Two Sided Planer Drool $$$$$$$$$$

[Rob Will]

Hey it's Christmas so let's imagine that Santa is bringing a two-sided planer for the new shop. Perhaps something like this Bridgewood 24".
Now bear with me just a minute......if you had such a machine, would you still need a small stand alone jointer and planer?

What are the limitations of a two-sided planer?

Aside from speed, what are the advantages?

Finish quality?

Do the spring loaded conveyor fingers mar wood surfaces if you just want to joint one side?

Can the machine be used as a jointer or planer with the other cutterhead doing nothing?

Thanks,
Rob


The bottom cutterhead performs the jointing operation straightening warped or cupped lumber. The top cutterhead planes the workpiece to the exact thickness. The helical cutterheads cut noise dramatically and use less horsepower, but the biggest advantage is their superior quality cuts with less tear out due to shear cutting action.

[Kirk (KC) Constable]

Hmmm. I'd have to wonder if the bottom cutter will really flatten out the board. Plane it, sure....make it flat? That's the question. On the rare occasions when I buy S2S material from the lumberyard, it's very obviously NOT been flattened.

KC

[Jay T. Marlin]

I don't imagine that most lumber distributors use double sided planers. In any case, how flat you can get a board depends on operator competance.

These machines work exactly the same as two separate machines in principle. The jointer infeed table is handwheel operated like many jointers. The planer is located 3' behind and is either handwheel or PLC controlled for height depending on brand and model. The carpet feed conveyor on the jointer side exerts a distributed, even pressure, ensuring that the boards don't spring back after surfacing. The planer uses normal feed rollers.

You can use each "function" separately.... either raise the infeed table all the way up to use it as a planer, or raise the entire feed system high enough such that the board will feed across the jointer cutterhead without getting touched by the planer cutterhead. Will the board go across the jointer without getting marred? Probably not, as the planer feed rollers are serrated. These machines aren't complete replacements for jointers and planers (can't edge joint most boards and small pieces don't do well), but they allow you to get by with an 8" or 6" longbed and a 13" lunchbox.

Finish quality is what you'd expect out of any spiral cutterhead machine. How flat you get it depends on how good you are at calculating the amount of wood needed to be taken off each side as you set the infeed table and planer heights. If your PLC says 1.5", your board will come out as 1.5". It's up to you whether you take off more on top or more on bottom. Don't expect to perfectly flatten twisted or bowed boards though. That's what regular jointers, handplanes, and CNCs are good for.

Speed is your biggest advantage. Others include unparalleled jointer width on the 25" and 33" models, and small foot print on the 16" models. Drawbacks include high price, very high current draw, and ridiculous heft.

Okay, it's 3AM... gotta wake up tomorrow before the kids do. Merry Xmas and feel free to ask any other questions you have in mind.

[Alan Turner]

Nice toy. I would think twice aobut a second floor installation of this beast. (: But, if you can afford this guy, then you will probably be in the market for a straight line rip saw as well.

[Jim Becker]

Planers can only make two sides parallel...if you want flat, you want a jointer first. I am also skeptical about how flat the jointer function of this beast really can make a board, especially without multiple passes with very light pressure to avoid distorting the board.

[Mark Rios]

Hey...here's my noviceness again but.....with a machine that big it seems to me that a person should be able to stand on one end and "WISH" a project and then it comes out on the other end. The footprint seems to be the size of some whole shops.

[Rob Will]

Yep, that thing takes up about a quarter-acre of space. Along with the massive power requirements, lack of control and cost......I hereby wish to come up with a better idea.
Rob

[Chris Barton]

Hi Rob,

While I have no hands on experience with this kind of machine I do have a friend that has worked in the millwork business and he has told me about these kinds of machines in the past. The output is flat and very high quality. In fact, depending on the machine in question you can feed rough cut lumber at one end and get exactly demsioned millwork out of the other...