Planer vs sander thicknesser...

[Insomnomaniac]

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"Originally Posted on:"Wed Aug 25, 2010 "

Hey guys, I've noticed you talking a lot about sander thicknessers, but they're not a machine I'm familiar with. From a practical perspective, is there a big advantage to using one of them vs using a planer thicknesser?

I'm guessing they'd be better for highly figured timber or very thin timber, but is there more to it that I'm missing?

[Nick]

Less desire to tear great chunks out or corners off of the wood, as you say, better for figured timbers but Thickness planers are good for reducing plain grained timbers in thickness quickly. I use both for the plain grained woods, I use the planer first (which does tend to leave a 'rippled' finish because there's only two blades on the drum) then finish with a few passes through the sander to clean up and get it down to size.

[Kim]

My thickness sander is the single most used static tool in the shed, I had a thicknesses once but they are not really that useful for guitar building because of the tear out issue, noise and mess. When my focus moved from working with larger sections of timber to the smaller sections we use in this craft I sold it and don't miss it at all. A bandsaw or wagner safeTplaner is used these days to remove large amounts of stock and the thickness sander for clean up afterward.

Cheers

Kim

[Bob Connor]

I've got both. I couldn't get by without the thickness sander but I rarely use the thicknesser.

[Pete T]

The great thing about a thickness sander is that it is a very basic machine and many, including myself, have successful home made machines. I am yet to see a home made planer. I prefer to save as much on these type of things as possible so I can spend more on wood.

Cheers, Pete.

[Allen]

LIke the others, it's used as much as any other machine in the shop. and if you were to take it away from me, I'd just go out and get another one.

If you have a bunch of large material, then a thickness planer is useful, but in my shed it would just get cob webs and go rusty with lack of use.

[Pete Howlett]

Amen to the above. My little 4x6 planer packed up - capacitor went and I just chucked it out - couldn't be bothered. Now accurate bandsawing and shoving stuff through my homemade thickness sander do the job.

[Localele]

They are great machines and really quite accurate once set up properly. Cross grain sand for the most as it is easier on the machine and straighten up for the finish cuts. Good dust extraction is a must as these things produce a lot of fine dust.

[peter.coombe]

I have both and both get used. The drum sander gets used for sanding sides to thinkness and making bindings etc. Is also useful for very highly figured woods that the planer would tear out, but I would probably use it less than a guitar maker.

I did without a thicknesser/planer until recently when I bought a Woodfast from Carbatec Canberra (long painful experience), but for me it has turned into a great time saver (when it did finally arrive). However, I use thicker woods than guitar makers becasue the plates of my mandolins are carved. I also use a lot of Aussie timbers that usually come in large lumps so the thinknesser function of the Woodfast is really useful. It is also very useful for planing the back of a joined set of Spruce wedges. I used to do that by hand, but the planer does it in a fraction of the time. Highly figured woods do tear out, but not to the extent I was expecting. A sharp blade and taking off very thin layers at a time helps. There is very little so far that I have had to resort to hand planing. The planer is also useful for squaring up neck stock. Now I have had the Woodfast for 6 months I would hate to do all that by hand again.

If you only make guitars and get guitar sets already cut to size I can't see you would get much use from a thicknesser/planer. Horses for courses.

[P Bill]

Hi Folks,

My two cents. We make the best use of what we have. In my case, I have a 400 mm over and under 3-phase unit with a 105 mm diameter, 3 cutter head. A lot depends on the timber and the amount of figure. I have access to a thicknesser/sander but I have to travel to use it.

I make my body rests for EUBs out of 5 veneers, 3.2 mm thick X 160 mm wide, from Kwila and Jarrah. These are backed up with 25 mm MDF. For awhile I thought this was as thin as I could go. Next I needed 2.5 mm X 230 mm Fiji Mahogany with a rowed figure, for double bass ribs. I thought this was pretty good. Next I needed 1.5 mm X 50 mm ribs for viola and violin. This was made from PNG Rosewood and Qld Maple, quarter sawn but no figure.

The cutters must be sharp and the depth of cut a vapor and feed rate as slow as you can get it. For e.g., I'll feed the timber through twice at the same setting.

Doing a glued top or bottom for a flat top guitar will probably be a very different story. Once I've thicknessed as thin as I dare, I pack everything up and go use my friend's thickness sander.

