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The Triton MK3 and Workcentre saws have been an Australian
success story for the Triton company. In more recent years,
Triton has been sold and resold and is now owned by Global
Machinery Company (GMC). Since being taken over by GMC, a whole
new range of Triton tools have been released onto the market,
many retaining the same quality and innovation as the original
Triton products.
One of the major new tools to emerge in 2007 has been the TPT15
Thicknesser/Moulding machine. With an interesting design and
plenty of features providing accurate results, we just had to
grab one and test and review it! We did note however, that
unlike other Triton products, this particular unit is being re-badged
and sold by several other companies.
The Triton TPT15 Thicknesser Moulder
The TPT15 is quite a large machine, as most 15" thicknessers
are. Thankfully it comes mostly assembled, but you would be
advised to have a friend on hand to help get it out of the box
and to set it up. The entire kit has a net weight of 65
kilograms, so unless you are a bench-pressing adonis, a friend
on hand will save a trip to the chiropractor. The tool comes
supplied with a pressed metal stand upon which it sits.
Assembling this stand will consume the majority of assembly and
setup time. About 85% in fact. Once assembled, the thicknesser
can be lifted onto the stand and secured with the provided
fasteners.
Attaching the crank handle and dust collection
bag is really the only other tasks required to complete basic
installation. Note that by basic installation, I am referring to
setup for thicknessing tasks. As this is also a moulding
machine, setup for moulding tasks requires additional time and
installation of the special moulding cutters (which we will look
at later).
The TPT15 is a solid tool. While it is a mix of
cast iron, metal and plastics, all the important components are
constructed from the heavier materials for durability and
accuracy. This is a professional woodworking machine that should
deliver many years of good performance (although this is still
to be seen with this new tool).
The cutterhead rides on four solid support
columns to ensure the blades remain as true and square
lengthwise as possible in operation. Should these require
adjustment out of the box, this can be made fairly easily via
adjusting screws underneath the thicknesser. Full instructions
are provided for achieving this important setup check in the
included printed manual.
The TPT15 is powered by a 2.5HP motor which
delivers 11,000 cuts per minute via two double edged TCT blades.
This motor power has been more than enough for handling even
full width hardwood planing, although shallower passes are
required if planing full width to prevent motor overload.
Shallow full width passes will also provide a cleaner finish on
the surface of the material. You can further aid the ability to
deliver clean cutting by adjusting the feed speed of the
material.
The motor features overload protection circuit,
so if the motor does become overloaded, it will trip to prevent
motor damage. This is a great insurance feature and should help
prevent those smoke disasters that inevitably result in
uncontrollable cussing and a big hit on the bank account for
replacement or repair. To reset the circuit, an overload button
is pressed several minutes following machine shutdown. Make sure
you are aware of why the machine overloaded to begin with before
continuing, to prevent further overload. In most cases it is
because too much material is trying to be removed at once.
Decrease cut depth or use the lower feed speed to avoid this. A
standard ON/OFF switch with removable yellow safety key provides
ON/OFF tool control.
The TPT15 offers 2 material feed roller speeds,
so for wider planing or deeper planing passes, the slower speed
can be selected for better results. At the low planing speed,
the planer feeds material at 11 feet per minute. On the high
speed, this is doubled to 22 feet per minute. Choosing the
correct feed speed for your material will guarantee best
results. You will learn over time which feed speed works best
for the materials you are using. As a general rule, I use the
lower speed for hardwoods or finish planing, and the higher
speed for softer woods or lower depth of cut per pass planing in
general. But again, if you are concerned, run a smaller test
piece, or just choose the lower speed for harder woods (unless
the wood is very susceptible to burning, like cherry). The
option to select from two feed speeds is a great feature, but a
necessary one, particularly when you use the machine for
moulding, where the lower speed is required for this procedure.
To change feed speeds, a large orange feed speed adjustment knob
is situated atop the motor casing (on the left side). The feed
adjustment is made while the machine is turned ON.
