Triton TPT15 Thicknesser: Discontinued — What to Buy Instead

The TPT15 was Triton’s benchtop planer thicknesser from an earlier generation of the range. It is discontinued; the TPT125, linked below, is the current machine — 12-1/2 in capacity, 17,500 cuts per minute, with adjustable depth and a dust extraction port.

What to check on an old one

Feed rollers. Rubber rollers harden and glaze with age, and a roller that slips lets the board stall mid-pass — which burns a dip into it. Cleaning with a rubber-safe solvent restores a lot; badly glazed rollers need replacing.

Blades. Benchtop thicknessers use disposable double-edged blades. If the machine leaves lines, flip or replace them before assuming anything is wrong with the machine.

Bed flatness. The infeed and outfeed extensions should be dead level with the bed, or slightly high. Set low, they cause snipe. This is adjustable on most machines and is worth an hour with a straight edge.

Snipe, which is universal

Every benchtop thicknesser snipes — a slightly deeper cut in the first and last few inches, where only one feed roller is engaged.

You do not fix it, you manage it. Support the board level going in and coming out. Feed boards end to end so the snipe lands on a sacrificial leader and trailer. Or simply cut your stock 150 mm over length and trim the ends off.

Anyone claiming a benchtop machine with no snipe has either sacrificial boards or a very good outfeed setup.

The thing a thicknesser cannot do

It makes a board parallel, not flat. Feed a cupped board in and you get a thinner cupped board out, because the rollers press it flat while it passes the cutter and it springs back afterwards.

Flattening one face is a jointer’s job, or a planer sled’s. That is not a limitation of this machine; it is what thicknessers are.