I'm looking to buy a mid-range planer. That opens me up to the B&D's,
Bosch's, etc. of the world - any bad/good stories for this kind of range?
Doesn't seem to be a lot between them price wise.




a

al wrote:

I'm looking to buy a mid-range planer. That opens me up to the B&D's,
Bosch's, etc. of the world - any bad/good stories for this kind of range?
Doesn't seem to be a lot between them price wise.


I got a really cheap one from B & Q that has been surprisingly good - I
take it you mean a hand planer.

Mine was about 30 quid I think.




a

On Mon, 07 Mar 2005 00:18:11 GMT, "al"
wrote:

I'm looking to buy a mid-range planer. That opens me up to the B&D's,
Bosch's, etc. of the world - any bad/good stories for this kind of range?
Doesn't seem to be a lot between them price wise.




a


I looked at these a few months ago for a few jobs.

I had had an old B&D one which didn't get a lot of use and which had
problems with blade setting and the belt snapping. It got
occasional use for door trimming etc. but that was about it.

I have a belt sander which will accomplish many of the hand planer
type jobs with a finer degree of control, and then for other work hand
planes and a thicknessing and planing machine. So it really reduced
the number of applications for a hand power planer.

I looked at a few with a price limit of £150 in mind.

Generally, the more expensive ones have larger motors and can take
larger depths of cut and are sometimes wider. Width can help, but
I'm not sure of the point in taking 3mm slices of wood for most
applications. 1mm gives a much better outcome.

I tried out a few in a tool store in the U.S. and this is one tool
where I would consider buying a cheap one around £30 and eventually
binning it - but that's for my intended use. Somebody recently
mentioned the Skil (owned by Bosch) and that has a smaller motor and
less cut than its peers. I think that that is a good strategy unless
one is looking for something to hack large amounts of wood away to
make shavings for the hamster.

Those at about £50-80 seemed to be rather better, mechanically. The
Makita 1902 was quite nice and had an 82mm width which helps with
stability. Alternatively, the Bosch GHO-26 was pretty nice - more
powerful at 770W and £75, so about the same price.

I noticed a big difference between that and the £30 jobs, but it's not
as stark as with jigsaws and I'm not sure that it was £40 better.

I would start by thinking about what you want it for and how much use.
I don't think that these can ever be particularly accurate tools, so
the applications are fairly limited. If you want to try to use it
across a range of applications and quite a bit and don't have
alternatives, then it probably is worth something around the £70 area.






--

..andy

To email, substitute .nospam with .gl

On Mon, 07 Mar 2005 00:18:11 GMT, "al"
wrote:

I'm looking to buy a mid-range planer. That opens me up to the B&D's,
Bosch's, etc. of the world - any bad/good stories for this kind of range?
Doesn't seem to be a lot between them price wise.

Hi,

I recently bought a Skil from Machinemart that I'm quite pleased with.

I had a B&D 10 years ago that had a lot of use and was pretty good,
but these days would tend to go for Skil or Bosch.

cheers,
Pete.

al wrote:
I'm looking to buy a mid-range planer. That opens me up to the B&D's,
Bosch's, etc. of the world - any bad/good stories for this kind of range?
Doesn't seem to be a lot between them price wise.




a



I had a B&Q PP jobby (about 20 quid IIRC) ... it only did 2 doors before
the brushes gave out and there were no spares.

I took it back to B&Q and got a BOSCH PHO 16-82 (about 40 odd quid
IIRC). This has done tons of work and is not showing signs of failing.

It also has a nice feature of being able to attach the dust bag on
either side.

I have a Hitachi, not sure what model. It's been fine but for a planer that
cost in excess of £100 I have been disappointed by the cable that came with
it. No flex in it at all. And that oddly enough makes a big difference to
the use of the tool.

Next time it'll be DeWalt. Most of their tools come with a nice long
flexible cable....

Cheers

Nicholas
--
Nicholas Buttle - Quality Joinery and Cabinet Making
http://www.nbjoinery.net


--




"AlexW" wrote in message
...
al wrote:
I'm looking to buy a mid-range planer. That opens me up to the B&D's,
Bosch's, etc. of the world - any bad/good stories for this kind of range?
Doesn't seem to be a lot between them price wise.




a

I had a B&Q PP jobby (about 20 quid IIRC) ... it only did 2 doors before
the brushes gave out and there were no spares.