The feed rollers are also height adjustable. This is important
when using the moulding function. There are three feed roller
height settings, which are adjusted at the front lower right of
the machine using a special wrench provided with the tool.
Setting I is used for general board planing. Setting II is used
for moulding cuts, and Setting III is for initial moulding cut
passes with larger knives.
The maximum planing width is 380mm (15") with a
minimum planing length of the same 380mm (15") value. Planing
height maxes out at 150mm (5 29/32") according to the
manual. The
maximum depth of cut per pass is 2.4mm (3/32"). I have rarely
ever planed anything at the maximum depth possible in a single
pass on any thicknessing machine. Not only does this put
unnecessary load on the tool, but the finish on the board is
rarely as good as you can get with multiple smaller depth
passes. Sure it saves time, but that saving is not worth it in
the long run. I have a rule not to remove more than 1mm per pass
on a thicknesser, no matter how soft or wide a board may be. If
you need to be taking 2.4mm per pass at once from a board, you
would be best to resaw the material on a bandsaw instead. You
will be saving your motor, and saving wood, which adds up in
dollars over time. Enough dollars to cover the cost of a bandsaw
if you do not have one over a year or three!
The planer head rides on 4 solid support columns
(one at each corner of the cutterhead).
There are several methods for setting planing height. First is
the crank handle located on the top of the machine. Winding this
either raises or lowers the cutterhead in small increments. A
full turn will raise or lower the cutterhead by 1.6mm (1/16").
When I am planing wood in multiple shallow passes, I usually
lower the cutter head by a half turn between each pass. This
will result in roughly 0.8mm of material being removed each
time. If I am working with boards wider than 10" or with
extremely dense hardwoods I may reduce this to quarter turns,
and for the final finish pass, even less, to provide the
cleanest surface possible. Remember also, that in general,
shallower passes will also maintain blade sharpness. But I guess
you have to balance depth of cut vs actual number of cuts to
determine what is best for blade life. In my experience, I have
found that more shallower passes beats less deeper passes in the
long run to maintain blade sharpness and extend cutting life.
There is a standard depth gauge on the right side of the tool
with a marker arrow to provide a guide as to set cutting depth.
It measures in both inches and millimeters and ranges from 0 -
150mm or 0 - 6". These are a rarely perfect guide to actual
cutting thickness, not just on this Triton, but on virtually any thicknesser, so take the measurement with a grain of salt. For
best accuracy, always have a good digital thickness gauge on
hand to manually measure as you approach the final desired
thickness of material needed. After saying this though, on the
machine I have the guide is quite accurate, but you will need
to run some pieces through the planer, check them with an
accurate and precise measuring gauge, then re-adjust the needle
pointer on the scale as required to zero in on an accurate
reading. The scale sits on the moulded plastic part of the side
cover on the right of the tool. This can flex a little, so I'm
not sure how accurate the scale will be if it moves a little
after time. Additionally, the actual pointer should have a
horizontal top edge. On my unit, this was a touch out of
horizontal and I had to slightly drill out one of the mounting
holes on it to provide clearance so I can arc it upwards to
horizontal and obtain accurate measure simultaneously on both
the metric and imperial scale. Not a big deal, but be sure to
check yours too!
The second method for adjusting cutterhead height offers faster height change adjustment. The
powered height adjustment lever is located on the left side of
the cutterhead, just forward of the feed speed adjustment knob.
While the machine is running (but not actually planing material)
the user can simply push the lever up or down to make faster
depth adjustment. No real effort is required to raise or lower
the cutterhead via this method as it is a powered adjustment.
It's like a hydraulic lifting or lowering action that is really
quite cool. The top handle does rotate as the cutterhead moves
so be sure to be clear of that. The action is not overly fast,
or slow, but it is much faster than I could crank the handle
manually. It is a great feature and the operation is very smooth
indeed.
