I'm finding myself completely out of my depth at the moment whilst looking at buying a planer thicknesser, and hoping for some help from the forum.
Part of my problem is that I've never used one before, in fact I've never even seen one being used, so I'm not at all sure what I should be buying.
My situation is that I have a 7" depth bandsaw and often rip larger sections of timber into smaller ones, but I currently then finish them with a hand plane and sander etc. I am currently making a new fitted kitchen and wanting to make quite a few non-standard sections of timber (just pine) for that, and I also often need to make up unusual sizes of oak for repairs to old parts of the house. So, it seems to me that a planer thicknesser would be quite a good investment at the moment.
I've looked around online and the Metabo DH330 has caught my eye. I have a Metabo hammer-drill that is over 30 years old and still doing well, so I know they were a good make back then, but are they still? Or for a bit more money there is a Makita 2012NB. I currently have Makita LXT cordless tools which are very good, but I don't have any of their mains powered stuff.
Do either of those look like a sensible option? I'm looking at about the £500 price because there seem to be quite a few around in that range, but I'd far rather pay double that amount than end up buying something that isn't actually up to the job. Do I need to be looking at a far bigger and possibly floor-standing machine, or do people find that these bench-top versions OK?
All suggestions and guidance will me much appreciated.
Many thanks.
Part of my problem is that I've never used one before, in fact I've never even seen one being used, so I'm not at all sure what I should be buying.
My situation is that I have a 7" depth bandsaw and often rip larger sections of timber into smaller ones, but I currently then finish them with a hand plane and sander etc. I am currently making a new fitted kitchen and wanting to make quite a few non-standard sections of timber (just pine) for that, and I also often need to make up unusual sizes of oak for repairs to old parts of the house. So, it seems to me that a planer thicknesser would be quite a good investment at the moment.
I've looked around online and the Metabo DH330 has caught my eye. I have a Metabo hammer-drill that is over 30 years old and still doing well, so I know they were a good make back then, but are they still? Or for a bit more money there is a Makita 2012NB. I currently have Makita LXT cordless tools which are very good, but I don't have any of their mains powered stuff.
Do either of those look like a sensible option? I'm looking at about the £500 price because there seem to be quite a few around in that range, but I'd far rather pay double that amount than end up buying something that isn't actually up to the job. Do I need to be looking at a far bigger and possibly floor-standing machine, or do people find that these bench-top versions OK?
All suggestions and guidance will me much appreciated.
Many thanks.