Carbatec 6 inch Benchtop Jointer Review

[davewicks28]

Hey guys,

New here but thought I would post a bit of a review on my experience with the Carbatec 6 inch benchtop jointer. Hoping this post can help anyone agonising over whether they will get by with just a benchtop machine as I did for months.

Picked it up just yesterday, the guys at Carbatec here in Hobart are great, happy to offer advice and great service.

Got the unit home and unpacked it, taking note to make sure all the parts where in the box before trying to put it together. Interestingly, I was able to cut out a few steps like fitting the blade guard and a few knobs as these were already installed from the factory.

First step in the process was to attached the fence supports and the fence itself. The manual was easy to follow, a little dark in the pictures but it was pretty obvious what went where. When attaching the fence assembly my first thought was that there seemed to be a bit of play in all the parts and I was a bit worried about getting things adjusted and square. I got the fence on and left the squaring up until I'd got it completely assembled.

Next I attached the dust outlet attachment which was a piece of cake. Just 4 screws to attach. It's a 2.5inch outlet so if you're running 4 inch hose on your dust extractor don't forget to grab and adaptor. I use a 2 and 1/4 inch adaptor as recommended by Carbatec and it's snug as.

One thing to note is some of the screws that you need to remove to attached the dust chute and the blade guard attachment were in so tight they made that horrible cracking sound when loosened that sounded like they had snapped, thankfully I loosened all mine with out breaking but something to note!

Next I checked the outfeed table height against the blades to make sure everything was lined up. The manual said this had already been done at the factory but I checked it regardless. No adjustment necessary at all, it was spot on out of the box! Checked the infeed table against the outfeed table and again, perfect. No adjustments necessary at all. As per the manual, I sprayed the beds with WD40 and gave it a wipe down to remove some of the oil. I also let the jointer run for about 30 seconds

Final step was to get the fence straight and square to the table. This took a little bit of fiddling but I got it after a couple of tests. There is a little grub screw that you can use to fine tune the adjustments and I ended up setting the fence slightly out of square and fine tuned with the grub screw.

As per the manual, I sprayed the beds with WD40 and gave it a wipe down to remove some of the oil. I also let the jointer run for about 30 seconds with the blade guard pulled out to let any oil in the cutter head be expelled. Another happy surprise was that this unit is not that loud at all. I would actually say that my 2HP Carbatec Dust Extractor is louder than this little fella and it's miles quieter than my Bosch jobsite table saw. No ear muffs needed.

Using a piece of Tas Blackwood that was rough sawn to 150 x 25 I first ran a slightly cupped face over the table and at a depth of just half a mm, I ran it over about 3 times and after that it was perfectly flat. The first pass left what I guess you would call a 'snipe' mark in the centre of the board, but after 2 more passes it disappeared. The quality of the finish was incredible, I'm fortunate enough to have a professional joiner in the family who lets me use his 12 inch Laguna helical head jointer when I need to and honestly, the finish on this was just as good. I was amazed. The wood I used is Hydrowood (Google it for more info) and it was impeccable after running it over the little jointer.
I then ran the jointed face against the fence to get a jointed edge. A few passes and checked with my little engineers square and running up the entire length of the board I had a perfect 90 degree angle. When connected to my dust extractor, there was zero mess to clean up, no chips on the floor or the bed of the machine.

I must say I was a little worried about the capability of this little machine, but my first impressions are that I am more than impressed, dare I say almost in love ;) The finish on the test timber was great and would barely need sanding before use. Obviously this machine isn't going to do massive lengths of timber, but for those of us that are into making chopping boards and small boxes etc, we aren't going to be running many 3 metre pieces over it.

In time I plan to mount it into a bench set up where I can build adjustable shelves at each end of the infeed and outfeed table to give me more bed space to work with.

All in all, I would recommend this product based on my experience so far. If you have a small shed like me and build small projects, you will be fine with this. If you need a wider bed, Carbatec make an 8 inch version of this same jointer.

I'll be using it regularly over the coming weeks and will post more about my experiences for those that are interested.

Cheers

[Rudyvm]

Hi Dave,

I purchased the 6" Sherwood with a spiral blade a few months ago with similar results, am also very pleased and think the spiral head clearly reduces the strain on what is a relatively modest 750w motor, have been running 60mm widths of some century old iron bark through it with no issues at all. The bed length on the Sherwood is only 1200 compared to what I think is 1400 on the Carbatec however with properly aligned infeed and outfeed tables I already had made up for my thicknesser installed am getting great results. Is still a massive improvement on ripping through the benchtop table saw although this may change with the imminent (fingers crossed) delivery of a Carbatec cabinet saw.

Am really interested in your journey as have never used a jointer up to this point and am always keen to benefit from others experience and hopefully reciprocate.

Cheers,

Rudy

[Aussiephil]

Hi Dave

Thank you for that write up and having a higher end reference machine to compare to and still come away positive is an excellent sign.