The third method of height adjustment doesn't
actually adjust the height of the cutterhead, but rather,
provides a set of depth stops that works like a depth stop
turret on a plunge router (in a way). Basically a depth set knob
on the side of the machine allows you to pre-dial in a specific
depth setting and the cutterhead will stop at that setting as it
is lowered. The depth settings available via this mode are:
1/8" (3.18mm)
1/4" (6.35mm)
1/2" (12.7mm)
3/4" (19.05mm)
1" (25.4mm)
1 1/4" (31.75mm)
So, if you wanted to plane multiple pieces to say
1/4", you would set the pre-set depth dial to the 1/4" setting
then lower the cutterhead until it engages the stop at this
depth. Now, in theory, you should have a 1/4" piece of material
after planing. This is a handy feature as a lot of woodworking
projects require boards of these common thicknesses. The idea is
great, but the implementation has room for improvement.
Basically, it doesn't appear to be a hard definite stop as you
reach the depth mark. It's more of a soft stop with room to play
on the lower side of it i.e. you can continue to lower the
cutterhead a little further, albeit with extra resistance, but there
is still some guesswork as to where the stop point should
actually be.
What about if you want to take, say, half a
millimeter or 1/32 thickness off a board? Well, the Triton has
that covered too. On the front of the cutterhead is another
depth measuring device. It uses a steel ball bearing type
mechanism attached to a
marker arrow and a scale. As the ball is pushed in (upward in
this case), the arrow on the scale rises by the amount the ball
is raised. So, to take 0.5mm off a board, what you would do is
place the board on the infeed table with the front edge of the
board sitting under the ball. Now lower the cutterhead and
as the ball engages the wood and is pressed upward, the arrow on
the guide scale also raises the same amount. Once the arrow raises to the 0.5mm
mark (while you are lowering the cutterhead), you have a setting
that will take 0.5mm off the board on the planing pass. Now feed
your board through the thicknesser with power turned ON and,
ideally, you will have removed the 0.5mm depth as set by this
method. How accurate is it? Well, it wasn't perfect out of the
box. There is a margin of error of around 0.1mm according to my
digital measuring gauge, but it appears to be the most accurate
measuring device on the tool for fine thickness control. To obtain highly accurate readings
when thicknessing timber, your best bet is to use a thickness
gauge. A quality digital unit makes life easier. I don't see the
inaccuracies of the Triton scales as a bad point of the tool.
Sure, it would be great if there were all perfect all the time,
but I have yet to use a thicknesser with a manual reading scale
that is perfect. Perhaps this is why some companies are now
coming out with retro-fit digital height gauges that can be
fitted to thicknessers to provide greater accuracy?
Dust collection is another unique feature of the
tool. Why? Because, like the fast cutterhead height adjustment,
it too is powered. I first used the powered dust
collection feature on their new model belt/disc sander, and it
worked very well. The TPT15 has an inbuilt impeller in the dust
collection corridor coming from the planer head. This feeds to
an attached collection bag which is of a reasonable size, but
you will need to close the bottom of the bag up.
Alternatively, and perferably, you can attach the bag to a larger
collection bin/container to collect
shavings and debris for larger capacity collection. The bag has
a draw-string type securing system designed to fit around the
upper lip of a bin edge. So you have
a thickneser and dust collector in one machine. This saves
running two machines at once, which is great if you have limited
power outlets or space to work in.
If you remove the back cover
of the cutterhead, which gives you access to both the dust
impeller and the cutterhead (for changing blades) you will see
there is also somewhat of a collection tray to hold the shavings
within the corridor while the impeller extracts them into the
collection bag/bin. Since the extraction works all the time
(i.e. when the machine is on, whether actually planing wood or
not) it has ample time to remove any remaining debris in the
system. The airflow is also very high. More like a high speed,
lower volume vacuum extractor than a high volume, lower speed
twin bag extractor. You could easily use it to dry yourself off
after a dip in the pool if you felt like some party tricks, but
I wouldn't recommend it!
Moulding Operation
To undertake moulding cutting tasks on the TPT15, you will
first need to build a guide jig from MDF (or similar material).
