I have recently advanced in my wood working abilities and believe I am underpowered as far as tools. I am using several hardwoods and I believe it is Lyptus is is really giving my Planner (small dewalt portable) and Jointer (6″ Jet) a run for their money. The question is do I need to up the power load in the shop to 220 volt and buy bigger machines or can these machines work efficiently with exotic hardwood? and is there anywhere to sell preowned excellent condition tools? I would like to speed up my production capabilities, and I believe I am limited by my essential tools.
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The equipment you have is probably sufficient to handle rough dimensioning of your the wood provided that you take very small cuts. The harder the wood, the smaller the cut and the slower the feed rate to achieve a good result. The primary advantage of bigger machines is less vibration and more horsepower. It is the hp that provides the "muscle" to remove more waste in a single pass. Bigger planers will usually have at least 3 cutters so you get fewer planning marks and less drag on the motor. The major advantage of 220 is that it requires fewer amps than 120 and is less prone to overload. Your local classifieds are usually the best way to sell and buy tools.
"Bigger planers will usually have at least 3 cutters so you get fewer planning marks"
Planer marks is more relative to rpms of the cutterhead and feed speed than the number of knives. Lunch box planers with two knives typically leave a better finish as the head is spinning at a higher rate hence a nicer finish and actually more "planer marks" or cuts per inch.
You're right of course and I failed to add the cavet about the rpm and "all things being equal" since I was more focussed on the his problem probably being related to the amount of waste being removed in a single pass. I also forgot to respond about the blade sharpness as well as a possible contributing factor.
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