I nearly buckled and bought the 6" when they had presold the last shipment of 8" ones but i'm holding out for an 8" now. If your experience with the 6 is any indication i'm going to enjoy the 8 :)

Not all of us need or can fit a large jointer.

Cheers
Phil

[tonzeyd]

Hi Dave,

First of all welcome to the forum.

Excellent writeup, well covered.

You'll find that in operation is probably when you really want the earmuffs, it may not sound very loud initially. But i've found after a while your ears will start ringing. Also when blades are new is when you'll get the best finish and is also when it'll be at its quietest. As the blades dull you effectively get more of a scraping action rather than a slicing action which means it'll get nosier.

[davewicks28]

Thanks for the comments guys. Glad my write up was of some use!

AussiePhil - Hold out for the 8 for sure. The 6 is fine and I will end up creating some sort of jig for my thicknesser (when I get one) to help with any wider boards in future. My plan is that in the next 2 years I'll have a much bigger shed to dedicate to the hobby and I wil be looking at getting a proper 8 inch cabinet jointer then. For my current projects such as cutting boards and small boxes, this will do the job and I needed something now rather than waiting 2 years. Not to mention, the bigger units are 15 amp so I'll be taking that into consideration when I get the new shed built.

Agree with you tonzeyd, I used it again last night and I ended up chucking my ear muffs on as I had it on intermittently for around 15 minutes and it started to get to me after 5 minutes. I've spent 15 years playing in pub bands so I'm used to a little ringing but much more aware of it now I'm regularly using woodworking machinery.

I use mostly Tasmanian timbers on my projects, last night I used the jointer to flatten out some badly bowed Blackheart Sassafras and it suffered a bit of tear out on some cranky grain, but I must say despite the blemishes on the cranky bits, the pieces were beautiful and flat on the jointed sides! I'm hoping to get the jointer onto it's own cabinet soon as my shed is cramped at the moment and I'm just popping it on the floor next to my dusty!

The only issue I have now that I have the jointer, is it's painfully obvious that I need a thicknesser! I'm looking at either the Carbatec benchtop spiral head or the Sherwood 13 inch deluxe with the helical head. Leaning towards the Sherwood because of the helical head but I noticed it doesn't have a cutterhead lock on it which I feel is an important thing to have. Open to advice or suggestions :)

Cheers!

[riverbuilder]

You don’t need a cutterhead lock. Put a peice of timber on the table, wind the table up to push against the head, it’s locked. Wind the table down, turn the head, wind the table up, etc. easy.

[Rudyvm]

I went through the thicknesser wormhole a few months ago and ended up going for the DeWalt 735x and fitted it with an aftermarket Byrd Shelix cutterhead, I did blow the budget however saw it as a long term investment as I didn't want to have to go trough the whole process of possibly having to upgrade again a few years down the track. Could not be happier with the results I am getting having upgraded from a Ryobi.

Should also clarify my earlier post, I actually bought the Sherwood cabinet jointer rather than the benchtop, apologies missed that in your post.

[Aussiephil]

I've spent 15 years playing in pub bands so I'm used to a little ringing but much more aware of it now I'm regularly using woodworking machinery.


Made me smile this did.... not for your discomfort but my own experience... i had 20 yrs odd DJing in pubs and clubs nearly always at SPL's above most smaller bands :) i'm lucky i can still hear a pin drop at nearly 60 but not due to good management of noise. My favourite spot listening to live music still remains in front of the speaker stack where i can feel the bass. My lunchbox thicknesser with straight blades does make me consider ear muffs though :)
Holding out for the 8" is getting harder as Carbatec keep pushing the available date back and i don't really want to pay up front to be on the waiting list for however long

[davewicks28]

I know what you mean about holding out, I had to do the same with my dust extractor, told 2 weeks, then 3,ended up being almost 5. O hate waiting for toys!

I've been lucky enough to have always worn earplugs at my gigs and carefully manage my hearing as best as possible. Mind you, my ears have the slightest of rings anyway!

[davewicks28]

You don’t need a cutterhead lock. Put a peice of timber on the table, wind the table up to push against the head, it’s locked. Wind the table down, turn the head, wind the table up, etc. easy.

Hi mate, I was referring to the benchtop style thicknesser where the cutter head moves up and down, not the table.
Still unsure how important the cutter head lock is on the benchtop units. I don't know why they're not standard on all of them unless it's a snipe reducing thing to not have them........

[davewicks28]

I ended up going with the Sherwood Helical Head 13 inch Benchtop thicknesser. I'll receive it this week and will post a review/first impression over the weekend after I've used it for a while!

[Treecycle]

Still unsure how important the cutter head lock is on the benchtop units. I don't know why they're not standard on all of them unless it's a snipe reducing thing to not have them........
The cutter head lock is there to reduce or eliminate the snipe as it is supposed to prevent the head from tilting as the wood enters and exits the cutter head. I have never had one so I can't say how effective it is. I just have to allow about an extra 50 - 60mm at each end to cut off.
Here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdDo3OEtjhc) is a video that explains the reason for snipe, although not that well but you should get the idea. I don't know if the Dewalt DW735 with the 4 corner screws improves things. Rudy might be able to elaborate on that.
The Sherwood certainly sounds like a good unit from their specs and I like the idea of the granite bed for rigidity. Look forward to your review.

