Woodmizer MP200 Moulder/Planer

[seaview]

Wondering if anyone out there is operating the two sided Woodmizer MP200 moulder planer and how it is working for them. What size dust collector did you choose (HP) and do you pre-plane the material first, before moulding? Lastly, did you have to insulate your moulder/planer building to sound deaden the straight knife main cutter head? Have you considered replacing that with a helical cutter head? I hear they are much quieter?! I have a LT40HDWIDE and mill cedar and fir almost exclusively. Occasionally some Big Leaf Maple and Arbutus. We live on a small island beside Vancouver Island in the Pacific Northwest...

[csobel]

I've also been looking at these... along with the mp260 or 220. My experience with helical heads is that they are quite a bit quieter but I'm not convinced the finish is that much better vs freshly sharpened straight knives. The idea of rotating them 4 times sounds good on advertising until you have to change out 160 small squares and are dropping them down the machine, and then every single one needs to be seated in clean slots and torqued exactly to get a good finish. They're also more fragile and prone to crack than straight knives. Each replacement is like $10. Personally I like my spiral jointer but I'm very happy with straight knives too.

[seaview]

Great- thanks for the reply! Has been a long process to get to this point of placing my order for a moulder planer; information is in short supply. Did consider the MP260 as well, but decided that the 2 head machine is more suited for my retired situation of milling for just three farm families; daughter, son-in-law, his brother and us! Plus I feel that dealing with just 2 heads will be less hassle, require less power, smaller dust collection and just overall easier to set up and operate. Spent the afternoon with my wife scoping out a planer shed spot that has good power access and accessibility for bringing in lifts of rough lumber with the Bobcat; maybe a 40' container although that seems a little narrow to us? Decided to also get the Scorpion 16" jointer/planer from CWI here in Canada to square up the blanks; it has the helical head. Finally a 3HP dust collector- hope that is powerful enough? My budget is $20K for machinery, knives etc.- compare that with 2000, 12' 1x6 tongue and groove spruce boards for the same price from Home Depot! You may ask yourself why I would want to make them myself... with my own rough sawn lumber?! Not easy to see why most folks farm out the moulding/planing...! Am 70 years old next year and some little birdie has been whispering in my ear... downsize man, downsize! For some reason, I'm not listening...

[Stephen1]

Not to time to downsize yet. Your still young.
Keep us posted on he planer. I like it also .

[Percy]

Wondering if anyone out there is operating the two sided Woodmizer MP200 moulder planer and how it is working for them. What size dust collector did you choose (HP) and do you pre-plane the material first, before moulding? Lastly, did you have to insulate your moulder/planer building to sound deaden the straight knife main cutter head? Have you considered replacing that with a helical cutter head? I hear they are much quieter?! I have a LT40HDWIDE and mill cedar and fir almost exclusively. Occasionally some Big Leaf Maple and Arbutus. We live on a small island beside Vancouver Island in the Pacific Northwest...

Heya. Im around 600 kms north of you (Terrace). Im not familiar with the MP200 but I have the MP360. If they are similar, should be ok. I've learned the more anal I am about presizing the stock, the better things go, to the point of actually being quicker overall. Hangups take time and waste wood.  If you installed spiral heads,  it would take away the molding/shaping abilities of the machine. My top and bottom heads have 4 slots, 2 of which have strait knives in them and the other two slots are for  shaping knives.  I have been using carbide strait knives lately. They are expensive but my experience is they are the lower cost option overall, as long as you dont hit staples or rocks and such. High speed steel works great for the first 800-1000 lineal feet and then falls off raoidly. Carbides last at least 10 times longer in my experience but I gotta be anal about cleanliness or savings are out the window.
Are you on Gabriola Island?? We have great wood around here but you guys have won the lottery compared to us. Must be fun collecting them big nice pumpkins after the seemingly more frequent windstorms happing every fall.

[seaview]

Hello Percy- we are on Salt Spring Island and yes... that major windstorm we had a couple years back brought down two to three years worth of trees for us small millers; of which there are a few on SSI. The procurement process with Woodmizer on the MP200 has been a long and learning experience for me and them, as these machines are new to the both of us! I am hoping to have mine in the barn by the spring of 2023. Your comments on the Carbide knives are well received as I am presently discussing that with the Vancouver Island sales rep, and wondering about installation pre delivery. We have lost several Island fallers to either injury or health changes and the few loggers left on Island are very busy. That being said, it's getting a bit more difficult to get the logs that the wind doesn't take down. We often use the excavator to bring down the standing dead cedars, but that can have its drawbacks. My flat deck equipment trailer came in handy this year moving those cedar logs from my daughters 50 acre farm, but I must admit, I'm getting a little tired of black ants, rot and clouds of cedar dust. One thing though, the wood is beautiful and bone dry- all set for the moulder planer when it arrives...
Thanks again for all comments received!