I took it back to B&Q and got a BOSCH PHO 16-82 (about 40 odd quid IIRC).
This has done tons of work and is not showing signs of failing.

It also has a nice feature of being able to attach the dust bag on either
side.

"al" wrote in
.uk:

I'm looking to buy a mid-range planer. That opens me up to the B&D's,
Bosch's, etc. of the world - any bad/good stories for this kind of
range? Doesn't seem to be a lot between them price wise.

I have got a green Bosch (Scintilla, actually) - treated it dreadfully.
Still works. Just changed the blade around the other day - amazingly good.
You can choose which side to fit the shaving collecting bag - which is
convenient.

Many years ago had a B&D Pro - which was heavier and much more awkward to
control. The gyroscopic effect was very pronounced.

--
Rod

www.annalaurie.co.uk

"The Natural Philosopher" wrote in message
...
I got a really cheap one from B & Q that has been surprisingly good - I
take it you mean a hand planer.

Mine was about 30 quid I think.


Yes, I do. Not sure if I've seen their one - I'm nearer a Homebase and
their home-brand stuff has fallen to bits on me in the past!




a

Nicholas wrote:
I have a Hitachi, not sure what model. It's been fine but for a planer that
cost in excess of £100 I have been disappointed by the cable that came with
it. No flex in it at all. And that oddly enough makes a big difference to
the use of the tool.

I'm not the only one on this NG to have replaced a couple of tools'
supplied cable with a longer length of a good synth-rubber flex -
H07RN-F is a particularly worth-tracking-down spec, retaining
flexibility at low temps (like 'Arctic' PVC is supposed to),
hard-wearing, and reasonably resistant to various organic solvents.
True, opening up the case to do the replacement typically Voids The
Warrantee; but if it's the flex that's marring an otherwise
right-for-you tool, it's not rocket science to change it...

"Andy Hall" wrote in message
...
I looked at these a few months ago for a few jobs.

I had had an old B&D one which didn't get a lot of use and which had
problems with blade setting and the belt snapping. It got
occasional use for door trimming etc. but that was about it.

Getting carpets fitted soon and that's what I need it for first & foremost!


I have a belt sander which will accomplish many of the hand planer
type jobs with a finer degree of control, and then for other work hand
planes and a thicknessing and planing machine. So it really reduced
the number of applications for a hand power planer.

I had a belt sander until it caught fire (cheap Toledo). Real animal it was
too - tore wood away like you wouldn't believe (mind the pun!). Hard to
control though and get a square surface. Must buy another one soon, but I
still need a plane for more precision work.


I looked at a few with a price limit of £150 in mind.

Generally, the more expensive ones have larger motors and can take
larger depths of cut and are sometimes wider. Width can help, but
I'm not sure of the point in taking 3mm slices of wood for most
applications. 1mm gives a much better outcome.

Way more than I can afford to spend. I think £50 is about my limit.
Looking on Ebay too - some bargains from time to time. I think reliability
and quality of cut are more important than depth of cut within reason.


I tried out a few in a tool store in the U.S. and this is one tool
where I would consider buying a cheap one around £30 and eventually
binning it - but that's for my intended use. Somebody recently
mentioned the Skil (owned by Bosch) and that has a smaller motor and
less cut than its peers. I think that that is a good strategy unless
one is looking for something to hack large amounts of wood away to
make shavings for the hamster.

Those at about £50-80 seemed to be rather better, mechanically. The
Makita 1902 was quite nice and had an 82mm width which helps with
stability. Alternatively, the Bosch GHO-26 was pretty nice - more
powerful at 770W and £75, so about the same price.

Interesting, this is more around my price point. A second hand Makita might
be nice!


I noticed a big difference between that and the £30 jobs, but it's not
as stark as with jigsaws and I'm not sure that it was £40 better.

I desperately need a good (cable) jigsaw too. I have the world's crappiest
battery operated one that makes it about 10cm into 12mm ply before frying
the battery and giving up! Any suggestions?

I would start by thinking about what you want it for and how much use.
I don't think that these can ever be particularly accurate tools, so
the applications are fairly limited. If you want to try to use it
across a range of applications and quite a bit and don't have
alternatives, then it probably is worth something around the £70 area.

