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Advice on Planer Purchase

12/30/22       
Jon Member

I am looking to upgrade from my old 18" Rockwell 22-201 wedge planer.
We are a currently a 6 person shop with more cabinetry work than we can handle. I currently outsource my drawer box material and my standard 2.25" door stiles and rails material to a local mill shop which eliminates a 90% of the need for a thickness planer. However, I would be open to processing that material in house in the future.
The delta had been upgraded to a Bryde helical head but after the first rotation of the blades we have never been able to eliminate streaking from the inserts not being perfectly aligned. This experience scarred me and has me wanting to go with the Tersa head vs. the "Xylent" (from SCM)
I am leaning toward the SCM Nova s 520 and the runner up is the Ironwood p500.
1. What are your thoughts on the two machines as they are relatively the same price.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaWpcIcIzsI
https://amldata.stilesmachinery.com/assets/files/2hy/98-965-00227.pdf
2. Tersa vs Xylent. My number one concern being insert alignment.

12/30/22       #2: Advice on Planer Purchase ...
Bill Stanisci

I assume you don't have a wide belt or you would not care as much about "insert alignment". Most insert heads have insert with a slight radius so material coming out of it needs to be sanded anyway.

If you have more work than you can handle making drawer box material and door stiles would be a false economy. Both are made more efficiently on a molder.

Inserts as you know are quiet and a straight knife is not. You also will get significantly more tear out from a straight knife. I am a fan of inserts.

12/31/22       #3: Advice on Planer Purchase ...
Allen Chalifoux

If your getting a streaking on the surface that you weren't getting before rotating the knives it's because there not seated properly.
We've been using Byrd heads for close to 20 years in both my molder and planer and will tell you that the knife seat has to be absolutely clean when installing the inserts.
Bill is correct about the mill marks sanding out with normal surface sanding.
If your looking for a machine to increase productivity I suggest you think about a 4 side molder, no other machine in my shop has has had as big of an impact on productively and opened up new markets. Allen

12/31/22       #4: Advice on Planer Purchase ...
Pete

I went from a 20" powermatic(high end hobby) with straight knives to a used scm 520 with a tersa head. I love the tersa head. No experience with inserts.

12/31/22       #5: Advice on Planer Purchase ...
Bruce H

If you have a Bryde helical head in your current planer, that is pretty much at the top of the food chain. A new planer isn't going to help you as much as learning to tune the planer you have. Those pockets need to be absolutely clean when you install the knife. One at a time, clean the pocket with a tooth brush, oil the screw before installing it. We do one row before the torque sequence and then move on to the next row. I have a 24" planer with six rows of cutters, takes about one day to change the head. For that, I get one and half to two years before needing to turn.

12/31/22       #6: Advice on Planer Purchase ...
Karl E Brogger  Member

Website: http://www.sogncabinets.com

I'm a fan of Tersa heads. Super easy to change knives.

Neither Tersa or Inserts allow big cuts. Hogging material, get a Northfield.
Different knife options for Tersa

I can tell you to skip Felder. I hate mine. I wish I would've bought a used Kolle or Panhans. If only going new, Martin or a L'invincibile.

12/31/22       #7: Advice on Planer Purchase ...
Jason

The carbide inserts that are on a new head 15x15 or 14X14 are always perfect but as soon as you rotate them you will get the lines. Clean as clean can be and I have never been able to get it back to a no line finish so I only use them on the first bottom. Seems to do really good there.

1/3/23       #8: Advice on Planer Purchase ...
Jon Member

I do have a very old Timesaver wide belt sander...that is a problem for another thread. It doesn't run like I wish it would and, in all honesty, it would maybe make more sense to upgrade my sander. However, that is a significantly larger purchase.

@ Bill - You're not wrong on the false economy.

The inserts were just changed a couple weeks ago. We tooth brushed each "seat" and each insert as clean as possible, still have the lines. Do they need torqued all exactly the same with a torque screwdriver?

1/3/23       #9: Advice on Planer Purchase ...
gary

Maybe look into a planer/sander. Kill two birds with one stone. The sander will remove all planer marks and you can raise it out of the way when rough planning only plus you have conveyor feed.

1/3/23       #10: Advice on Planer Purchase ...
Hen Bob Member

I would also recommend just upgrading your sander, yes more of an investment but will save you labor in the long run. How are you sanding your doors now? But if you do go the planer route heed Karl's advice ... I just watched a nice panhans sell for 4.5K

1/3/23       #11: Advice on Planer Purchase ...
Jon

I will definitely keep panhans in mind.
All cabinet doors are sanded individually with a palm sander.
The joints are usually very close to perfectly flush off the shapers so it doesnt take “too” long. It would be nice to be able to simply run them through our widebelt though.
Any sander recommendations?

1/5/23       #12: Advice on Planer Purchase ...
Karl E Brogger  Member

Website: http://www.sogncabinets.com

I have an Apex and have been happy with it.

I agree with others. A better widebelt would be money well spent.

1/7/23       #13: Advice on Planer Purchase ...
Dave Edgerton  Member

In all honesty if you are doing that kind of work get a 4 head planer. We did and we should have done it sooner. We bought ours used and have it on a 4 year lease.

1/9/23       #14: Advice on Planer Purchase ...
David R Sochar Member

Website: http://www.acornwoodworks.com

I agree with Dave E. - Get a four head planer with digital readouts, process (control) all your material needs and you will not regret it.

We had a Weinig Quattromax that was fast, accurate and worked like a charm. Quick change knives could be done on the machine. Similar to Tersa. SCMI also made/makes o similar machine. A long infeed table will work like a jointer, so all the stock come out straight, unlike most molders.

1/17/23       #15: Advice on Planer Purchase ...
Allen Chalifoux

Jon, back to your original question.
I just finished rotating the inserts on my molder and remembered the 1st time I rotated them I broke a couple of knives. The problem was garbage on the underside of the knives. Since then I drop them in a bowl of lacquer thinner and clean them as well as the pockets in the head as well. Hope this helps, Allen

2/8/23       #16: Advice on Planer Purchase ...
Ian

On a side note, make sure there are enough rollers on the bed so you don't get that entry snipe. Our powermatic has two, not enough when their on either side of the cutterhead.


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