I am working on a plan to set up my retirement job. Have signed a contract to have the shop built in June. Would like to be able to make flooring, moulding and be able to plane four sides on rough dried lumber. I have looked at planner/moulders on line and I am more confused than ever. What make and model gets the most endorsements and will get the job done in a reasonable amount of time. Thank you in advance for any and all advice.
my first moulder was a weinig ,my second and current one is a leadermac. put in new in 2009 since that time it has seen of a million sq.ft of product and still performing great with little to no breakdowns.
if your wanting to plane 4 sides at once, pinheiro has a good 4 sided planer/moulder.
my personal opinion, if you want production of any amount don't buy a small hobby setup like woodmaster or logasol. :) not saying there bad just very slow and limiting. going bigger is actually less money for more production. does that make sense?
Do you have the timber coming in , and the market going out ? Power and air ? Rob
Quote from: tmbrcruiser on April 06, 2015, 10:45:40 PM
I am working on a plan to set up my retirement job. Have signed a contract to have the shop built in June. Would like to be able to make flooring, moulding and be able to plane four sides on rough dried lumber. I have looked at planner/moulders on line and I am more confused than ever. What make and model gets the most endorsements and will get the job done in a reasonable amount of time. Thank you in advance for any and all advice.
My suggestion to you would be to try and locate some small businesses that do that and go visit them. Yes it will cost you some time, and expenses, but may well be worth it in the short run. Who knows you might find someone who would be interested in selling out to you. This could give you an established market.
Just a suggestion.
Gerald
Ditto the comments above.
If you're going to make flooring you will also want a straight line rip saw and an upcut (jump) saw.
I have looked at production machines, understanding time is money. Pinching every penny has never been my way and spending a little extra to have what it takes to do the job is ok with me. I have some time and think I will purchase a used planner/moulder so that I get the most for the dollar spent. Wood and power have been cover on this end and will not be a problem. Seems every project I take on has a long learning curve. I have looked at other operations and my goals and expectations differ greatly. So I am moving ahead as I learn the best path for me. Thank you to all for help.
Have you considered who will be sharpening the blades. I had a water based sharpener by Watkins (who is no longer in business) and it was very time consuming. Hopefully, you have a professional operation close by to do all your sharpening. Another consideration are the dumpsters or containers to hold the sawdust. In my situation, I filled a dumpster in about an hour and had to wait for the waste company to swap it out. Had a lot of down time.
Gerald (GAB) has made an excellent suggestion. Maybe saying the same idea with different words will help.
Until you know the market size and the quality demands (including species, sizes, shapes) of the market, do not invest in a machine. The risk of early investment is that you will get the wrong machine. Or you might get the right machine but the amount of time that you run it is too short to pay for it. Or you may not have the right supporting equipment (such as dust collectors). So, for a start-up, use someone else's equipment initially.
I'd have to say flooring is probably the toughest to produce, it has to be perfect all the way around. End matching is another issue. I only do antique flooring with no end matching. Running base and crown is good, especially while running lumber I've produced and dried, I can rough cut the lumber to the size blanks I need, eliminating lots of waste. Its only worth it though doing large runs.
Glenn1 is spot on with his shavings comment, find a local horse farm that needs them, you will create truck loads. I can create about 4-5 cubic yards running 130 s4s 1x6's 16ft long.
The alternative I chose was to set up shapers and tooling for flooring and wall paneling. Rob