[Rudyvm]

The cutter head lock is there to reduce or eliminate the snipe as it is supposed to prevent the head from tilting as the wood enters and exits the cutter head. I have never had one so I can't say how effective it is. I just have to allow about an extra 50 - 60mm at each end to cut off.
Here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdDo3OEtjhc) is a video that explains the reason for snipe, although not that well but you should get the idea. I don't know if the Dewalt DW735 with the 4 corner screws improves things. Rudy might be able to elaborate on that.
The Sherwood certainly sounds like a good unit from their specs and I like the idea of the granite bed for rigidity. Look forward to your review.

Unfortunately still do get some snipe from the Dewalt however have been able to minimise through the use of some home made in and outfeed tables to the extent that I can sand it out in the final sanding process, have also installed a Byrd Shelix head which I think may have also minimised the depth of snipe but that may be wishful thinking.

The unit does have an automatic carriage lock which I think works really well but can only compare it to my old Ryobi thicknesser which created significant snipe and with no proper carriage lock would find the cutterhead rising when running serious timbers through it which was most likely a result of a inadequate power and crappy blades.

Am still very much a novice in the use of thicknessers and do hope to get better results as I become a bit more experienced so is a work in progress.

Cheers,

Rudy

[davewicks28]

Thank you guys for the posts.

I contacted Timbecon to ask them about the lack of a cutterhead lock and they advised me that the cutter head on the Sherwood unit uses a worm gear that is designed to not move unless the crank is adjusted, that was good enough for me and after some reading I am confident that the Sherwood not having the lock won't be an issue for me.

I have read a lot about the 'lunchbox' thicknessers and the consensus seems to be that provided your infeed and outfeed tables are as parallel as you can get them with the table you should be ok and have minimal snipe.

Will definitely post a separate review on a new thread as I found there are very recent few reviews to be found on these units! Hence my post on the Carbatec benchtop jointer!

I am fortunate enough to have access to my father in law's 20 inch Carbatec thicknesser on weekends as well so I have something to compare to the Sherwood, I'm hoping it produces the goods for me!

Cheers

[Cgcc]

Will be very keen to hear follow-up. I am in a similar market

[davewicks28]

Will be very keen to hear follow-up. I am in a similar market

Only had the Sherwood thicknesser for a couple of days but I've used it a lot and all I can say is that it is an excellent machine. The finish quality is at least what I would say is 120 grit quality. No tearout on anything I've thrown at it and it's been awesome so far.

There is definitely snipe going on and I've adjusted the table as best as I could but it was still occuring. I find lifting the timber slightly up on entering under the cutter head and lifting slightly on exit works perfectly and I have 0 snipe at all using that method.

Very happy and can recommend it for sure to anyone who's thinking about it.

[riverbuilder]

Holding the stock up on entry and exit is standard on any thicknesser, until it’s held down by both feed rollers it will naturally want to rise up into the cutterblock. Normal practice to hold the ends up.

[davewicks28]

I figured it might be! I have access to a 20 inch Carbatec industrial thicknesser at a relatives workshop and I have to do the same on that to reduce the snipe. I have actually found the snipe on that machine is worse than mine!

I'm very happy with the thicknesser and am having excellent results with next to 0 snipe. I'll continue using it for another week and give a full review to make sure I don't have any additional things to report on! One thing I can say is that the finish from the helical head in the Sherwood is so good that it would barely need sanding before applying a finish. It's seriously that good!

[Treecycle]

Is it very noisy like most other bench top thicknessers? I assume the 20" one you have access to is quiet.

[davewicks28]

Hey mate,

It is noisy yes, but I would say it's no louder than my Bosch GTS10J table saw. I would say it's actually a little quieter.

I think it's quieter than the 20 inch planer when cutting though. When the 20 inch planer is running it's quiet, but chuck some wood through and it's loud as heck, whereas the benchtop one whilst still loud, doesn't make heaps of volume when cutting the timber.
Definitely an ear muffs required machine though!

[Treecycle]

Could it be that the blades are blunt on the 20" Planer as I find that they make less noise when freshly sharpened and get noisier as they loose that super sharp edge.

[davewicks28]

I think they could be due for a sharpen, my father in law makes kitchens as 99% of his business so he rarely uses it these days, I think I use his jointer and thicknesser more than he does these days!

The finish is still quite good from the 20" so I'd say they're still acceptably sharp, but could certainly do with a sharpen at some stage! I wish sometimes I had a larger workshop with 3 phase power as when he retires in a couple of years he's offered me a great deal on his thicknesser and Laguna 12" jointer. Unfortunately they're way out of my league so I'll just take advantage of them while he's still operating!