Martin T45 Contour 15

[Anthony Spotorno]

Quick question for those that have this unit...

How do you like this unit?
Did you opt for the 2 tersa head with 4 contour inserts or the standard head?

Any recommendations as I am about to order the unit and want to make sure I get all the necessary opitons.

I do not plan to do that much contour stuff probably 80 planning / 20 Moldings if that...

Thanks

[Patrick Kane]

Anthony,

I cant help your decision at all--Im guessing there are only a few here that can inform your decision--but i do hope you share photos and impressions of the machine once you get it in place. I feel like i never ever hear people talk about Martin equipment. A few threads here and there on vintage stuff and Joe's shaper, but i dont think ive ever read someone's opinion of the T45. Or the T54.

[John Sincerbeaux]

Anthony,
I own a new T45 with their XPlane (carbide insert) head. I work with very figured hardwoods and the T45’s performance with the XPlane is really amazing. I don’t think you would be unhappy with either head, Tersa or XPlane. All I know, for figured hardwoods, the XPlane will not be beat.

I have a molder/planer (hawk) that I have used solely for molding purposes for years. When I initially considered the T45, I was interested in the “Contour” as well. There used to be a guy named Carl that worked sales at Martin for years. He actually deterred me from the Contour. He said the planing performance was compromised due to the inherent design of the head which could also hold the cutters for moldings. I actually don’t remember the exact explanation but it had to do with the distance of the cutter head vs. something else???
At the price of the T45, I didn’t like the sound of “comprised performance”. So I still have my dedicated molder for that purpose and the Straight T45 for just planing.
I remember Al who has been the Martin tech for years telling me that he believed the T45 is the best machine Martin makes.
You may try asking him about the contour.

Best of luck

[David Kumm]

Both chipbreakers and pressure bar need to be positioned farther from the head to accommodate molding knives so the planing quality is compromised in comparison to a traditional planer. The Martin might still be better than most but likely less than a regular T45. Dave

[John Sincerbeaux]

Yep Dave, that’s exactly what he said. I wasn’t confident enough with my memory of the explanation to post it here.

John

[Anthony Spotorno]

Thanks for the info. Went ahead and ordered the Contour 15 but added extra rubber outfeed roller and adj steel insert roller. Stayed with the tersa head as I really like it on the T54.

Will report back with how it functions when I get it.

Tony

[John Sincerbeaux]

Sweet!
You’re going to love it.
Congratulations

Mine has the extra out feed roller too.

[Jim Becker]

That's going to be a really nice machine, Anthony!

[Darcy Warner]

I have had several German planers that could run a corrugated profile knife. Those machines had adjustments for pressure bar and chip breakers to move away from cutterhead. They were excellent planers, never tried to run a profile with them though.

[Joe Calhoon]

Nice get Tony! I watched one run moulding sat the Martin factory and it was excellent quality. No idea though if you loose anything planing. Seems like the 15 is a better choice than the 25 for limited moulding. I run 2 Tersa in my T45 with no issue. Just slow the feed down for difficult grain. Mine is approaching 20 years old with no issues other than replacing the rubber feed rolls once.

[Anthony Spotorno]

Info on the Martin states the 15 is the best of both worlds. You can opt to change cutterhead to focus on molding if you want. I stuck with the 4 tersa head version.

With this machine I've moved to all Martin now. The T27 arrived just days before I left on vacation, just enough time to turn it on and look at the display...

Have a bunch of cabinets to make when I get home.

[James Biddle]

Tony, what's actually different between the regular T45 and the Contour? Is it just the head? We looked long and hard at the T45. Then I stopped by Martin and could not stop drooling over the T12 shaper. It arrives next week.

[Anthony Spotorno]

There are 3 T45 models. The 15 and 25 offer the option to use insert cutters to create moldings. The 25 is mostly focused on molding with the option to use cutters up to 25mm. The 15 as you might guess up to 15mm.

The 15 allows you to plane the exact depths as the base model.

Congrats on the T12.

[Jim Becker]

You've really been able to outfit your shop nicely over the past year or so, Anthony! Congrats! 'Glad business is going well for you.