Very occasional use, but want it to last and be reasonably pleasant to use.
Probably only come out a few times a year.



a

In article ,
Stefek Zaba wrote:
I'm not the only one on this NG to have replaced a couple of tools'
supplied cable with a longer length of a good synth-rubber flex -
H07RN-F is a particularly worth-tracking-down spec, retaining
flexibility at low temps (like 'Arctic' PVC is supposed to),
hard-wearing, and reasonably resistant to various organic solvents.
True, opening up the case to do the replacement typically Voids The
Warrantee; but if it's the flex that's marring an otherwise
right-for-you tool, it's not rocket science to change it...

Yup. On just about every mains tool I have, I've replaced the flex with a
longer one. Which for DIY makes them less likely for me to want a
cordless, since you then don't have to always use an extension. Think the
worst I had was a B&D stapler which had only 1 metre of flex.

FWIW, I still like TRS. I'll have a look at the one you recommend.

--
*Before they invented drawing boards, what did they go back to?

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

It was somewhere outside Barstow when Stefek Zaba
wrote:

H07RN-F is a particularly worth-tracking-down spec, retaining
flexibility at low temps

Sounds useful - where does one track it down ?

I'm really impressed with the 25m 13A black rubber extension lead I
bought from Lidl last year. It was cheaper than bulk cable and I've
carved it up as new leads for several tools, including my 3hp cabinet
saw. It must be specced for German winter use, as it has stayed
flexible down below freezing, when my other cables were distinctly
stiff.

"al" wrote in message
...
"Andy Hall" wrote in message
...
I looked at these a few months ago for a few jobs.

I had had an old B&D one which didn't get a lot of use and which had
problems with blade setting and the belt snapping. It got
occasional use for door trimming etc. but that was about it.

Getting carpets fitted soon and that's what I need it for first &
foremost!


I have a belt sander which will accomplish many of the hand planer
type jobs with a finer degree of control, and then for other work hand
planes and a thicknessing and planing machine. So it really reduced
the number of applications for a hand power planer.

I had a belt sander until it caught fire (cheap Toledo). Real animal it
was
too - tore wood away like you wouldn't believe (mind the pun!). Hard to
control though and get a square surface. Must buy another one soon, but I
still need a plane for more precision work.


I looked at a few with a price limit of £150 in mind.

Generally, the more expensive ones have larger motors and can take
larger depths of cut and are sometimes wider. Width can help, but
I'm not sure of the point in taking 3mm slices of wood for most
applications. 1mm gives a much better outcome.

Way more than I can afford to spend. I think £50 is about my limit.
Looking on Ebay too - some bargains from time to time. I think
reliability
and quality of cut are more important than depth of cut within reason.


I tried out a few in a tool store in the U.S. and this is one tool
where I would consider buying a cheap one around £30 and eventually
binning it - but that's for my intended use. Somebody recently
mentioned the Skil (owned by Bosch) and that has a smaller motor and
less cut than its peers. I think that that is a good strategy unless
one is looking for something to hack large amounts of wood away to
make shavings for the hamster.

Those at about £50-80 seemed to be rather better, mechanically. The
Makita 1902 was quite nice and had an 82mm width which helps with
stability. Alternatively, the Bosch GHO-26 was pretty nice - more
powerful at 770W and £75, so about the same price.

Interesting, this is more around my price point. A second hand Makita
might
be nice!


I noticed a big difference between that and the £30 jobs, but it's not
as stark as with jigsaws and I'm not sure that it was £40 better.

I desperately need a good (cable) jigsaw too. I have the world's
crappiest
battery operated one that makes it about 10cm into 12mm ply before frying
the battery and giving up! Any suggestions?

I would start by thinking about what you want it for and how much use.
I don't think that these can ever be particularly accurate tools, so
the applications are fairly limited. If you want to try to use it
across a range of applications and quite a bit and don't have
alternatives, then it probably is worth something around the £70 area.

Very occasional use, but want it to last and be reasonably pleasant to
use.
Probably only come out a few times a year.



My local hire shop does heavy duty planers for £8.50 a day or £11 a weekend
(plus vat) - if you've got an instant need then it might be better to hire a
decent one for this job and keep an eye out for a decent one on ebay. It's
likely to be a brute of a Makita or a blue Bosch (funny how they don't seem
to go for DeWalts... !).

That'd let you spend a bit more on that jigsaw. Trust me, the one tool that
you don't want to buy on the cheap is a jigsaw... £90 plus and they become
worthy of use - ie maintain a vertical cut, etc.

