Carbatec 8" - 200mm Benchtop Jointer review

[Aussiephil]

This is a quick review on the 8" Carbatec Benchtop Jointer, the bigger brother to the 6 inch that Dave reviewed

Much of what Dave said applies here as well with a couple differences in out of the box setup.

Unpacked and checked all the parts, everything listed was supplied with things like the blade guard already installed, suggesting the manual needs an update.
The 4" dust port was already installed and there was a 4" to 2.x" adapter supplied, i've stored that away as i had 4" connection available.

The pictures in the manual are not as good as they could be and actually fall in to the trap of being to close so you can't see orientation of the parts so setting the fence up was more about how it looked on the outside of the box . better to leave it all slightly loose till you have the in/out tables checked and aligned. i'd recommend doing that step before the fence personally.

They say that the tables are factory adjusted, well if that's the case i got the Monday morning lemon done by someone with a hangover. The outfeed side was too high in relation to the cutters and the infeed side sloped downwards towards the cutter head ..... pretty damn poor
I was using a 1.5M long ALU straight edge but also checked it with a stainless steel rule, the rule and the straight edge agreed the tables were not good

This is where the 4 point adjustment setup truly sucks as you can't just remove all four bolts and adjust the table and even then adjusting four reference points is painful. Step one was to get the outfeed lowered down to the correct height using the method "the blade just moves the straight edge".
Whilst i currently have both sides correct in relation to the blade i'm not fully convinced it as good as it could be.

Now for the infeed, after about 20 minutes of trying to get everything co-planer the frustration towel was being prepared to be thrown into the ring, did I mention I hate four point level adjustment.
Sidetrack, some 3D printer beds use four point adjustment and it is hated there as well

Ok completely removed the infeed table, wound all the adjustment screws fully up and looked at the machining of the allow mounting block, mmm no wonder you need adjusters, maybe it's just my Monday version, the fact i could get it set means it's not that bad.

At this point i worked out how hold the table down flat with all four bolts out... grabbed the small 3" mill vice that is cast iron and used it to hold the table flat to the mounting block. This made it so much easier to adjust, set the two at the front nearest the cutter first and then set the back to ensure co-planer. Used feeler gauges under the straight edge.

I actually expected to do some tweaking but the adjustment design just makes it far harder and time intensive than it should be ... i notice that Wahunda at least has moved to above table grub screws though still four bolt.

The tables on this machine are allow and coated with some black stuff that doesn't feel slippery to the touch but does seem to slide timber over it ok. They didn't need cleaning off as no protective coating was used or needed. I haven't had a chance to bees wax them to see if that makes them better.

Dave said he didn't find the 6" loud. Well i think the induction motor on the 8" is loud, it's certainly above the 2HP DC that was right next to me. The noise from the cutter head in use wasn't that bad and could be considered quiet in comparison to the motor.

Should this put you off.. NOPE, it's really just like other brushed motors we use all the time.

Now for the only bit that really matters
How does it work?
Unlike Dave i have no other reference machine and never used a jointer before but after running some soft pine and some very hard hardwood floor boards with the nice new cutters the finish was to my touch and sight glassy smooth.
Ran some dual edges and the right angle was as good as the fence setting that just needs a little tweak before i get serious.

The widest i tried was some rather twisted 90mm wide pine and using about a 1/32 setting it took about 5 passes to get a perfectly flat, feel the section against a flat surface finish and it was easy to see just how much twist was removed.
I actually didn't have any rough sawn timber laying around to try.

Chips and dust, nope it all just seemed to be sucked away by the DC with just a few particles on the infeed table that likely come from the trailing edge of the timber.

Well it certainly passed the test on the hardwood flooring which is why i bought this jointer to remove the slight cupping i have on some boards to prepare them for glue up into my new bench top, better order some new blades for the poor old lunchbox thicknesser now.

Would I recommended this to others?
The performance in use, absolutely with the two following qualifiers based on my personal experience,
If you have some machine setup experience or have a mechanical mind then 100% absolutely and you may well be fully lucky and it needs no adjustments
However if you expect it to work out of the box and can't stand to do the checking and adjustments then consider you options.

[davewicks28]

Good review!

Very interesting our different thoughts on noise level! I regularly use mine with and without ear muffs, obviously if I'm using it for an extended amount of time then I'll leave them on but for a quick touch up I don't worry and don't find it overly loud!

Funny thing on the adjustment of the infeed and outfeed tables. I must say that I am still slowly working to get the infeed table coplanar and the fence perfectly square. At first everything seemed good but the more I've used it I have found that it's not always giving me perfectly square right angles and I have to adjust the fence in between uses (not each pass, each time I use it i.e. a few days apart). I found the outfeed table is still perfect when I check it against the cutter however the infeed table is a bit of a work in progress. Mind you, it's not like it's way out, maybe a mm across a 1 metre board which isn't the end of the world for me.

I've been incredibly busy with projects lately and am waiting for a bit of time to sit down and tweak for a few hours to finally get this thing perfect!

The finish is still top notch on mine and overall I am still happy for the price I paid, although I do have a small amount of regret on not buying the 8 inch model. However, I will be rigging up a bit of a jog for the thicknesser that will allow me to flatten out wider boards. Jay Bates has a brilliant video on Youtube showing his method, it's dead simple and I'll be employing it once I have my new workshop set up.

Now that you've got the setup sorted, hopefully you have no further issues and it's everything you hoped for! Looking forward to the 2 week update and how you've been going with it.

[Aussiephil]

Good review!
Very interesting our different thoughts on noise level! I regularly use mine with and without ear muffs, obviously if I'm using it for an extended amount of time then I'll leave them on but for a quick touch up I don't worry and don't find it overly loud!

Thanks,
As far as noise goes the following will likely upset a few but i actually don't own a pair of ear muffs and certainly whilst this thing is loud enough it's not driving me to go and buy a pair. It's quieter than my 10" Ryobi table saw with it's screaming motor and about on par I think with the hand held routers. Weirdly the big 2050W unit mounted in the router table is not loud to me.
Maybe i was influenced by having played with the new Nova Viking drill press which it nearly silent till you really crank the revs, before setting up the jointer.
I'll take some actual SPL readings this weekend and provide an update.

Funny thing on the adjustment of the infeed and outfeed tables. I must say that I am still slowly working to get the infeed table coplanar and the fence perfectly square.
Mind you, it's not like it's way out, maybe a mm across a 1 metre board which isn't the end of the world for me.

Whilst I appreciate that wood does move 1mm would be the end of the world to me. I didn't specifically measure it but I got front to back and left to right within 0.1mm or better based on the feel of the feeler gauges under the straight edge, I can get 3D print beds to within 5/1000mm doing that.
Actually as i typed this I worked out a jig in my head to attach dial gauge to the straight edge and do this accurately

Good review!
Looking forward to the 2 week update and how you've been going with it.

Should get some time with it this weekend working on bits for another workbench to be built.
I'm jealous of your new spiral head thicknesser. I'll be making do with my old GMC unit that is these days nearly snipe free without holding boards or other things

Cheers
Phil

[davewicks28]

I definitely recommend getting some ear muffs and soon! I have played in bands for over 15 years now and I know I've got hearing loss, but I think I'm more susceptible to louder noise these days (old)!

At first I thought the 1mm or so it wasn't perfectly square was the end of the world, but I know I can get a better result when I actually spend some time on it and give it a tweak. I think I'll be able to get it perfect or as close to as I can!

Can't recommend the Sherwood enough, the helical head is awesome and it is a great little unit, very accurate I've found with its height gauge and a beautiful finish. Very little snipe if you hold the timber (and your mouth) right!