40200 Portable Thickness Planer Review
The Steel City 40200 portable thickness planer has positives and negatives but once the bugs are worked out on this newly released model, this planer could be a contender
This machine runs smoothly, but the 26 individual cutters produced a striped surface on the face of the board during my tests. On the plus side, when the cutters become dull, they can be rotated 90° and reused, which means less time for blade changes. There was virtually no outfeed snipe, and a 1⁄4-in. cutting depth produced a board measuring 0.252 in. with digital calipers. The 12-in.-long extension tables make an overall bed length of 34 in., have little flex, and snap up out of the way. Unfortunately, the outfeed table cannot be flipped up when the dust-collection adapter is in place. Because of its slim shape and built-in handles, this machine is fairly easy to carry. A pin attached to a gauge is used for the depth-of-cut indicator. There are still a few bugs to work out on this newly released model, but I think this planer could be a contender.
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