Casadei R51H3 Planer

[Rhodemont]

I have been looking at and considering a planner to take my boards one step further.  Powermatic 209 20 inch is high on the list.  Out of the blue I have been offered a Casadei R51H3 20 inch 9hp digital control planer.  Price, come and get it!!  It looks like new, has knives rather than helical cutters. The guy has/had a business to restore big pipe organs so it was not used for heavy bull work.  I never even heard of this brand.  Does anyone know about them and will it be good for hardwood boards. What I do not understand is the cutting head is fixed, the table moves up and down.  So how do you have a pass line for a board?  You would have to adjust feed and exit roller tables with each adjustment of the cutting depth??

[Darrel]

Here is a very short video clip of the planer in question. 

CASADEI R51H3 Thickness Planer - YouTube

Toward the end of video, note how the operator moves a switch and the table of the machine moves up and down. That is how thickness is adjusted. 

It sounds like the price is right, so what do you have to loose?  I'd go for it and if it doesn't fit your need, upgrade later. 

From what I understand it is a European machine and most likely would be quite adequate. Not a powermatic but many of us do fine without one even if powermatic is on our wish list.   

[Satamax]

If price is right, get it.  That's a fair bit of machine. If i'm not talking gibberish it's a smidge over 20 inches. 

Here they can go between 2000€ and 6000€. 

[tacks Y]

Most planers the head if fixed and table goes up and down. Not sure what a pass line is. I feed in by hand and have discharge roller a little high and not adjusting it will planning.

[YellowHammer]

We use a hydraulic lift table for adjustable infeed height if needed and the same on the outfeed