There are plans shown in the user manual to build this, although
the print is small and you might need a magnifying glass to read
them. Luckily, my eyes can still decipher the measurements and
plan without the need of other visual aids. You need to supply
the MDF for the task, but all the hardware for the jig is
supplied for you. It will take probably an hour to make the jig
from scratch if you have the right thickness material on hand
(12mm and 19mm boards). It is fairly simple, but routing the
four slots for the
adjustable edge guides will take up some time. Alternatively,
you could use a drill press and drill multiple holes to make the
slot. I actually did it both ways and they both worked fine. The moulding jig
then attaches to the thicknesser bed with clamps that grab
underneath the tables (via the small gaps between the folding
table and the base) so your jig drill holes need to be accurate
here. The jig measures 1 meter in length so it extends
from the front of the machine through to the back to provide
good support on the infeed and outfeed sides and is designed so
that it can guide the material through squarely, and be
adjustable to accommodate varying width pieces.
Next you need to install the moulding knives. Two
sets of basic profiles are supplied with this tool, each set comprising two of
the same cutters. The good thing about installing the moulding
knives is that you do not need to remove the planer knives from
the machine. I won't go into detail on installing the knives but
to say that they are attached and secured using moulding gibs
and they are fairly easy to install, although the pictures in
the manual don't really provide an ultra clear description. Basically, the gibs are seated in the slot, the
mouding blade sits between the flat gib face and the face of the
slot milled in the cutterhead, and the blade is hard against the
reference point. Spacers are used along the length of the gib so
it does not bend when tightening (as most moulding knives are
not the full length of the gib). The spacers must be the same
width as the moulding knife (several different thickness spacer
sets are provided). Then the screws in the gib are screwed
outwards from the gib and this causes the gib to wedge the
moulding knife between the gib face and the slot face,
essentially securing into the cutterhead. Sounds trickier than
it is really. Similar to installing planer/jointer knives.
It is recommended to run
the machine for a few minutes the first time you install the
cutters and then re-check that they are still secure before
actually running material through the machine. They should be
checked every few hours of operation following that. However,
they will probably not be left in the machine for extended
periods of time anyway, unless you plan on using the TPT15 as a
sole moulding creating machine. The knives are removed quite
quickly, along with the gibs and you can go back to normal
planing using the standard planing blades already installed. A
number of knife profiles will be available to suit the machine.
Alternatively, for custom profiles, you could also have these
made by a good machine shop or blade shop to fit the machine
with your desired profile.
So, the idea is that you dimension your stock
close to final dimensions. Depending on the type and style of
moulding you are creating, you might need to make the width the
final dimension before cutting it, or make it a little wider if
the cut requires a little edge treatment or clean up after the
majority of the shaping has been done. Again, all instructions
are provided. With that said, the moulding jig you created
earlier is used to support the edges of the moulding as it
passes through the moulding cutters. As you can imagine, if
there were any side-to-side deviation of the piece as it ran
through the tool, your profile would not be clean, sharp and
continuous, but wavy and inconsistent. So proper tool and jig
setup will assure good results. Also consider material density
and cutting depth, as most of the same rules apply to finish
quality and blade durability as they do with regular flat
surface planing.
In Use
Ok, so I think I have covered most of the important tool
features and functions above, and any I haven't I will cover
here, as they directly affect use of the tool. To begin with,
whenever using the TPT15, always wear hearing and eye
protection. Dust protection might also be a good idea, although
there appears to be very little debris that escapes the clutches
of the dust collection system in use. But as we know, it's the
dust you don't see that causes the most harm! Hearing protection
is a must. The TPT15, like most thicknessers, is a loud machine,
particularly once the blades start attacking the wood. There are
no specific sound output ratings I could find for this tool, but
my guess is that it would be well over 80db, and more like 90-95
decibels in use, if not a little more. Some of this can be attributed to the
additional noise the tool makes because of its integrated
powered dust collection. But anyway you look at it, using a thicknesser generally means using hearing protection. You cannot
really avoid it (unless you wish to suffer the consequences
later).
