go with a planer /thicknesser everytime.
Regards
JOHN BHT

[ru55ell1]

Many thanks to all of you for the information, looks like ebay for a planner thicknesser :-)

[Doug Barratt]

Personally I`ve always gone for separate machines, a stand alone surface planer & a stand alone thicknesser. Combined machines are on the whole a pain & involve a lot of faffing especially when running a lot of stock.

That said if you can find a machine that doesn`t involved lifting & lowering the beds to change from one mode of planing to another that would be a bonus. Wadkin made this type & they are well worth getting hold of.




Cheers.

[julcle]

Iv'e got an old INCA Model 450, It's got two 10" blades and is free standing, to thickness
you just remove the outfeed table and it does the business all day long if I want it to. It
must be 30years old if it's a day, it cost me a new set of blades.