[Taffy Evans]

Hi, I have had both types machines since day one, I use them both and would miss either one. I don't get any mess, good dust extraction, and ear muffs fixes the noise problem. My planer takes up a bit of floor space though thats my only gripe.

[kiwigeo]

I cant think of anything Id find a thicknesser/planer useful for in my shop.

[Insomnomaniac]

kiwigeo wrote:

I cant think of anything Id find a thicknesser/planer useful for in my shop.

In all honesty, I think I'd personally find more use for a planer thicknesser than a sander thicknesser - but that's because I'm a carpenter by trade, not a professional luthier! The sander definitely sounds like a better option for delicate work, that's for sure...

[Puff]

A decent bandsaw blade and a home-built thickness sander will come in way cheaper and way quieter than one of those demonic screaming wood chippers. Then again if we had neighbours we really wanted to piss off...

[Insomnomaniac]

Has anyone got any pics of home-built setups?

[Puff]

Just Google it. Home made thickness sander. Build your own ... Ours is a set of 6"x20" drums that go in the lathe with the table underneath. Four drums dedicated to grits - 40 through 220. Change time about 30 seconds.

[DarwinStrings]

You could have a look at the pics on this site Ian http://plansnow.com/dn3078.html, looks like a nice unit really. If you end up buying a set of the plans it would be good to know how you go with them.

Jim

[vandenboom]

Insomnomaniac wrote:
Has anyone got any pics of home-built setups?

My home made unit......I love it. Frank

176_drumsander1_1.jpg (25.39 KiB) Viewed 22108 times

176_drumsander2_1.jpg (23.93 KiB) Viewed 22108 times

[SteveCourtright]

Well now, I have a thinness sander and I almost always prefer it to my thicknesser.

I typically buy wood in a size and shape that requires me to cause the wood to become thinner, not thicker. Despite having some very expensive thicknesser tools, I have found that at best, the finished dimensions of wood that has been passed through my thicknesser are unchanged. Frankly, I don't really get why anyone would use one more than once in a while. Maybe I am doing it wrong!!

[DarwinStrings]

If you manage to get that to work Steve would you please post some detailed instructions for your method as I have a few nice twigs I would like to turn into logs. Welcome to the forum.

[Pete T]

img~

This is my version. I made the drum by glueing a couple of bits of pine around the axle and then took to them with a chisel whilst the machine span, just like a lathe. I then clamped some sandpaper to the table surface and turned the machine on to end up with a perfectly trued drum.
Space is tight in my shed so I have my set up against a window. I just open the window and push the wood through, making sure I reach around in time to catch it before it hits the ground outside.

Pete


Gee, mine seems so much smaller than Franks!!

[stopper]

I learnt the hard way ruining a nice piece of fiddle back blackwood by trying to put it through my 2 blade wadkin thicknesser. The blades were sharp but the tear out destroyed the piece. Now I use an 1100mm 2 drum sander.
cheers
Steve
Dorrigo Woodworks

[Taffy Evans]

Hi my first sander is a dead ringer for Franks, pictured above. I must have used it for 15 years before updating. Still have the drum, bearings and motor available if anybodies driving by.

It was mentioned earlier that a planer would not get used very often, I find thats true, but its also true ,in my shop, for a host of other dedicated and not so dedicated machines and jigs. Different strokes for different folks.

[joolstacho]

I have an etching (printing) press which I'd like to convert to a thickness sander. It's basically like a mangle (old enough to remember those!)- it consists of 2 beautiful steel rollers about 24" wide x about 5" dia -perfect. Questions I have are... what sort of rpm would be in the ballpark?... is the sandpaper glued to the roller? I assume some sort of fine vernier adjustment for thickness would be required, any ideas of a simple method?
-Jools
(I might be persuaded to show ya my $0 neck carving machine. Accurate machining of the neck tapered curve. Mmm, do a half dozen an hour? Fancy that?)

[Puff]

About 2000 feet per minute will allow about ten feet per minute feed. You really only want the plate cylinder (the top one) and to use the space where the impression cylinder is for your feed table.
Converted an AB Dick offset press this way and glued the grit paper to cleaned up used film plates. Changing plates was a 20 second job. Worked great but took up too much room.
A word of caution. Those cylinders will be heavy and getting them spinning without some sort 'soft start' setup could get bloody rough on your motor and v-belt.