Flat surface planing is fairly straightforward.
The feed rollers do a great job of controlling the board as it
passes through the cutterhead. The speed is constant, and having
the 2 speed option allows a lot more control over the process,
and the finish of the piece. In front of the first feed roller
is a set of anti-kickback pawls. These are designed to stop a
board being flung back at the user if it catches on the blade
and overpowers the feed roller input. While I have never had a
thicknesser kick back on me, I have heard some stories from
those who have, and while not as dangerous in general as a table
saw kickback it seems, I have no doubt it is still cause for
concern. I did once have a grab and throw on a jointer when the
front edge of a shorter stile dipped down into the cutterhead
and threw it out of my hands and backward. A bit of a wake up
call! I make a rule to always stand to the side of the tool as
much as possible so I am not in the firing line of any tool. I
cannot comment on the effectiveness of the anti-kickback pawls
on the TPT15 (as it hasn't happened yet), but it is good to know
they are there and will hopefully prevent a nasty accident
should a kickback occur.
The pressed metal stand presents the tool at a
comfortable working height. I haven't had any problems using it
at the default height, even though I am a few inches over the
six foot mark. An extra inch or two higher would better suit me,
but you could always make your own sub-base to raise it up if
you feel the need to. For the average height person, the tool
height is probably ideal. And while we are on the topic of
ergonomics, I must say that this machine is probably one of the
most comfortable to use. Pretty much all handles and adjustment
features are large and comfortable in the hand, affording
greater control in my view. The large crank handle is excellent,
as is the feed roller speed adjustment knob and powered height
adjuster lever. The workpiece rollers on top of the tool allow
you to move a planed piece from the rear of the tool back to the
front of the tool (or rest it on the bars as you make your way
back around). Carry handles at both the top of the tool and the
bottom make it easier to move around, should you need to, but a
two-person lift is definitely a must. To reduce the footprint of
the tool when not in use, the infeed and outfeed tables can
raised up like a drawbridge, and small magnets on the cutterhead
body hold them up in place. It makes it easier to move to with
these up.
In terms of snipe, yes the TPT15 has that too,
unfortunately. But, again, most thicknessers do, to some degree.
I have found that just about all of them with fold-up/down
tables will produce snipe to some degree. Some of the fixed cast iron infeed/outfeed
table thicknessers are a little better in this area, but snipe
can be reduced somewhat by building a single piece sub-table
that runs from infeed to outfeed and secured by holding cleats
on either end. The material then rides through on the sub-table,
in theory, providing a more consistently flat surface than
riding over three different surfaces (infeed table, planer bed,
outfeed table) etc. Good support technique can also help reduce
this. With good support and a sub-table, snipe can be greatly
reduced and almost eliminated on the TPT15. Both infeed and
outfeed tables do have a basic height adjustment feature to
modify height when they are in the folded down position, so
investigate and alight these too for added snipe protection. I
found that they needed adjustment out of the box, and once
correctly set, the snipe was barely noticeable unless you were
looking for it (which I was of course). But a properly set up
machine will deliver the best results right from the start, so
spend time getting things right, and you will enjoy the tool,
and the results even more.
There is no actual manual cutterhead locking
device on the tool that I could find, but from my experience
with the tool already, I can tell that the cutterhead sits
firmly in position, in pretty much any position, and the results
indicate that it remains parallel as well, delivering evenly
thicknessed boards across the face and edge surfaces.
Changing blades on thicknessers can be a daunting
task if you haven't done it before. On the TPT15, the process is
relatively simple, well much simpler than some other machines.
Once the back cutterhead housing is removed via three srews,
access to the blades can be gained. A locking latch will lock
the cutterhead in the right position to remove the blades. This
is handy as the drum cannot rotate while you are trying to the
remove the blade. The blade gib is loosened via the locking
bolts and the blade can be removed with the supplied blade
removal magnets (they look like two little gauge handles). To
re-insert blades, the process is essentially reversed. The TPT15
uses unique double-sided blades that engage on pins on the
cutterhead. This means no need to set blades to parallel or
fiddle around with fine tuning of blade alignment. Just place
them onto the pins, re-secure the blade gib and you are ready to
go. A nice feature, although it does reduce accessibility to
standard thicknessing blades available on the market. If you
have a spare set of blades (recommended to avoid downtime if one
set is out for sharpening) these can be stored on the tool in
the blade storage compartment on top of the cutterhead - nice
feature.
