Flatbed jointer opinion

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rocket
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Flatbed jointer opinion

Post by rocket » Tue Jun 05, 2018 11:03 am

I have a desire to add a flatbed jointer to the workshop, specifically one with a spiral cutter head, a large model will take up too much space but The Carbatec JN-LX150C would fit the bill I think and pretty much affordable too.
So what’s the opinion of the members? is this entry level unit going to cut the mustard or should I look further afield?

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Re: Flatbed jointer opinion

Post by demonx » Tue Jun 05, 2018 11:28 am

Looks like a rebadged version of my 6” Ledacraft, if so I highly recommend.

I had a non spiral version which I sold, bought another machine and realised I’d made a mistake and rebought another Ledacraft, however this time with the spiral head. It makes the world of difference.

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Re: Flatbed jointer opinion

Post by demonx » Tue Jun 05, 2018 11:30 am

Looking on their website my 6” isn’t there, but the 8” is the basically the same:

https://www.ledamachinery.com.au/leda_p ... ce-planer/

I’d go with whichever has the closest dealer to you or best freight etc.

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Re: Flatbed jointer opinion

Post by Richard » Wed Jun 06, 2018 12:11 pm

I'm in the market for the same in the near future.

Tossing up between 150mm/6" and 200mm/8"... I suspect 150mm would do 99% of what I'd need it to do but there's always that temptation to go bigger for a little bit more.

The choice for me is probably between Carbatec or Laguna.

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Re: Flatbed jointer opinion

Post by kiwigeo » Wed Jun 06, 2018 4:12 pm

My 10 cents worth. I'd be looking at a 6" machine but spending the extra dollars an 8" machine would cost me on a 6" machine with helical cutters.
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Re: Flatbed jointer opinion

Post by demonx » Wed Jun 06, 2018 5:07 pm

kiwigeo wrote:
Wed Jun 06, 2018 4:12 pm
My 10 cents worth. I'd be looking at a 6" machine but spending the extra dollars an 8" machine would cost me on a 6" machine with helical cutters.

The spiral head is definitely worth it. It does cost a lot more, however it’s much better. Less timber wastage due to tear out boo boos. It makes me wish my thicknesser was spiral head too.

With that said though, in guitar building I never use this up to the 6” capacity, so I’d never need an 8” for guitar building.

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Re: Flatbed jointer opinion

Post by Gazm » Thu Jun 07, 2018 2:14 pm

Tossing up between 150mm/6" and 200mm/8"... I suspect 150mm would do 99% of what I'd need it to do but there's always that temptation to go bigger for a little bit more.

On the money Richard! If you prefer to size your own billeted timbers, then bigger is BETTER!
I used my local turners club for some time, resawing billet, was great for a chin wag, but time consuming, so I bit the bullet & purchased the JET 310 combo thicknesser/jointer from Carba-tec last wood show, THANKS Jeremy Fullerton!
This piece of machinery is the best bang for buck in my mancave!!

Gaz

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Re: Flatbed jointer opinion

Post by rocket » Thu Jun 07, 2018 9:30 pm

Just pulled the trigger on the Carbatec 150mm jointer with the helical head, 1410 long bed which suits my shop as i'm getting a bit crowded, the 1700 long 200mm model would be way too big.
The Jet comes with a bit more grunt 1.5hp, than the Carbatec but only offers 3 knives, at 1hp the Carbatec should be sufficient seeing as the helical will be more efficient and need a bit less hp.
Can't wait for the goodies to arrive now!!

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Re: Flatbed jointer opinion

Post by demonx » Fri Jun 08, 2018 9:25 am

Congrats!

You’ll notice the spiral heads are much quieter as well, and give a better finish!

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Re: Flatbed jointer opinion

Post by Richard » Tue Jun 12, 2018 9:36 am

demonx wrote:
Wed Jun 06, 2018 5:07 pm
With that said though, in guitar building I never use this up to the 6” capacity, so I’d never need an 8” for guitar building.
What's your method for correcting warp on boards wider than 6" -- I'd imagine this is pretty common for a typical two-piece electric blank?

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Re: Flatbed jointer opinion

Post by demonx » Tue Jun 12, 2018 10:00 am

Richard wrote:
Tue Jun 12, 2018 9:36 am
demonx wrote:
Wed Jun 06, 2018 5:07 pm
With that said though, in guitar building I never use this up to the 6” capacity, so I’d never need an 8” for guitar building.
What's your method for correcting warp on boards wider than 6" -- I'd imagine this is pretty common for a typical two-piece electric blank?
Avoiding warped boards being the obvious, however to answer your question I do work with a lot of timber that is self milled and that goes through a thicknesser and drum sander. A jointer is no replacement for either of these.

In electric building the jointer only gets used for edge joinery on body blanks and for buzzing the neck surface after the scarf joint. That’s it. For acoustic builds it’s only the neck.

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Re: Flatbed jointer opinion

Post by simso » Tue Jun 12, 2018 6:16 pm

Richard wrote:
Tue Jun 12, 2018 9:36 am
What's your method for correcting warp on boards wider than 6" -- I'd imagine this is pretty common for a typical two-piece electric blank?
My process is not much different to others, the jointer is used to straighten wood out for neck blanks and fretboards, basically it’s my first stage of creating what I called dressed wood.

On body blanks, I use the thicknesser, but the thicknesser merely matches oneside to the other, so if you have a warped body blank it will still be warped after thicknessing, just thinner, so i use a hand plane and flatten one side, it’s really not hard to do, once that side is good, I pass it through the thicknesser at height plus 2mm. Then flip it and smooth to final height

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Re: Flatbed jointer opinion

Post by rocket » Tue Jun 19, 2018 6:00 pm

First pic, just arrived today and now the job of assembly, how hard can it be??
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Re: Flatbed jointer opinion

Post by kiwigeo » Tue Jun 19, 2018 6:03 pm

Should be straight forward....as long as you don't read the instructions! :mrgreen:
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Re: Flatbed jointer opinion

Post by rocket » Tue Jun 19, 2018 6:05 pm

Can’t go wrong then Martin, no instructions were given, just operators manual.
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Re: Flatbed jointer opinion

Post by rocket » Wed Jun 20, 2018 1:21 pm

All done, assembled and hooked up to extractor, very quiet and nice finish on the gnarliest of stock.
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