If you have a circular saw then you can always trim the bottom of the doors
with that. temporarily clamp/nail some scrap to the door edges to prevent
tearout.


--
Richard Sampson

mail me at
richard at olifant d-ot co do-t uk

It was somewhere outside Barstow when "Dave Plowman (News)"
wrote:

On just about every mains tool I have, I've replaced the flex with a
longer one.

Except for my AEG or Freud tools (both from the same factory) which
come as standard with long, robust and flexible cables. Funny how I
still think that my £240 AEG SDS drill was a good bargain and the one
I'd buy again if I lost it (despite the Boschs posted yesterday for
half this amount). The two things aren't unrelated - getting trivial
rubbish like the _cable_ right is just the sort of cheap item that
makes me glad I bought the expensive tool.

OTOH, my Antex soldering irons (I'm sorry, I bought a skipful) have
bits of wet string, best used as firelighters. And if there's one
place you really do notice flexibility and burn resistance, it's on a
soldering iron.

It was somewhere outside Barstow when Rod Hewitt
wrote:

I have got a green Bosch (Scintilla, actually)

Ooh, do Scintilla make other Bosch stuff apart from the (excellent)
barrel-body jigsaws ? That would make me think about buying them.

On Tue, 8 Mar 2005 00:53:25 UTC, Andy Dingley
wrote:

: It was somewhere outside Barstow when Rod Hewitt
: wrote:
:
: I have got a green Bosch (Scintilla, actually)
:
: Ooh, do Scintilla make other Bosch stuff apart from the (excellent)
: barrel-body jigsaws ?

I thought Scintilla was an electric-motor-manufacturing bit of the
Bosch group?

The green plunge router is also Scintilla. If you remove the router
bits you get the Bosch die grinder. The router costs rather less than
the die grinder. I have never worked this out ...

Ian

In article ,
Andy Dingley wrote:
OTOH, my Antex soldering irons (I'm sorry, I bought a skipful) have
bits of wet string, best used as firelighters. And if there's one
place you really do notice flexibility and burn resistance, it's on a
soldering iron.

Antex give you the choice of PVC or silicone at least on their low voltage
ones. It's my iron of choice by a mile. I've got 4 50 watt LV temperature
controlled ones I simply swap when I want a different bit. Of course
they're much more costly than some they make. I can have two at once on my
home made station - separately switched. The de-solder iron is Pace -
bought thinking the most expensive would also be the best, but although it
works well it's not brilliant ergonomically. For some reason when you
remove it from the stand, it's always upside down so the button for the
pump is on the bottom not top. And I can never find the foot switch. :-)

--
*Women like silent men; they think they're listening.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

"Ian Johnston" wrote in
news:cCUlhtvFIYkV-pn2-y3H8GY6Bl95z@localhost:

: Ooh, do Scintilla make other Bosch stuff apart from the (excellent)
: barrel-body jigsaws ?

I thought Scintilla was an electric-motor-manufacturing bit of the
Bosch group?

No idea. But the rating plate on the planer clearly states Scintilla,
Switzerland - everything else (that I can see) says Bosch. I simply assumed
that they were bought up by Bosch (as were Skil) with there being an
outside possibility that Bosch were simply relabelling bought in products.

--
Rod

www.annalaurie.co.uk

Stefek

The point is that a tool that costs quite a lot of cash should come with the
long flexible cable attached so that you don't have to void your guarentee
by opening up the tool to replace the rubbish that 's supplied.

I'm off to my local cable stockists this morning and by afternoon I'll have
a void guarantee but a useable planer...:-)

Cheers

Nicholas
--
Nicholas Buttle - Quality Joinery and Cabinet Making
http://www.nbjoinery.net


--

"Stefek Zaba" wrote in message
...
Nicholas wrote:
I have a Hitachi, not sure what model. It's been fine but for a planer
that cost in excess of £100 I have been disappointed by the cable that
came with it. No flex in it at all. And that oddly enough makes a big
difference to the use of the tool.

I'm not the only one on this NG to have replaced a couple of tools'
supplied cable with a longer length of a good synth-rubber flex - H07RN-F
is a particularly worth-tracking-down spec, retaining flexibility at low
temps (like 'Arctic' PVC is supposed to), hard-wearing, and reasonably
resistant to various organic solvents. True, opening up the case to do the
replacement typically Voids The Warrantee; but if it's the flex that's
marring an otherwise right-for-you tool, it's not rocket science to change
it...