Moulding takes a little practice to get your
initial workpieces sized correctly etc and to sort out the
planing heights for desired profiles, but once you have that
worked out, this is a handy feature that will no doubt be used
by any woodworker looking to add decorative trim to a new piece
of furniture, or to replace classic trim profiles in period
homes or on antique furniture projects. If you were trimming out
a new house from scratch, you could literally save bucketloads
of cash milling your own mouldings with this machine. Go to your
local hardware or home center and check out the price of some of
the fancier mouldings and trim!
Conclusion
Overall, the TPT15 actually exceeded my expectations. It is
actually much more impressive in the flesh (i.e. when you see
one in person) and I admit that I was a little skeptical when I
saw the product release photos when it first came up. But now I
am a believer. Sure, it is not perfect in all regards (i.e. the
measuring scale employed could have been slightly better
engineered) but since I use a digital measuring gauge anyway for
checking board and piece widths, this really didn't matter to
me. Your mileage may vary of course.
I am very happy with the overall build quality,
ergonomics and smooth action of the tool. Having the dust
collection integrated into the tool saves me a lot of time
fiddling with extractor tubes as well (if you don't have them
permanently installed to each machine).
I think for the asking price of AUD$999, you do
get a lot of tool and features for the money, but as always,
weigh up what you need and how much you are willing to spend
before making a decision!
The TPT15, in my opinion, is definitely worthy of
the Triton name (even if it is not strictly a Triton patented
product) and will definitely retain shop real estate space
for many years to come!
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Available to
Order through these Companies...
Click graphic to go to
their direct product page for this item |
|
In Australia |
In most cases, the TPT15 will need to be
ordered in via the Special Orders departments of these
retailers...
 
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In the USA |
Triton Workshop Systems
USA/Canada
Click Link Above!
Note: The Grizzly G0477 is a re-badged version
of the same machine reviewed here.
|
For more information, or to find dealers
worldwide of Triton products, visit
www.triton.com.au |
Triton TPT15 Photos
All photos copyright onlinetoolreviews.com. Use without prior
written permission prohibited
TPT15 set up complete.
Shop is open! Infeed and outfeed tables lowered. Ready
to go...
Note the integrated handles on the side and the material
roller bars on top of the machine to allow easier transfer of stock from
the back side of the machine back to the front.
The cutterhead assembly is heavy duty and very well
designed.
Main ON/OFF switch with yellow safety key, as well as
the circuit overload breaker switch to protect motor from damage.
Here you can see the feed roller speed adjustment wheel
knob, and the powered cutterhead adjustment lever too.
Crank handle up top raises or lowers cutterhead in finer
increments.
The pre-set depth dial. Set a final thickness for the
planed material, lower the cutterhead until it engages the stop, and away
you go.
The manual measure scale in inches (left side of scale)
and millimeters (right side).
Need to take 1/32" off a board of any thickness? This
feature will help you do that.
The feed roller height adjustment mechanism.
The rear of the tool. Note the grey circular channel
extending to the left of shot. This is the dust corridor. Where it meets
the black section, that is where the dust impeller is housed.
The Moulding Jig made and attached to the machine.
The TPT15 handles planing of hardwood of all widths
without any problem.
It might be advisable to attach the dust bag to a collection bin
however! This was the mess with just two passes!
A perfect moulding, first go on the TPT15!
OTR Video!
Watch a video clip (2.5Mb) of the moulding proccess at work
Here I make the last two passes of a moulding usi, the second being the
final finish pass with minimal material being removed.
Click on Image to Play video file (AVI - DivX)
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